Posted on 04/02/2022 9:14:08 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Joe Maddon selected an adjective usually applied to a gallon of milk. Then again, for all the romance that surrounds the sport, baseball is a consumer product too.
“Once you eradicate National League rules, then everything becomes homogenized,” the Angels manager said.
With the adoption of the designated hitter in both leagues this year, and with the expansion of interleague play next year, Major League Baseball is giving their consumers what the league believes they want.
The National League dates to 1876, the oldest surviving professional sports league in the world, according to MLB historian John Thorn. The American League dates to 1901.
The time could soon come to retire the leagues. They have outlived their usefulness.
For almost a century, the two leagues had a distinguished and at times bitter rivalry. Never did an NL team play an AL team, aside from the World Series.
Each league president determined his own discipline. Each president’s autograph was stamped upon the baseballs used in his league. The umpires in each league wore different equipment.
For generations, fans and players anxiously awaited the All-Star game, the result of which would be trumpeted as the determination of the superior league. Stars played all nine innings, for the glory of their league.
That’s all gone now. Interleague play turns 25 years old this season.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
What you’re finding out is that baseball managers were highly overrated. They probably had less influence on a game than they ever should have. Much like football, baseball is a game that can be “managed to death” because it is played in defined increments with continuous stoppages in play. In that scenario there’s hardly much of a difference between an average manager and a good one.
I am actually starting to prefer Cricket over Baseball, once you start learning about the rules and strategy.
Who?
“There is no reason.”
Yes there is, it’s called money. In 1972 the team batting average for the American league was .239. That meant that less than one in every four plate appearances resulted in a hit...putting the ball in play and reaching first base without a mistake (error) by the defending team. If there were no errors during a game that meant that there would be less than 7 baserunners in a game. And of those outs, if four batters struck out, that mean there was no play at all even a put out. In 1973, the DH was implemented.
The DH was created for two purposes, first to try to provide offense. Pitchers notoriously were not good hitters. There have been a few, but not many. So the owners substituted a pinch hitter every time to make contact and protecting the pitchers’ field position so they could, well, continue to pitch. Secondly, it added years to aging ballplayers that couldn’t field or run bases well anymore but could go deep with one of their at bats and fill the seats. Recognition money.
Now toss the new and improved product on to the TV and you are guaranteeing money to the clubs to use for exuberant salaries even to the point of using them to make players stars, which most were not.
Summing it up, it all had to do with money for the teams especially the owners. So it’s not the game. The game was played in the early years by drunks and dope users who took bribes from gamblers before they decided to try to sell the game as wholesome which they don’t even really try to do anymore.
So expect batting averages in the NL to go up with the DH, ERA’s to go up, slugging percentage to go up as much as the position provides, stolen bases to go down, sacrifices to go away, and players to get even more money for playing half a game. And on the average, the individual MLB players played between 47 and 104 games during the 2019 MLB season. So should they be members of the individual state athletic unions or of the academy of arts and sciences?
wy69
“Chicks dig the long ball.”
Now referred to as the "New York GOOFBALL Giants"...
Regular Sunday doubleheaders shorten the season.
I hate this changing of rules but it’s been going on for a long, long time. Regarding the DH, here’s a compromise I could live with. Take the pitcher out of the batting line-up, no DH. An eight man line-up works just fine for both leagues then stop screwing with this beautiful game, PLEASE.
That's probably the best compromise I've seen. 8 position players and 1 pitcher. Only the position players get to bat. Expand the roster to 30 players so the union will approve the rule change.
Minimum MLB salary this year goes to $700k.
Also a $50 million ‘bonus pool’ for best performing young players who might otherwise get minimum or close to it.
That other silly league
Games now take too long to have doubleheaders. It's why I stopped going to games or watching on TV.
later
Before a handful of teams started raking in megabucks via nationwide cable contracts, teams like Cinci and Pittsburgh had a chance. That is all over now because if a low revenue team has a budding star, he will be gone after the first contract expires. The have-nots are just there to provide wins for the loaded teams. All now a joke.
I myself really enjoy college baseball where every hit is run out and these kids are trying real hard to get drafted.
Low ticket prices, $2 hotdogs, $1 bottle of water. The bigs can go away and I am a lifelong follower.
Interesting idea. How about another compromise? Add a ninth position player to the field. With so many hitters swinging for the fences these days, it won’t matter if a team puts an immobile slug on the field as a fifth infielder, a fourth outfielder, or even a “second catcher” to deal with potential wild pitches.
The National League of what?
THIS
(It is also why they make good cars)
It doesn’t seem that long ago I was strafing your homes.
Now I’m here asking you to not build such fine cars.
They won’t be done with baseball until mandating every team’s starting pitcher is a female.
A 19 second pitch clock is coming next year.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.