Though the regular season is months away, the Dartmouth baseball team is already in the midst of a crisis. So far this term six players have quit the team, leaving behind a thin roster already reeling from a slew of injuries. Two players quit prior to the start of winter practices and were followed by four others. With twenty-six players remaining on the roster, the six former players made up almost twenty percent of the team.
Team dropouts range across classes; the group is comprised of two seniors, two sophomores, and two freshmen. Four of the players were pitchers, one an outfielder, and one a catcher. Included in the group of team dropouts is former captain Steve Perry '07, who refused to comment about the incident. Perry is a the former conference rookie of the year and would have been an integral part of Dartmouth's rotation. Perry surprised the team by quitting midseason.
Aaron Teitelbaum '07 was the other senior who quit the team and was a catcher for the Big Green. Unlike Perry, he had decided to leave the team before the start of winter training. The others who left are Ryan Marten '09, Andrew Mallory '09, Mitchell McIntyre '10, and Brian Recht '10. Marten and Mallory both pitched last season for the Big Green. McIntyre would have been a pitcher and Recht an outfielder for the Big Green.
"We all had our personal reasons [for leaving]," Recht said. "It was entirely an individual thing. [The players' quitting] was not a conspiracy .... There was no single reason [for my decision to quit], though the practice schedule was up there," Recht added.
Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday practices, which began at 6 a.m. over Fall Term, have been pushed earlier to 5:30 a.m. without an apparent reason. Players now have to be dressed and ready by 4:45 a.m. Recht could not say with confidence whether the time-consuming schedule impacted the other five players' decisions, but asserted that there are no hostilities between the team and its six former players. Recht also claimed that even with the loss of Perry, the team still has good leaders and is functioning fine.
Head coach Bob Whalen refused to comment on the individual players who had left the program and downplayed the effect that the incident would have on team dynamics and strategy. He pointed out that a recent spat of off-field injuries is the most significant obstacle that the team has to overcome right now.
"Today we are having only our seventh practice of the winter," pointed out Whalen of the long time available to address the team's current problems.
However, Whalen did link the number of quits on the baseball team with a more general trend at the college.
"This has become a prevalent issue at Dartmouth. I don't know if we are ahead of the curve or behind the curve, but this is something that is new to the school."
The coach was referring to numerous other mass-quitting incidents that have troubled many of Dartmouth's sports teams. The field hockey team experienced a similar wave of quitting earlier this year. The current senior class of the football team also experienced a great deal of attrition
Whalen pointed out that there are two typical reasons for a player to quit a team. One is the case in which a senior who is not going to get playing time decides the effort of practicing is not worth it. The other is the case of a player enduring a career-altering injury. Perry missed all of last season with an injury, but neither reason makes much sense in the cases of the healthy underclassmen. Teitelbaum played only limited time last season and could not match his solid 2005 numbers, which may explain his decision to quit before the season began.
"Attrition can be a good thing," forward-looking Whalen said. "It presents an opportunity for other players to step up."
Whalen mentioned that he did not make any changes this season to his coaching style regarding practicing and strategy. There do no appear to be any real changes, other than tweaks in training methods, which occur with every new season, to explain the succession of players leaving the team. He did not address the time changes for practices.
"We require the same level of commitment [as in previous seasons]," Wheelan said. "Kids come here wanting to play pro ball. At a young age they might not realize the responsibility of Division I athletics."
Last year's team finished with a 20-19 overall and a 13-7 conference record, which placed Dartmouth second in the Ivy League. To start off its 2007 season, Big Green will travel to the University of Cincinnati to play in a three-game series against the Bearcats starting March 3. Over spring break, the team will train for eleven days in Bradenton, Florida.
