Tony Perez was on the road with the Cincinnati Reds in
1966 when he got the call that his first child was on the way. There was
no discussion about leaving the team to attend Victor’s birth, no such
thing as paternity leave.
"They didn’t give you any time off when I
was playing," the Hall of Fame slugger said, recalling that he got the
news about noon before going to the ballpark. "We played that night. We
got a day off in Chicago the next day and I flew home on my own."
These
days, more pro athletes are taking time off to be with their families
in the delivery room. Yet Major League Baseball remains the only one of
the four major professional leagues in North America to have a
standardized paternity leave policy. The NFL, NBA and NHL leave the
matter up to individual players and their teams.
"There is stress
on both sides," said Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg, who watched
shortstop Jimmy Rollins miss a game against Texas this season to fly
home to be there for the birth of his second child. "Job stress and
stress from the family side. So I think this being in place takes care
of that, just makes it’s a done deal for the player, and the team deals
with it. It takes the pressure off the player."
New York Mets
second baseman Daniel Murphy was criticized on sports talk radio this
month for taking three days, which is provided for in baseball’s rules,
to spend time with his wife and newborn son Noah. But in the days that
followed, Murphy received wide support from players and coaches who say
the times have changed.
"That’s a negotiated right that is a win
for everybody," said Marlins infielder Ed Lucas, who missed one game
last September for the birth of his son. "It shows compassion on the
side of the team. It’s the only major sport that has paternity leave.
But we’re also the only sport that plays every day."
Players in
the NFL, NBA and NHL all have several off days a week in most cases and
rosters stocked with extra players, giving the teams and the athletes
the freedom to work on a case-by-case basis. In baseball, a three-day
absence usually means three games missed, so the burden on the team, and
the potential guilt felt by the player, is much higher.
"I think,
traditionally speaking, I think some guys were afraid to ask," Pirates
manager Clint Hurdle said. "So many guys didn’t want to ask because of
job security. It was almost like a standard way of doing it that you
didn’t leave."
Baseball’s general managers and the players’ union
recognized this trend a few years ago. At the GM meetings in 2011, a
rule was drafted to allow a team to place a player on the paternity
leave list for three days and call up a replacement from the minor
leagues.
"When you have a policy, it just makes it easier for
clubs and players," said Dan Halem, MLB’s executive vice president for
labor relations who helped draft the policy. "Everybody knows what the
rules are and it’s automatic. You place the player on the list and he
goes and everybody knows when he’s coming back."
Halem said the
measure received universal support among owners and union leaders. In
the first three years of the policy, 73 players were placed on the list.
NASCAR
recently made changes to be more accommodating. Until this season, a
driver could not miss a race without giving up the chance to win a
championship. This year, under the new format, a driver can miss a race
and still make the Chase for the Spring Cup championship. Matt Kenseth
and Paul Menard had standby drivers this season, with their wives due to
give birth.
Both said they were willing to miss a race, if needed. Neither had to because both women gave birth on
weekdays.
It
doesn’t always go so smoothly. In 1993, Houston Oilers offensive line
coach Bob Young said right tackle David Williams "let the guys down, and
he let hundreds of thousands of fans down" when he chose to miss a game
against New England to stay by his wife’s side while she gave birth to
their son.
In Murphy’s case, sports talk radio hosts Mike Francesa
and Boomer Esiason questioned him for missing two games at the start of
this season.
"One day I understand. And in the old days they
didn’t do that," Francesa said. "But one day, go see the baby be born
and come back. You’re a Major League Baseball player. You can hire a
nurse to take care of the baby if your wife needs help."
Esiason
quickly apologized after a host of athletes, coaches and family groups
came to Murphy’s defense. Rollins, Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford and
Twins reliever Brian Duensing have missed games already this year for
child birth. Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson missed
three days of training camp in 2011 for the birth of his son. Little
attention was paid to any of those absences.
Then there is Oakland
reliever Dan Otero, who missed one game while attending the birth of
daughter Kinsley in September. Did he get any grief?
"Not at all," Otero said. "They were mad at me I came back early."
___
AP
Motor Sports Writer Jenna Fryer, AP Sports Writers Steven Wine in
Miami, Janie McCauley in Oakland, Calif., Jimmy Golen in Boston, Stephen
Hawkins in Texas and Will Graves in Pittsburgh and AP freelance writer
Ken Dunleavy in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.