Comments on: Fears that New York teams will sign all the free agents — in 1912 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/ Baseball. Baseball. And then a bit more baseball. Sun, 19 May 2013 17:55:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: dirtyharry1971 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-260015 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:26:19 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-260015 the 50′s were the golden age indeed, that must have been a wonderful time to be a baseball fan, no doubt.

]]> By: natstowngreg http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259844 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:01:57 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259844 The era was glorified thanks to New York writers.

Yes, several teams moved but in a way, that helped baseball in the long run. Boston, Philly and St. Louis couldn’t support two teams. Moving left those markets with one team that has prospered. while opening up new markets. Likewise, the West Coast got baseball for the first time and New York got a new NL team 4 years later (Washington had to wait 34 years to get a new team).

]]> By: slavetothetrafficlight http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259842 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:01:01 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259842 “It was high time that someone came to the rescue of the downtrodden ballplayers… who have been forced by slave-driving employers to go South for their health for six weeks every spring, to toil a few hours every day, to ride around the country in special Pullman cars and put up at the swellest hotels and then to spend five months in the Winter purchasing automobiles, farms, and houses and wondering how to invest the remaining surplus of their salaries… The ballplayer has been feeding at a gold-lined trough for a good many years and the present conditions of his ‘slavery’ look pretty good to him.”

]]> By: yankeesfanlen http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259827 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:41:53 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259827 I fail to see the problem indicated in this scenario.

]]> By: cur68 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259721 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:17:08 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259721 Free agency has made this post season very interesting and encourages players to go for BSOHL status. These are good things.

]]> By: simon94022 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259705 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:56:24 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259705 By contrast to baseball’s stagnation and decline in the Fifties and Sixties, the late 70s and early 80s saw the advent of free agency — and the most competitively balanced era in the history of the sport, with attendance surging and baseball reversing its long post-World War II decline in popularity.

It’s pretty hard to argue that free agency has been bad for the game.

]]> By: cur68 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259704 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:56:09 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259704 Heyman vehemently disagrees….and blocks you on twitter.

]]> By: simon94022 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259701 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:51:10 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259701 The worst era for competitive balance was the 1950s, a decade that nearly killed the game outside New York, saw more than a third of the franchises relocate (including 2 New York teams), attendance stagnate everywhere, and football begin its rise to overtake baseball in popularity. New York teams won the World Series 8 years in a row, and 10 times in 12 years. Seven of those 12 Series were NY inter-borough contests. The Kansas City Athletics barely even disguised the fact that their business model was to be a Yankee farm team.

Free agency was nowhere in sight, and the game was a complete mess. Yet even today there are legions of baseball writers who misremember the Fifties as a Golden Age.

]]> By: yankeesfanlen http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259690 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:15:07 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259690 Indeed they weren’t Cronkite. Now we have Lupica- What progress!

]]> By: sdelmonte http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259676 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:58:14 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259676 I never heard of the USBL before, and I consider myself fairly well versed in old ball. I guess there is something new to learn everyday.

Looked it up, BTW, and the NYC franchise was dead last when the league folded.

]]> By: snowbirdgothic http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259672 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:48:47 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259672 Fortunately, the competitive nature of those teams can be maintained by the good citizens undertaking a subscription to purchase on behalf of the city suitable accommodation spaces for horseless carriages during games.

]]> By: heynerdlinger http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259671 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:48:18 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259671 It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it turned out that this reporter was actually on the take from one of the established leagues. We’re talking about 1912 here. These guys weren’t Cronkite.

]]> By: paperlions http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259667 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:25:08 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259667 Of course reporters don’t critically assess the systems/institutions they cover…because few people do…and because reporters are typically in too much of a hurry to understand what they are reporting on…much less to question it. You get a quote, you write a story, you move on….gotta be first, not best.

]]> By: lyon810 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/15/fears-that-new-york-teams-will-sign-all-the-free-agents-in-1912/comment-page-1/#comment-259666 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:15:41 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=112299#comment-259666 Sounds like someone has been watching Ken Burns “Baseball”

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