David Wells loves attention. He’s just that sort of guy who enjoys the spotlight, whether it good or bad. Last week, when the Yankee pitcher made it public that his 1998 perfect game was thrown “half-drunk,” as mentioned in a passage from his forthcoming biography, it really didn’t strike me as shocking as many made it out to be.

In fact, it really didn’t surprise me at all.

I remember driving to high school listening to Howard Stern the day after the Yankees won their 1998 World Series as Howard and company interviewed Wells and David Cone, who were still out celebrating their victory slurring their speech uncontrollably.

But partying in celebration is one thing. Coming to the ballpark intoxicated on your scheduled date to pitch is another.

And if Boomer did in fact arrive that day “half-drunk,” or even just hung over, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the first time a big leaguer made such a blunder. In earlier decades, I’m sure this was a regular occurrence in clubhouses, where ballplayers were much more accessible while being held to similar standards as the common man.

But this is the modern era of sports where athletes are so untouchable and held to such heights that such minor indiscretions such as drinking become much larger problems. There are so many expectations put on our athletes, college and pro, that any minor indiscretion becomes a much larger detriment and letdown to the athlete, their team and their fans.

Back in the ’50s and ’60s, most professional athletes held their playing careers as part-time work while holding much more lucrative off-season jobs. Endorsement deals or lending their names and faces to someone else’s business paid the bills. The professional athlete held a much closer relation with the everyday obstacles of the common man.

With such a close relation, it was no surprise that an athlete would go out after work and throw a few back with his teammates.

Case in point, when my father was young he took a trip to Chicago from Davenport, Iowa, with my grandfather to see the White Sox play the Yankees. My grandfather was the manager of a Woolworth department store and just by chance they ran into the manager of the Chicago Woolworth, the largest store of its kind in the country. My grandfather introduced himself to the Chicago manager, who invited both of them to dinner with Yankee pitcher Don Larsen after the game.

My father has described to me and others on many occasions his evening of a lifetime, as he discussed ball with Larsen in a downtown Chicago restaurant. The man who pitched a perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series sat down with my father to discuss not only his profession, but my father’s own budding little-league career.

As many highlights of the evening as there were, what stands out every time my dad tells that story is when the waitress came over to the table to tell Mr. Larsen that his teammates were upstairs at the bar, and they needed to speak to him for a moment. Ten minutes later, Larson heads downstairs with future Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford, with all three lit up like Christmas trees. They kindly scribbled their names on my father’s placemat and went back up to the bar as my dad finished his supper with Mr. Larsen.

The next day the Yankees were back on the field in Chicago for another game. No doubt Mantle and Berra were able to get out and play the next day.

Today’s expectations on our athletes, along with the higher levels they are expected to reach, generally restrict our current stars from going out a-partying away like their predecessors. But every once and again, an athlete can get away with it. Boomer may have been able to pull off a perfect game in some state of inebriation, but his indiscretions have probably prevented him from reaching the consistency of better pitchers.

A lot has changed since the days of Berra and Mantle, but deep down the professional and collegiate athlete still has a lot in common with the everyday man. If an athlete is of age and wants to throw a couple back in celebration, or for any reason for that matter, there’s not a problem. That is, of course, as long as it’s not affecting their performances.