Happy Birthday, Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal recently celebrated his 60th birthday living out a lifelong dream in full Yankee uniform leading off the game at the plate with the stands filled of cheering fans. He struck out, but he was able to make contact with one pitch and scratch another entry off his "Bucket List."

Today I heard a talk show host ranting about how Billy Crystal had no business standing out there in a Yankee uniform leading off the game, even if it was only a pre-season exhibition game. (I think he was probably more jealous than anything else.) The more disturbing part was that there were actually people calling in agreeing with him.

His gripe was that Crystal might be setting a precedent or a trend that could hurt the game of baseball. "Who knows how far it could go," he was saying, inclining that pretty soon exhibition baseball games will be filled with egotistical celebrities taking advantage of an opportunity to put themselves into the spotlight under yet another venue.

Well first of all, who cares? It's an exhibition game, for pete's sake. Last I checked, that means the game doesn't count. The whole purpose of exhibition games is to give veterans a chance to get their game legs back and managers a chance to see what some of the potential newbies can do in game situations. If a manager decides he wants to give Billy Crystal or Tiger Woods or even Hillary Clinton or Tracy Ullman a shot at getting a hit during an exhibition game, it should be his choice.

As it was, Billy Crystal ran into a Yankee player (I forget who...Google it if you're interested, it's not important here) while on vacation (again, I forget where...unimportant) and this player, a friend of Crystal's whom Crystal had mentioned his dream to, made it happen as a 60th birthday present during a recent exhibition game.

But I think Billy Crystal and this player are on to something here. The talk show host thinks the gift was absurd. He's either over-thinking the meaningless incident or not thinking about it far enough. I think the Major League Baseball Association should take what Billy Crystal did and run with it, put in the rule books a new entry that allows any manager to insert any lead-off hitter they desire in as many exhibition games as they want.

Then it would be great if teams around the league started offering that opportunity to different people in different ways. How about the "Make a Wish Foundation?" I'm sure there are some late teen/young adults whose shortened lives might be a little brighter given such an opportunity experienced by so few in front of so many. Or maybe a home team could auction off the lead-off spot for each of their home exhibition games, donating the proceeds to something like Cystic Fibrosis. So the home team gives up an out to start 95% of their pre-season games, big deal (and wouldn't that other 5% be fun to watch in an otherwise meaningless exhibition game?!).

At any rate, I see no problem with Billy Crystal being given a nice gift from a friend that was capable of giving it. Happy Birthday, Billy Crystal.

By the way, after he struck out, the fans gave Crystal a standing ovation. Everyone had a good time. And there weren't any steroids involved.