Food Allergies: BSOHL Of The Future?

By Jeff Sullivan - Editor

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Jan 31, 2012 - I kind of feel bad when it happens, now. Here you have a baseball player who's just trying to be honest in response to a reporter's question. The reporter wants to know how the player feels after an offseason of rest and conditioning. The player says he feels strong. He feels fit. He probably does feel strong and fit. But the instant he says he's in the best shape of his life - even if he really is in the best shape of his life - he's tuned out. People won't listen.

It's treated like it's meaningless. It has its own Internet acronym. People don't hear that a player's in the best shape of his life and daydream; people hear that a player's in the best shape of his life and snort.

Fan: I bet.
Fan: /snort
Fan: I bet he's in real great shape.
Fan: /snort
Fan: /snort
Fan: Watch it not matter.
Fan: /snort
Fan: /snort
Fan: /snort

Maybe people used to believe, once. I'm only so old. It's possible that they did. It's probable that they did. People probably used to believe that a player who showed up to camp in the best shape of his life was primed for a hell of a season. But then it became a cliché. And then there was the evidence. There's no compelling evidence that this ends up actually mattering. Maybe players who get in great shape feel great, and that's great for them, but all fans care about is performance. Declarations of best-shapeitude have shown no correlation with improved performance.

So people won't let themselves be tricked. Not by a player being in his best shape. Eyes and ears are no longer open to assertions like that. But I think I'm sensing a new wave. A new direction, a new twist, with fresh promise. A way for players to talk about their improved physical conditions and get the fans back to daydreaming.

Marlon Byrd:

The first step in the transformation regarded Byrd's diet, and he saw New York nutritionist Robert Pastore in New York on the recommendation of Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth. Tests revealed Byrd was allergic to milk and wheat, and very close to having celiac disease. His wife, Andrea, had the same allergies. Pastore advised the Byrds to change their diet and both saw instant results.

Justin Morneau:

He also changed his diet and lost 20 pounds as a result after undergoing a food allergy test, which detected he's sensitive to sugars, gluten and dairy.

Additionally, in Seattle, Franklin Gutierrez has supposedly added 14 pounds of muscle since the end of last season. Some while back, Gutierrez was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. He had difficulty eating, and difficulty getting into playing shape. Now he seems to have his symptoms managed, to the point where he's re-gained his strength and energy.

It was determined that Byrd had lived with undiagnosed food allergies. This has been addressed, and Byrd feels better. It was determined that Morneau had lived with undiagnosed food allergies. This has been addressed, and Morneau feels better. It was determined that Gutierrez was suffering from undiagnosed food allergies. This has been addressed, and Gutierrez feels better.

And it's so interesting. There's so much hope. You know what's really hard to do when your body doesn't respond well to something you ate? Perform physically at a high level. You feel sick. Sluggish. Weak. You know what's really easy to imagine after a player figures out his diet? That he can perform physically at a higher level.

At its heart, a player resolving some previously unknown medical condition isn't entirely unlike that player getting into the best shape of his life. He'll have a little more energy. He'll have a little more strength, and a little more stamina. There's a certain degree of overlap.

But the medical angle provides this sense of legitimacy. Legitimacy and significance. If a player is in the best shape of his life, maybe he's gone from X shape to X + 1% shape. Basically negligible. If a player amends his diet so that his body stops launching molecular missiles, though, there's no telling how much better he could be. He might have effectively unstrapped a piano from his back.

Food allergies seem to be in the news more than ever. They certainly seem to be a topic of conversation more than ever, although I'm a blogger who works from home so my sample size of interpersonal conversations is limited. I suspect that baseball players will be tested for food allergies more and more often, and it follows that there should be more and more baseball players found to have food allergies. They will presumably address these allergies, and they'll suck us in. They'll suck us in, every time. Until they don't. Until the evidence suggests that it doesn't matter.

If the evidence suggests that it doesn't matter. It doesn't say that yet. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to my daydream.

Read More: Franklin Gutierrez (CF - SEA), Marlon Byrd (CF - BOS), Justin Morneau (DH - MIN)

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