Major League Baseball players understand that nobody is going to feel sorry for the challenges they face with their travel, because they fly on private jets and have their bags carried. They have a team of clubhouse attendants prepared to help them with anything they ask for, and all the while they are paid really well, with months off in the offseason.

A few weeks ago, I happened to be on the same flight as Chipper Jones going into New York, and as we walked into the terminal, he mentioned that this was the first time in his life that he had ever stepped foot in LaGuardia Airport.

"Sounds spoiled, right?" he said, in a self-deprecating way.

So with almost no exceptions, Chipper and other players understand this absolute truth: They've got a great life.

But another truth is also absolute: The work and sleep cycles they go through over the course of a summer are not conducive for maximum physical efficiency, and players wear down over the course of the baseball season.

Maybe this is why Rob Manfred, baseball's new commissioner, spoke out loud the other day about the possibility