I happened to be calling the White Sox-Yankees game in New York last month when Donaldson rounded second base and entered the territory of White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. ![]() Josh Donaldson (right) of the New York Yankees and Tim Anderson (left) of the Chicago White Sox after Donaldson attempted to tag Anderson out in the first inning on May 13 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. Ironically, this confronted the ideal that true loyalty only exists when we prioritize the name on the front. It wasn’t until Bill Veeck’s 1960 Chicago White Sox that names first appeared on the back of a big league baseball jersey. ![]() In the contentious exchange between Josh Donaldson and Tim Anderson - apparently one that spanned three seasons - we learn about the power of a name and why the name on the back carries so much more weight than the originators of the front could ever understand. You will have yours before and after your career. The finite nature of a player’s career inevitably forces these names to diverge, through the many transactions that impact a player throughout his career or through what time does to erode an athlete’s physical relevance. ![]() At times, the name on the front and the name on the back will connect in a hyphenated harmony that recognizes both parts of the story as if they are one history. When you play a lifetime in this game, those names go in and out of focus, sharpening through defining moments on the field, blurring when another year must be spent rebuilding. The life of a baseball player centers on two names.
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