Wish I hadn't peeked at PGStaff's answers...cause I probably agree with them for the most part. But I didn't peek at the others...and I'll try to be a little pickier than I would've been.
1. Aluminum bats - Good at first, might have kept a few more kids interested over time with the success, may have helped "build" the college and HS games. But its time to go back to wood HS-and-above.
2. Bonds' records - While I watched them develop, good...but I was in denial. In retrospect, bad, very bad. Worst of all is the bad press recently, despite all the developing fan base during the HR binges. Hard to know anymore what was real and what wasn't? I long for purity...we'll won't have it again for a very long time.
3. Travel ball - Mostly good. But it has stretched too far IMO. Having run a youth baseball league for a while...one that we grew from 400 players to 1,100 players...I know it tears at the fabric of community baseball at younger and younger ages. It tears away kids that shouldn't be torn away. My son was the very first player in the league to do both at one point...today there are around 100 who have left (too many!) and another 50 or so trying to do both (not necessarily good for the player long term). Its just grown too much with too many dads thinking they've got something special when they don't.
4. NCAA - Mostly good. I wouldn't trade our family's experience with our older son for a million bucks...but I really think the NCAA is messing up the "student-athlete" equation with the new rules. For the past 2 years, bad.
5. Local showcases - Some good, most bad. We utilized one with our older son to learn what it was all about. But there are too many now pulling too many dollars out of too many pockets for kids who aren't even close to beyond-HS quality.
6. National showcases - Good, I guess. For us it was good. As long as they're truly "selective," I think its good.
7. Foreign-born players - Mostly good. But I wish MLB would invest in the inner cities the way they do in Latin America. Need fields and proper skill development. I fear that the days of Oakland area baseball with Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Willie Stargell and Vada Pinson are long gone.
8. Recruiting services - To me, bad. I have seen no benefit in them nor do I have any positive stories about them. I'm sure there are some, just don't know any.
9. Internet - Mostly good...some bad, some very bad. Too easy for a fly-by-night operation to take someone's money promising the moon. Too easy for anyone to publish nonsense without the casual reader knowing its accuracy. But for the wise reader, a wealth of information and we used it heavily.
10. Video games - For "the game of baseball?" Neutral impact. Probably increases interest for some...but the inactivity in general it promotes/allows is not good for our kids. Mostly gone are the days of pickup games at the park.