Baseball is dying a slow death

[bryan_05]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

I'm pretty sure it depends on where you live, like Canada. If a team sucks no one goes and watches, unless its the Cubs, if the Tigers/Padres/Devil Rays were continually in 1st place they'd draw more crowds.

And as I recall the NBA that you speak so highly of just about died before Michael Jordan came along. Baseball isn't perfect, no sport is, basketball is 1v1, football has players killin people, baseball has problems w/ money. It's just what you decide to pick on.

[MSRoble33]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
erod, you complain just about way to much.

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I agree...you could be a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette if you get rid of that occasional streak of optamism.

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*cough*Bob Smizik*cough*

[MSRoble33]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
erod, you complain just about way to much.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">
I agree...you could be a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette if you get rid of that occasional streak of optamism.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">



*cough*Bob Smizik*cough*

[MSRoble33]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
erod, you complain just about way to much.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">
I agree...you could be a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette if you get rid of that occasional streak of optamism.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">



*cough*Bob Smizik*cough*

[kweiss]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

The problem is how slow the game is, and this is because of the batters. Between every pitch they adjust their batting gloves and take a nice deep breath. We don't want to watch the batters fix their gloves, we want to watch baseball. If we could get rid of the constant stepping out of the batter's box the games would go much faster and would be much more exciting.

[kweiss]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

The problem is how slow the game is, and this is because of the batters. Between every pitch they adjust their batting gloves and take a nice deep breath. We don't want to watch the batters fix their gloves, we want to watch baseball. If we could get rid of the constant stepping out of the batter's box the games would go much faster and would be much more exciting.

[kweiss]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

The problem is how slow the game is, and this is because of the batters. Between every pitch they adjust their batting gloves and take a nice deep breath. We don't want to watch the batters fix their gloves, we want to watch baseball. If we could get rid of the constant stepping out of the batter's box the games would go much faster and would be much more exciting.

[Graphik]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
The problem is how slow the game is, and this is because of the batters. Between every pitch they adjust their batting gloves and take a nice deep breath. We don't want to watch the batters fix their gloves, we want to watch baseball. If we could get rid of the constant stepping out of the batter's box the games would go much faster and would be much more exciting.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Exactly, at first it used to be the pitchers waiving off 8 signs, adjusting thier cap, playing with the resin bag, wiping the sweat off thier forehead, then going into thier 10 second windup routine, all before throwing the ball. Now its the batters.

[Graphik]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
The problem is how slow the game is, and this is because of the batters. Between every pitch they adjust their batting gloves and take a nice deep breath. We don't want to watch the batters fix their gloves, we want to watch baseball. If we could get rid of the constant stepping out of the batter's box the games would go much faster and would be much more exciting.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Exactly, at first it used to be the pitchers waiving off 8 signs, adjusting thier cap, playing with the resin bag, wiping the sweat off thier forehead, then going into thier 10 second windup routine, all before throwing the ball. Now its the batters.

[Graphik]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
The problem is how slow the game is, and this is because of the batters. Between every pitch they adjust their batting gloves and take a nice deep breath. We don't want to watch the batters fix their gloves, we want to watch baseball. If we could get rid of the constant stepping out of the batter's box the games would go much faster and would be much more exciting.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Exactly, at first it used to be the pitchers waiving off 8 signs, adjusting thier cap, playing with the resin bag, wiping the sweat off thier forehead, then going into thier 10 second windup routine, all before throwing the ball. Now its the batters.

[philliesfan980]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

Erod makes some very good points.

I love baseball. It is far and away my #1 sport. I think I'm the only person in the Philadelphia Metro Region who watches all the Phillies games from start to finish. The worst thing that happened to the game over the past few years has been the strike that never happened. When the last labor agreement was coming to an end, the owners thought they were getting somewhere by putting a "luxury tax" into effect. As you can tell, the luxury tax isn't stopping the Yankees. What they (the owners) needed was to not allow baseball to continue without a hard cap. Stop the game a year, maybe even 2 years. Do you think these guys wouldn't make some consessions when their hummers are getting repoed because they haven't gotten paid in 2 years? As much as I love watching the game of baseball, I'd gladly sacrifice the game for 2 years for long term benefit. Most likely I'd just watch baseball in another form, possibly season tickets to my local minor league team.

Another thing that baseball needs to focus on is SMARTER GMing. I highly suggest that each GM in the league read the book "Moneyball" . What it describes is new way of scouting players. Stop the hype and focus on the stats (past performance). If every GM took their approach (don't overpay for high school draft picks, focus on marginal runs, etc), the league would be much more successful as a whole.

[philliesfan980]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

Erod makes some very good points.

I love baseball. It is far and away my #1 sport. I think I'm the only person in the Philadelphia Metro Region who watches all the Phillies games from start to finish. The worst thing that happened to the game over the past few years has been the strike that never happened. When the last labor agreement was coming to an end, the owners thought they were getting somewhere by putting a "luxury tax" into effect. As you can tell, the luxury tax isn't stopping the Yankees. What they (the owners) needed was to not allow baseball to continue without a hard cap. Stop the game a year, maybe even 2 years. Do you think these guys wouldn't make some consessions when their hummers are getting repoed because they haven't gotten paid in 2 years? As much as I love watching the game of baseball, I'd gladly sacrifice the game for 2 years for long term benefit. Most likely I'd just watch baseball in another form, possibly season tickets to my local minor league team.

Another thing that baseball needs to focus on is SMARTER GMing. I highly suggest that each GM in the league read the book "Moneyball" . What it describes is new way of scouting players. Stop the hype and focus on the stats (past performance). If every GM took their approach (don't overpay for high school draft picks, focus on marginal runs, etc), the league would be much more successful as a whole.

[philliesfan980]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

Erod makes some very good points.

I love baseball. It is far and away my #1 sport. I think I'm the only person in the Philadelphia Metro Region who watches all the Phillies games from start to finish. The worst thing that happened to the game over the past few years has been the strike that never happened. When the last labor agreement was coming to an end, the owners thought they were getting somewhere by putting a "luxury tax" into effect. As you can tell, the luxury tax isn't stopping the Yankees. What they (the owners) needed was to not allow baseball to continue without a hard cap. Stop the game a year, maybe even 2 years. Do you think these guys wouldn't make some consessions when their hummers are getting repoed because they haven't gotten paid in 2 years? As much as I love watching the game of baseball, I'd gladly sacrifice the game for 2 years for long term benefit. Most likely I'd just watch baseball in another form, possibly season tickets to my local minor league team.

Another thing that baseball needs to focus on is SMARTER GMing. I highly suggest that each GM in the league read the book "Moneyball" . What it describes is new way of scouting players. Stop the hype and focus on the stats (past performance). If every GM took their approach (don't overpay for high school draft picks, focus on marginal runs, etc), the league would be much more successful as a whole.

[billsfan11]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

Like a lot of Americans now, baseball is not my chosen sport. Mainly because the season is just too long - I can't spend 3+ hours watching I game that I know will not make a difference in the final outcome of the season.....but that's just my personal preference, and it's not something that can be changed - that's just part of baseball. Here is something I would change:

I don't like the way they market their product. Why does Fox regionalize their Saturday games? If you live near NY, you can watch the Yankees and Mets play every night because they have their own channels. What is so special about a weekly game on a major network when they show the same teams you can watch every other day of the week? I think they would be better off setting up a national game of the week for the whole country to see. The ratings may suffer a bit initially, but in the long run it could boost interest in the league as a whole.
I know ESPN sort of does this already - but it's just not the same on a Wednesday or Sunday night.....a big game once a week on a Saturday afternoon would have a different, and special feeling to it IMO.

[billsfan11]

Re: Baseball is dying a slow death

Like a lot of Americans now, baseball is not my chosen sport. Mainly because the season is just too long - I can't spend 3+ hours watching I game that I know will not make a difference in the final outcome of the season.....but that's just my personal preference, and it's not something that can be changed - that's just part of baseball. Here is something I would change:

I don't like the way they market their product. Why does Fox regionalize their Saturday games? If you live near NY, you can watch the Yankees and Mets play every night because they have their own channels. What is so special about a weekly game on a major network when they show the same teams you can watch every other day of the week? I think they would be better off setting up a national game of the week for the whole country to see. The ratings may suffer a bit initially, but in the long run it could boost interest in the league as a whole.
I know ESPN sort of does this already - but it's just not the same on a Wednesday or Sunday night.....a big game once a week on a Saturday afternoon would have a different, and special feeling to it IMO.