Yankees’ great Tino Martinez thinks players would adapt to all rules except for this one

Because of the current, ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, if baseball is to return this season, certain healthcare standards and conditions would need to be met. Yes, we miss the New York Yankees, but some things are bigger than sports, and public health is one of them. Now, there is a possibility that the game returns sometime in June or July, but players would need to cooperate for that to happen.

Tino Martinez, a former Yankees’ great and crucial member of the last dynasty, thinks that players will likely adapt to some of the requirements to make baseball return.

The slugging first baseman believes that players are capable of fulfilling most of the things that are needed from them, such as no throwing the ball around after outs, no high fives, no licking their fingers, no fist bumps, no saunas in the clubhouse, no eating at road restaurants, wearing masks in certain places, and more.

The former Yankees’ slugger thoughts on spitting

However, Tino doesn’t think that players are capable of refraining from spitting. “What people don’t realize is when you’re on the field out there daily, your mouth gets really dry from the clay and stuff and you always have a sandy-type taste in your month and you want to spit it out,” Martinez said Monday on Michael Kay’s ESPN New York radio show. “You don’t want to swallow it. That’s why guys spit so much.

“It’s not so much that it’s a phlegm or something like that. It’s dirt in your mouth that you want to get rid of. So that’s going to be a little tough to swallow. I don’t know how they’re going to handle that.”

Martinez, who hit 192 home runs with the New York Yankees and won four World Series championships in seven seasons with the team, said that players should be able to change the way they celebrate in the dugout. “High-fiving is pretty easy not to do,” he explained.

He also thinks players would welcome the fact that post-game showers wouldn’t be allowed. “I think that would be kind of cool,” he said. “I just watched the end of Michael Jordan’s “The Last Dance.” I couldn’t believe how when (the Bulls) won in ’98, they jumped on the bus and drove back to their hotel in full uniforms. So I’m sure baseball players could get used to that as well.”