COMMERCE — There's too much glitz and glamour in baseball nowadays, former major league third baseman Graig Nettles believes.

“I like the game, but I think it's too much showbiz in the game,” Nettles said Saturday during an appearance at the Mickey Mantle Classic.

“I think the young kids who come into the game should almost be forced to learn the history of the game and learn the history of the players. They take so much for granted that there has always been that kind of big money being made. It wasn't always so.”

Nettles said he remembers making $10,000, and after hitting 26 home runs (in 1970 with the Cleveland Indians), getting a $2,000 raise the following season.

“The young kids coming into the game don't understand that,” he said. “They look at the older generation of players like 'how much money did you make? That's all you made? Then you must not have been that good.' It's not that way.”

Unlike a lot of players, Nettles didn't take a winter job to supplement his baseball income. He came in at the start of the free agent era, when salaries began to soar.

“I was very content making what I was making,” he said. “I didn't think I was getting gypped out of anything at all. Now we look back and we were because the owners had a lot of money.”

During his final season in San Diego (1986), he reportedly made $912,247 — which now pales in comparison to the number of California's Albert Pujols, who signed a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels.

“I know the players are bigger and stronger,” Nettles said. “Each generation gets better than the last generation. The players are just as good athletes, if not better, but I am not sure if they play the game the same way.”

Nettles spent 10 years as a Yankee, playing in New York from 1973 to 1983.

He was a part of two World Series champions, 1977 and '78 — a season that saw the Yanks make up a 15-game deficit against the Red Sox, force a one-game playoff that was decided on Bucky Dent's three-run homer in the seventh. Nettles caught a foul pop-up by Carl Yastrzemski for the game's final out.

“We got hot,” Nettles said. “We were hot for almost three months. We continued it right on through the World Series.”

The season came down to a four-game series in Boston with the Yankees four games back.

“We swept them and were tied leaving Boston,” Nettles said. “That whole series was pivotal.”

The Yankees beat Kansas City in the American League Championship Series, then went on to beat Los Angeles in the 75th World Series. New York won the last four games after dropping the first two.

What was it like working for the late George “The Boss” Steinbrenner?

“It was hard working for him,” Nettles said. “He paid well, but he expected you to work harder than what he was paying you. He was a very demanding boss. He wanted to win. Really as a player, that is what you want from your owner, for him to give you a chance to win. If he thought we had a chance to win, he would go out and get that player that would help us.”

Nettles played against Mantle when Nettles was breaking in with Minnesota in 1967 and Mantle was winding down his Hall of Fame career (retiring in 1969). “He was a great guy and great ballplayer,” Nettles said. “I got to know him pretty well once I got traded to the Yankees. He was always around. He was a coach in spring training and we played golf several times. He was a fine man.”

Some have called the 22-season veteran the best third baseman not to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. “When I retired, my numbers were real good, good enough to get into the Hall of Fame,” he said. “Nowadays, the numbers are skewed. The home run is so much bigger than it was when I played, so my numbers don't look quite as impressive.”

Nettles, who played for the Twins, Indians, Yankees, Padres, Braves and Expos, holds the MLB record for most home runs by a third baseman (390). He was a six-time All-Star and won a Gold Glove twice during his stint with the Yankees.

Nettles finished with 1,314 RBIs, but some think his career .248 batting average is what is keeping him out of Cooperstown.

Nettles doesn't care for the expanded playoff system that kicks in this season featuring an additional two wild card teams. “I think they are doing it to just get the fans more excited and the teams that are out of the race,” he said. “As a baseball purist, I kinda liked it when you had a National League champion and an American League champion. Then the divisions came in. That was enough for me, just having the division champs.”

Nettles also doesn't go for expanded interleague play. “It cheapens the World Series,” Nettles said.