This past Sunday, tragedy struck Major League Baseball once again as car crashes claimed the lives of Yordano Ventura and Andy Marte. Yordano was 25 years old and was a very promising pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, and Andy Marte was a seven year veteran of the MLB. On a rather interesting note in Andy Marte’s last major league game he played against the Kansas City Royals and Ventura started that game. However, this coincidence is not the one I will be discussing today, but rather where both of their lives were tragically taken, and that place is the Dominican Republic. These deaths are bringing about the discussion of banning major leaguers that are from foreign countries the ability to go home in the offseason, and if they decide to ignore this the player could be fined. I do not believe this is fair to the players or their families, and is not morally right.

First, let me give you some insight on why some general managers think this would be the right way to handle this dilemma. See when players travel back to their home countries they are usually not the best countries in terms of poverty/crime rates, so it is dangerous in that regard. Also talking more specifically about these deaths in the Dominican Republic, a study conducted by the World Health Organization found that the Dominican Republic had the highest traffic accident rate in the Americas, with a staggering rate of 29.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. While the United States of America has less than half of that with 10.6 per 100,000 so there is some truth in the fact that America is safer for players, but does safer mean better?

One thing you have to think of when making this decision is about the player’s happiness, and the happiness of the player’s family, and I believe there is a direct correlation between the two. You always see those stories around holidays about people not being with their families, so put yourself in the shoes of these players and their families that would be affected by this proposed rule. The player would be unhappy which will have a negative effect on the form of that player, and it is just morally wrong to prohibit these players from seeing their families. Imagine being told by your boss you are not allowed to go home to see your family, and if I find out you do I will fine you. It is not right that this rule is even being considered and I don’t think it will be approved once people weigh the pros and cons. You must think of the player’s family not just the player’s safety.