JUPITER, Fla. • They need stinking badges.
It’s part of the culture of baseball, the compartmentalizing of a clubhouse, these virtual badges ballplayers wear like birds on bats.
For instance, in the Roger Dean Stadium clubhouse, there’s a table where big leaguers hang and a table where minor leaguers hang. The other day, Dean Anna was chillin’ at the big-league table, leaning back in a chair. Wait, Dean Anna? But see, he’s got a badge — 23 major league at-bats — which gives him access over there.
An All-Star forever wears that badge, or an award-winner, or whatever the baseball accomplishment may be.