Lately, athletes haven’t exactly comported themselves in heroic ways. Growing up, I idolized Hank Aaron, Magic Johnson, and Ryne Sandberg – among many others. I was a sucker for their on-field/court exploits and their community support. These days, players get more press for their selfishness, substance abuse, and assault charges. Of course, many of today’s sports performers are honorable people, and with female athletes getting their due, there are more fine role models than people realize.
For now, I want to call attention to Cesar Izturis, the Gold Glove-shortstop-turned-utility-player for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This month, Izturis took some time away from the Dodgers (who are currently in a tail spin) to attend the birth of his child. He had expected to miss only 48 hours, but because it was a Caesarean birth, the recovery took four days. Rather than return to the team, Izturis stayed with his wife to help her and see to the care of his first child.
In the manly sport of baseball, Izturis chose the manlier act of remaining with his wife. It’s not that she was in danger, it’s that he wanted to see her home, healthy and secure. For this, he earns my respect and admiration because he’s modeling not only for grown men, but for the kids out their who follow athletes’ private lives as much as their public ones.
Now the Dodgers apparently did not give Izturis a hard time, and the team’s general manager seemed openly supportive of his player’s fatherly choice. However, writing about the situation in the Los Angeles Times, columnist J.A. Adande sheds light on the fact that the Major League Players’ Association has made sure that athletes get sufficient bereavement leave but does not stipulate that they get paternity time (link). Adande writes, “We knock the deadbeat dads — especially pro athletes — who abandon their children, but we don’t accommodate the men who want to be there for their kids from day one.”
Adande makes an even more significant point: “Baseball is far from the only industry that doesn’t look after the rights of dads who want to be with their newborn children. A 2005 report by the Families and Work Institute showed that only 13% of the American employers surveyed offered paid paternity leave.”
Paternity leave is an issue unto itself, and one I’ve written about in the past and will continue to write because working dads should get the time to be with their families right from the start. Then there is the issue of baseball and the window of opportunity it has to make a statement about fatherhood, parenting, and family in general. Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association should amend their collective bargaining agreement to include paternity time and then shout it out to the rest of the world as loud as the words “Play ball!”
In the meantime, I’m gonna cheer for the amazing dad and player Cesar Izturis, who, as of the hour of this writing, hit a two-run home run to help the Dodgers win — in more ways than one.
