Comments on: Selig: You “won’t recognize” baseball in a decade

By: 1historian

1historian — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:22:33 +0000

FYI – I am an old fart.

You can have all the series all over the damn world if you want, the money will be unbelievable, blah blah blah.

I won’t be there. Baseball lost me years and years ago – MLB, that is.

Come this spring there will come once again the day when I go back to watching High School or college baseball sitting on the sideline with a beer in my hand and my black lab with me, and other old farts there. No words necessary.

THAT is baseball to this old fart

By: umrguy42

umrguy42 — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 03:12:59 +0000

I recommend a wooden stake through the heart, and possibly silver bullets. Just to be sure. And/or destroying the head/brain. Wouldn’t want a comeback by an undead Bud…

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 23:44:19 +0000

“Are current salaries really “artificially depressed”?”

Mike Trout just signed a contract for $510k. His teammate, Josh Hamilton, just signed a contract for 5/$133M. Would you not say that Trout’s salary is being artificially depressed?

By: subpop77

subpop77 — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 22:29:49 +0000

Yep boys and girls gone are the days of the AMERICAN pastime were here for the $$! So hand it over SMDH.

By: bat42boy

bat42boy — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 21:33:03 +0000

After his so called leadership, it is hard to recognize baseball, the way it should be played, today.

By: js20011041

js20011041 — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 21:29:48 +0000

misterchainbluelightning, not trying to be a dick, but do you know what arbitrary means?

Also, we have seen teams like the A’s and Twins from the early 2000s make consistent playoff runs as well as the Rays from the last five years. We have seen time and time again that well run teams are successful and poorly run teams are not. Regardless of payroll. We already have revenue sharing, the luxury tax, and competitive balance round draft picks. We’re seeing smaller market teams lock up their stars longterm like you would not have seen ten years ago. At what point do you say enough is enough and that sufficient accomodations have been made?

By: kw27p

kw27p — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 21:15:01 +0000

Get a salary cap and get rid of the allstar game home field advantage tragedy and I will become a baseball fan again. Maybe

By: ndrick731

ndrick731 — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 21:00:34 +0000

Well I hope the money grubbing bitch enjoys what’s left of his miserable life before he goes straight to hell upon his not soon enough demise.

By: American of African Descent

American of African Descent — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:50:36 +0000

That’s not quite fair. Montreal had never been a baseball town, the stadium was a dreadful place to watch and play a game, and the one year the team was amazing was the year they canceled the World Series. Baseball was not going to be viable in Montreal for another 20 years.

The tough thing about having a truly “world” series would be the logistics. All of the best players in the world already come to the United States to play. I suppose you could put together a tournament where each player plays for his national team . . . you could call that tournament something like the World Baseball Classic, and hold it every four years . . . Of course, you’d need to find a way to motivate the very best players to play in that tournament so that the tournament would reflect the best talent a particular country has to offer.

By: American of African Descent

American of African Descent — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:37:59 +0000

A salary cap will not guarantee competitive balance. High payroll does not guarantee championships (ask the Mets, the Dodgers, and the Cubs), and a low payroll does not mean your team won’t be competitive (ask the Twins and A’s of the early ’00s, and the Rays now).

Want real competitive balance? Let’s use competitive principles. In the competitive market, when management isn’t doing well, an activist investor comes in, launches a proxy war, and inserts his own team. Why not the same in baseball? Currently, you have teams like the Pirates and the Royals that haven’t fielded competitive teams in 20 years. There is no penalty for ownership. What I propose is that if you can’t win over half your games once every seven years, MLB buys you out and sells to a new ownership group. That would make things interesting.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 18:56:35 +0000

lol Sometimes we earn our reputation, Burgie.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 18:50:27 +0000

Apparently that wall needs a fence…

By: indaburg

indaburg — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 18:04:08 +0000

I read the NYT article you recommended to ‘lions. Dominicans on the prairie. Who woulda thunk it? Seriously, it sounds like they’re doing right by those boys, given them an opportunity to an education as well as playing ball. Good stuff. Prior to that article, this is what I thought of OK: http://www.sportspickle.com/picture/15637/oklahoma-the-nut-punching-state.

By: scoocha

scoocha — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:42:13 +0000

The article hits on the right points – Selig can’t solve the PED situation, can’t get replay expanded because of incompetent union umpires, but he wants to make sure there is a team playing Djibouti in 10 years.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:18:37 +0000

lol No wonder you are so protective of your lawn.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:16:43 +0000

Some dirt is pretty young. Freshly composted organics = brand new dirt.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:15:22 +0000

I thought you were old as dirt. lol Maybe that’s why Jim Inhofe is so adamant in his opposition to global warming. He won’t be around for our comeuppance.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:14:43 +0000

Just finished reading that piece….I had not seen it, good story. I do remember reading a story about Almonte while he was at a junior college, must have been the same place/coach. Sad that the kid appears to have been blackballed for something that was done to him…more than something he did himself.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:13:07 +0000

Yep, people always act like future negative predictions can’t/won’t happen. In part, this is probably because evolution has always selected for strategies with short-term benefit….it just isn’t “natural” to plan that far ahead (years or generations) because no one has been able to do it before. Now we can, but if it comes with any cost at all, there is always going to be resistance….especially from people making money off of fucking up the place.

We are pretty much screwed at this point, it is just a question of how long it takes to hit the cliff….so far, it is pedal to the metal….makes me wish I was older….less chance of being around to see it.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:57:05 +0000

I saw the same thing when I lived on the western slope in Colorado. The bad thing is that we know that’s what we’re doing, and we do it anyway. I guess when it’s gone people will leave and we’ll talk about lost communities.

By: gbar22

gbar22 — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:52:56 +0000

I think the only people who truly want an international game are commissioners and owners for the cash. As a fan I don’t like the idea of putting teams in all sports all over the planet.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:49:33 +0000

Eh, that makes us just like everyone else…you just don’t get to see people from the rest of the world do it first hand on a daily basis.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:48:36 +0000

Agreed, but you can’t force people not to farm in a place entirely unsuited to the purpose. I tell you — Americans. Some people learn by reading, some by doing, but it seems like we have to learn by peeing on an electric fence multiple times.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:44:49 +0000

Is that the ogalala? That was always a big issue when I was in Lubbock, always cracked me up that the only people that could legally use it, are the ones that drain it down so fast. Nothing like trading the future for a slightly better today

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:40:35 +0000

The whole state is technically in a drought (year 3!) but I am not in the worst of it. I expect more water rationing this year…and a continuation of bleeding the aquifers dry at an alarming rate. Don’t get me started on that.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:36:39 +0000

Are you in the part of OK that has been beaten down by drought the last couple of years (I realize that includes nearly the entire state)? I saw a forecast for this summer…looks like you’ll be getting a repeat performance.

By: misterchainbluelightning

misterchainbluelightning — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:35:25 +0000

LOL @ “arbitrary”
And LOL @ “already have competitive balance”

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:34:09 +0000

Wow! How awesome. It was 70 here on Thursday but 57 with a cold wind yesterday. Today is supposed to be 65 but rainy all day. We usually get a last ice storm sometime in mid March. Then it stays warm…until it leaps to being hot. I’m so jealous. Mind those puppies’ feet.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:31:36 +0000

I had not….I’ll give it a read. Just finished a couple of hours of snow shoveling after getting 14-16″ yesterday.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:23:39 +0000

BTW, I hope you saw this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/sports/baseball/for-latino-baseball-players-in-northeast-an-opportunity-in-oklahoma.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

(It’s probably a little over the top, but still.)