Happy Labor Day, all.
As I note each Labor Day, today Major League Baseball will not be putting its players in special Labor Day caps or otherwise noting the occasion. This despite the undeniable role organized labor has played in the past 50 years of baseball history specifically and in the lives of nearly every American or their ancestors in general. Workers built this nation and many died or were oppressed while doing it, and that’s the reason most of us have off work today.
People tend to forget that. It’s understandable I suppose. Organized labor makes up a smaller portion of the workforce than it ever has. Even a great many of the people who do the working in this country have bought in to the notion — propogated by those who profit from labor — that unions are tools of the communists. Most people believe that giving any lip service to the rights of workers is a suspect and even un-American pursuit. Don’t fall for that. The notion of working hard and making a better life for yourself and your family is the very definition of the American Dream. Everyone talks so much about the former and seems to forget that better wages and working conditions are an inherent part of the latter.
So, even if Major League Baseball doesn’t make a point of marking the occasion of Labor Day the way it marks most other occasions that occur during its season, let us not forget about it or its importance. And, of course, let us not forget why we have a Labor Day to begin with.
Here are yesterday’s scores. The box scores are here.
Yankees 6, Rays 4
Blue Jays 10, Orioles 4
Indians 4, Tigers 0
Reds 6, Brewers 3
Marlins 4, Mets 3
Red Sox 6, Phillies 2
Nationals 8, Braves 4
White Sox 7, Royals 5
Astros 8, Twins 5
Cubs 6, Diamondbacks 4
Angels 7, Rangers 0
Mariners 3, Athletics 2
Dodgers 5, Padres 1
Giants 7, Rockies 4
Pirates 7, Cardinals 1