Orioles Left Fielder BJ Surhoff on the Pro & Cons of Life in the Big Leagues

Ever since he joined the Orioles five years ago, B.J. Surhoff has been one of the club's good guys.

His intensity of play meshes perfectly with what blue collar Baltimore expects out of its athletes. He is one of less than a handful of Orioles who actually has chosen to live in the Baltimore area, and he has taken to the city, just as it has embraced him. Surhoff has become one of the team's most active goodwill ambassadors in the community, and after Cal Ripken, he ranks as one of the most popular current Orioles.

And to top it all off, his play on the field frequently has been sterling. Last year he made the AL All-Star team for the first time in his 13-year big league career, and he unanimously was voted 1999's Most Valuable Oriole. He has become something of a clubhouse spokesperson, and — should Ripken ever retire — Surhoff is one of the closest things the team has to being a Mr. Oriole.

Surhoff enjoys an immaculate reputation with Orioles fans. He is virtually immune from being jeered, even as he has experienced his first real slump in an Orioles' uniform this spring, with his batting average plummeting into the .230s.

So if there is anyone in the Orioles clubhouse who should be able to talk objectively about the changing relationship today between star athletes and fans, it is the 35-year-old Surhoff.

Not long ago major league baseball players were unblemished heroes. They were held in universal awe, by kids and adults alike.

But that regard has altered immensely today. Even an American icon like Ripken is often criticized and sometimes even booed by fans.

“The relationship has definitely changed since I started playing,” acknowledges Surhoff, who began his big league career in Milwaukee in 1987 after spending two years in the minor leagues. “There's a lot more media outlets and attention, so there's a lot more coverage, which is usually better for the game. It broadens attention for the game.”

But the media have definitely transformed the way people view baseball and major league ballplayers, Surhoff says, and some of it is not beneficial to the athletes.

“I'd rather not have everything I do be in the paper,” the left fielder says. “What happens off the field, I really don't have that much interest in talking about. I'd rather keep it to myself. But everything I do is written about. It's not like Cal, but if I do something bad, you can be sure it would be in the paper, and it would say, ‘Another athlete has done something bad.'” Surhoff believes ballplayers do have “a certain responsibility to the media.”

But, he quickly adds, “Most guys would rather not live up to their responsibility to the media.”

And while Surhoff himself seldom shirks that responsibility, he can understand why some of his colleagues do.

Writers, he says, are omnipresent in a ballplayer's life. “They're here all the time,” Surhoff explains, “and they're in the clubhouse seven days a week, before and after the game. I'd cut their access.”

He would not ban the media from the lockerroom entirely, he says, he'd just reduce the amount of time they can be there, so players can have more time to themselves. Major league rules currently require clubhouses to be open to the press both prior to and after all games.

Surhoff recognizes that the media are an important and necessary part of the baseball industry, even if he and other players don't always like what is written.

“If you want to play, you have to live by a certain set of rules,” he says. “I try to live up to my responsibility. I know the media has a job to do. And I know it's good for the team [to get publicity]. Revenue comes to the team from television and radio, and we get money from that. So it's kind of a vicious circle.”

One thing Surhoff and other players dearly wish would not be in the newspapers so much is mention of ballplayers' astronomical salaries. “Unfortunately, there's so much emphasis on money,” he complains. “But money doesn't change the players.”

That view is probably one of the reasons for the widening gulf today between players and their fans. Despite what Surhoff says, many fans do believe that the immense salaries ballplayers make has changed their attitude and has helped erect a barrier between the players and the public. Once fans could empathize with their heroes and saw them much as themselves, working stiffs, but ones who just happened to have great athletic ability. Today there is no longer an economic commonality between the players and their fans, despite what players like Surhoff believe.

While Surhoff is unable to say precisely what has caused the changing relationship, he does concede that one of the issues involved is the dollar. “There seems to be more venom among fans than I've seen in the past,” he says. “I'm not sure why. I guess one reason is money. And I think fans feel they have the right to behave the way they do.”

Because Surhoff is so venerated in Baltimore, he isn't subject to boorish fan behavior at Camden Yards. But away from home, he says, the experience is very different.

“I get it [abuse] on the road a lot more than before,” he relates. “It's actually funny in some ballparks when someone says something original. But when it's two words — ”you” and a word that rhymes with “truck” — it gets a little old after a while. I've gotten better, though, at tuning it out. What's really surprising is when you look over and see who's doing it. Recently, on the road, a little kid, about six, told me I sucked because I didn't give him a baseball.”

Fans, Surhoff claims, often don't appreciate that a ballplayer has a lot going on, both when he's on the field and arriving at or departing from the ballpark. Preparation for the game and devotion to family often take precedence over putting one's signature on a baseball. “Just because a guy doesn't sign an autograph doesn't make him a bad person,” Surhoff says. “You can't ever do all the things people ask of you. You can't ever do enough. They're just too many people asking. It's humanly impossible. There is not enough time in the day.”

Surhoff does think players have a responsibility toward fans, but that they also have responsibility to others in their lives.

“I don't think there's any question that, nowadays, players have a lot more responsibilities,” he says. “It starts with yourself and your family, and then there's a responsibility to your job and the game, and to your teammates and your organization. And I think there's a certain responsibility to your fans. The most important thing, though, is a responsibility to your teammates and coaches.”

Surhoff, probably more than most players today, takes those relationships and trusts very seriously, especially his responsibility to perform to the best of his ability.

“I think most players feel a responsibility to do things for the fans, some more than others,” he explains. “I think, being a player, there's more to it than just playing on the field. There's a responsibility to always give your best effort and to demonstrate a certain amount of professionalism — to give your best effort and the best of what you have that day. Of taking time to learn about the game, to learn about your opponents. It's your job, you should learn about it and invest your time in it.”

Still, today's fans seem to demand more of players — both on and off the field — than players often are willing or able to give. Surhoff notices it on the field.

“There's a lot more booing,” he says. “The hard part to realize is that people who support the team want them to do well, and they get frustrated if the team doesn't do well. But no more than the players. What they have to understand is that there will be only one team standing at the end of the year. I've noticed a trend. People don't come to the ballpark as much to root for their team as much as to yell at somebody. Of course, that's not everybody.”

The negative vibes that have developed between players and fans, Surhoff maintains, are not unique to baseball, but a reflection of contemporary society.

“No matter what they do, players are not going to please everybody,” he says. “People are going to say negative things. Unfortunately, that's the way it is today. It kind of mirrors society — people emphasizing the negative more than the positive. It's just like the news. What sells more? What do writers emphasize more, the positive or the negative? It's not just baseball. It's the 6 o'clock news. And I guess a lot of it does have to do with money.”

Surhoff says that when another player exhibits behavior that reflects badly on baseball, it is upsetting. But he also is not overly quick to judge his big league colleagues.

“If they do something that's bad for the game, it doesn't make me real happy,” he admits. “But I'm not in their shoes. And it's bad to make assumptions that when one player does something wrong, it tarnishes the game and reflects badly on all players. It's bad to make assumptions that everyone's the same. And not just in sports, but in society. It's bad to make assumptions based on skin color or nationality, or because someone has this occupation or that. You can't stereotype people.”

Very few people play in the major leagues, and those who do, Surhoff acknowledges, share a common trust and something of a mutual admiration society. They understand, in a unique way, what life is like in the fishbowl.

“Some guys get out of the game, and they forget what it's like, the further they get away from it,” Surhoff points out. “It's easy to forget how hard the game is. Everything looks easier on TV.”