The Real McCoy: Those were ballplayers

Dusty Baker on ballplayers and Jay Bruce who, obviously...is not.

Dusty Baker walked the City of Sarasota Sports Complex Friday and saw that each of the practice fields were named for Cincinnati Reds legends — Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez.

“I’m always talking about baseball players and people ask me, ‘What are baseball players?’” Baker said. “Those guys are baseball players - Rose, Morgan, Bench, Perez. They could go 0 for 4 and still beat you. They seldom did anything to cost you a game. Those are what I call ballplayers.”

...If Lofton arrives, what happens to rookie Jay Bruce?

“Bruce already has told me he can bat leadoff,” Baker said with a laugh. “I haven’t seen Bruce play, but I’ve head a lot. He is a star of the future and, who knows, he may be a start of the present. But there is more to the game than just hitting.”