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Baseball Needs Leadership

ILVBBILVBB1,000+ posts
Football season is upon us. With that we have 24-hour a-day media coverage; “let’s break down …. “

Saturday there were at least 50 college football games on TV; another 15 high school games not to mention the countless pre and post game shows. I turned on to several games and it was not unusual to see college games with crowds in excess of 70,000. Heck; last week I went to my boys alma mater HS which had a crowd of 5,000, local TV coverage and internet coverage for both teams. And this is all before we are inundated with the NFL on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday……

When I see this and then compare it baseball; I have come to the conclusion that baseball may be doomed.

This season I went to 4 MLB games, at least 6 MiLB games at the AA and AAA level, 30 D3 games, 12 D1 games and more than 30 HS games. Of these games only two of them (both MLB) had crowds that exceeded the average collegiate football game. Other than my local MLB team not a single one had any kind of local TV coverage. With the exception of the MLB and MiLB games none of them had any kind of press coverage other than the occasional box score in the paper.

Other than MLB the only organization which has a good TV contract is Little League Baseball and that is because its tournament is in August when there is no college sports; basketball is done, hockey is done and college football has yet to start.

Baseball began to fall behind Football and Basketball as America’s game a decade ago. In that time those that should have an interest in growing the game have turned a blind eye towards developing the game and maintaining its role in American culture. The game has been sacrificed in favor of ownership profit. I just love listening to the LA media discuss the effect of a divorce on a baseball team; which only reinforces the notion that it is only about money not the game.

Over the past 20-years MLB has created vehicles which are highly profitable to the professional game. Whether it is new stadiums which help attendance or creating their own television networks the focus has been on profit and not building the game. Player development has increasingly been outsourced to the Caribbean, South America and now Asia.

Baseball needs MLB to step up and look at the status of the game. I don’t see baseball as “America’s Pastime” any more. The game has changed; to an extent it is a product of its own economics. Baseball has such a long “development period” it needs the HS draft, it needs Latin players. The emphasis is on developing entertainment as cost effective (as cheap as possible) without regard to the historic or cultural roll that the game has played in our country.

I am not saying the game is better or worse; I have come to the conclusion that MLB is neglecting the game in favor of its own bottom line.

Today; Football and Basketball use the American collegiate system to develop it players. In so doing it is developing its fan base even before the players reach the ranks of professional sports. By the time many football or basketball players ever become professionals they have been exposed nationally, regionally or at a minimum locally. They are part of a social system that creates loyalty to colleges, to players and most of all to the game.

This is a system in which everyone participates. Athletes earn an opportunity to get an education and prepare for a professional career if they are good enough. Colleges develop loyalty and a financially sound fan/alumni base which helps with their primary mission. Communities develop ties to schools and team which help create a social fabric of pride and stability. But most of all professional sports have access to players, many with loyal fans which they can grow their business creating even broader coverage, profits and success.

MLB all but neglects college baseball; take draft statistics over the past few years. There is clearly a bias towards high school players, while this is clearly good business, I question whether this does anything to enhance the game. It is virtually impossible to find a college game on TV (except for the college world series); and when you do it is one of less than say a dozen teams. Minor league baseball is terrific; but it clearly flies under the radar in comparison to football and basketball. There is no loyalty generated; fans are not interest in or loyal to teams in the Arizona, Dominican or Venezuela rookie leagues.

With such a strong bias towards football; as a parent shouldn’t you advise your son, if he is all athletic to focus on football? Clearly there is more opportunity to “get something” from the game. The scholarship opportunities alone are nearly 10-15 times for athletes that play football. On top of that is the larger benefit of personal exposure and contacts which for many are the foundation of finding jobs and developing careers.

Additionally, for kids today that have aspiration of playing professional sports you are not competing against an offshore development program which operates under different standards with fundamentally different economics. While this is part of a world economy it is major factor in the bottom line of professional baseball and hard to comprehend until it affects someone you know. With this as a factor; wouldn’t you push your son toward football which has both better near term opportunities and potentially a clearer upside in reaching the professional level?

Baseball has begun to make strides overseas. There is a growing professional presence throughout Asia and Europe. The rest of the world has grasp hold of the World Baseball Classic. Yet; with the loss of the Olympics which MLB did little to support, baseball’s international development has been handed a setback. MLB should be there supporting the game overseas and doing more than being a back seat supporter of the game.

As I watch American football unfold its grasp on America, I question will Baseball be recognized as “America’s Pastime” in 20-years. I doubt it and I question is there the leadership in MLB to refocus the game and to advocate for its success of the sport not only in the US but worldwide in the future?

I am sorry for being longwinded; but the 24-hour a-day football coverage drives me a little nutty. Anyway it is something to discuss, dissect and argue this fall.
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justbaseballjustbaseball10,000+ posts
I'm really not sure how to respond to all of that.

What I know is I love baseball at the HS, college and MiLB level. At the MLB level, I am in awe of the talent, but it has become very expensive...very expensive to attend a game and I'm not crazy about the 'show-i-ness' of the atmosphere. I'm still a guy who loves organ music at a baseball game.

I do not particularly like the atmosphere at a pro football game either (I FAR prefer the college gameday atmosphere) and I've attended one pro football game in person in the last five or so years. I rarely watch it on TV either.

But I'm probably not the best guy to comment. I'm a baseball fan first.
Last edited by justbaseball
PD PA Dino500+ posts
quote:
The game has been sacrificed in favor of ownership profit.


The game at the MLB level is not the same game you see played at your local youth field, high school or the DIII in your home town. The Commissioner and his 30 knights of the roundtable ensure that. It is no more comparable than the famous Hegins pigeon shoot in Pennsylvania is to real hunting. The Pittsburgh Pirates are perfect proof of that. Losing 19 seasons in a row and showing a profit for their owners in as many seasons. Playing in possibly the most perfect ball park in the nation, almost entirely funded with public (that's you and me) tax money. There were 228 million dollars alotted for the park and the Pirate's ownership pledged only $40 million. The threat was, "build it or we will go". The Buccos were going to leave town so they built it. Nice neighbors, eh? Then they proceeded to stink more than any other team in baseball history as a pay back to their fans.

There are grand bronze statues outside of PNC Park, Wagner, Clemente, Stargell and Mazeroski to name four. But there is no one to memorialize from the past 20 years. An entire baseball generation bereft of any significance whatsoever. Fans don't sit in PNC park and say, "Hey you remember when so and so hit the home run that won this or that championship? Or , "you know who hit his 3,000th hit and I was here to see it." No, the owners are making sure that an entire generation will never have a meaningful memory of the game of baseball viewed at PNC Park but they are making plenty of money from naming rights, television contracts and corporate suites. The fans can come if they like.

Meanwhile, the baseball fan like the world war II veteran dies off, a few each year taking their enthusiasm for the game with them. Having had no real reason to take their children to the ballpark and pass on the love of the game, they die. Their children walk through the house claiming this or that item. A dull colored dusty old baseball sits on a shelf in the corner of a dim lit bedroom. On it the autographs of every member of the 1971 World Championship Pittsburgh Pirates Team including Roberto Clemente. No one picks it up. It is left for the auctioneer to find it a new home, along with the shoebox full of topps trading cards under the bed.

If my kids ask, tell them my Bob Feller ball and my cards are hidden in a Mason jar box in the fruit cellar. I know they'll be looking because I'm not going to let the dirty *******s win.
B bothsportsdad100+ posts
I am sure there are many football fans on here so I will temper my comments somewhat on what I really think about football, the game and its players, its television coverage and its marketing...

Football is not really about the game. It is an experience, You go to the game; you tailgate or you stay at home and have a party with friends and watch the game on TV.. every aspect of the telecast being devoted to entertainment... not really about the nuances of the game. It occurred to me once that for many watching football it is a lot like having Halloween every weekend. Fans can dress up in a costume and be something they arent; behave in a manner that is totally opposite of their weekly persona and just let off steam... all the time watching players who draw attention the themselves with the next over the top cell phone expression of "ME" after a touchdown. You never hear about respect for the game... Honestly I am still stunned that Vince McMahon's WWE experiment with football didn't work out.

Baseball is for the most part the antithesis of this. It is a game where the nuances and the strategy of the game itself being played are what make the game enjoyable. It is a game where a family can sit on the stands and create memories of watching for just one day in a baseball player's career a sliver of their greatness and remember that day for the rest of their lives... like Bob Costas can recall seeing Willy Mays play CF or I can recall Bob Gibson get his 3000th strikeout or my father relating seeing, in 1935, Satchel Paige outduel Dizzy Dean 1-0 in an exhibition game. Do you think anyone would remember let alone brag that they were in attendance the day Ocho Cinco broke any record?

The differences in the two sports is emblematic of what our society has become. Football is a mile wide and an inch deep and baseball is an inch wide and a mile deep.

Give me the latter.
Last edited by bothsportsdad
ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
quote:
Originally posted by PA Dino:
quote:
The game has been sacrificed in favor of ownership profit.


The game at the MLB level is not the same game you see played at your local youth field, high school or the DIII in your home town. The Commissioner and his 30 knights of the roundtable ensure that. It is no more comparable than the famous Hegins pigeon shoot in Pennsylvania is to real hunting. The Pittsburgh Pirates are perfect proof of that. Losing 19 seasons in a row and showing a profit for their owners in as many seasons. Playing in possibly the most perfect ball park in the nation, almost entirely funded with public (that's you and me) tax money. There were 228 million dollars alotted for the park and the Pirate's ownership pledged only $40 million. The threat was, "build it or we will go". The Buccos were going to leave town so they built it. Nice neighbors, eh? Then they proceeded to stink more than any other team in baseball history as a pay back to their fans.

There are grand bronze statues outside of PNC Park, Wagner, Clemente, Stargell and Mazeroski to name four. But there is no one to memorialize from the past 20 years. An entire baseball generation bereft of any significance whatsoever. Fans don't sit in PNC park and say, "Hey you remember when so and so hit the home run that won this or that championship? Or , "you know who hit his 3,000th hit and I was here to see it." No, the owners are making sure that an entire generation will never have a meaningful memory of the game of baseball viewed at PNC Park but they are making plenty of money from naming rights, television contracts and corporate suites. The fans can come if they like.

Meanwhile, the baseball fan like the world war II veteran dies off, a few each year taking their enthusiasm for the game with them. Having had no real reason to take their children to the ballpark and pass on the love of the game, they die. Their children walk through the house claiming this or that item. A dull colored dusty old baseball sits on a shelf in the corner of a dim lit bedroom. On it the autographs of every member of the 1971 World Championship Pittsburgh Pirates Team including Roberto Clemente. No one picks it up. It is left for the auctioneer to find it a new home, along with the shoebox full of topps trading cards under the bed.

If my kids ask, tell them my Bob Feller ball and my cards are hidden in a Mason jar box in the fruit cellar. I know they'll be looking because I'm not going to let the dirty *******s win.

Totally agree with all that. The Pirates ownership should be prosecuted for robbing the taxpayers.

Baseball will always have one major advantage in that it is the summertime sport. It invites fans to go to the game in nice weather and that is a good thing. Football is a TV sport. The ultimate gladiator sport if you will. People wonder what it must have been like in Ancient Rome? Watch a football game.

Baseball has made a marketing decision that unless the Yankees are in the World Series every year, that the sport won't succeed. That is a crock I say. Football allows every market to participate - equally (all except Cleveland Roll Eyes) That is the argument I am having a tough time with. Why does it always have to be the Yankees???

The Pirates are an abject embarassment (other than Zack Duke). No excuse they couldn't be more competitive like the Twins. I am a little concerned with what I am seeing in Tampa however. Maybe the best young talent in the game and hardly anybody is watching Confused
Last edited by ClevelandDad
fillsfanfillsfan1,000+ posts
The major difference between baseball and the other sports, regarding competitiveness, is a salary cap. Until baseball has one, and teams have to spend a maximum and minimum amount on payroll, teams like the Pirates and Royals will never be competitive. Once the Rays have to start paying their talent they will fall back again.

The Yankees are a unique franchise in all of sports. They make more money than we imagine. They could probably spend another $100 mil on payroll without blinking. A salary cap would put them on a more level playing field also. (They laugh at the luxury tax now in place)

Football games are events. Sixteen games, one a week. Three days to talk about this weeks game and 3 days to talk about next weeks game.

If a city puts a winning team on the field the stands will be filled in most cities. In Philadelphia the Eagles were by far the biggest game in town for years. The past 4 years with the Phillies success it's about even on who the most popular team is. Over 100 sellouts in a row for Phils.

I went to a Yankees game about 6 years ago and you could feel a buzz in the Stadium from the fans expecting the Yankees to win the game. That same buzz has been in Citizens Bank Park the past 3 years. Winning gives fans, and the city, a whole different perspective and feel about a team.
B baseballregie100+ posts
It's hard being a KC Royals fan but I was one until the Royals decided to quit televising their games on anything but their own PAY network. Haven't seen a game for 2 years now. I think that was a huge mistake in that I was able to follow the team and become familiar with players. After you go a summer without being able to watch your home team play, you just sort of lose interest.

Doubt if their "network" has made them as much as they've lost in fan interest. Pretty sad actually.
C CABBallFan1,000+ posts
My baseball playing experience is limited to a part of one season. First or second grade, I think. My most vivid memory is forgetting my glove and, being the only Lefty, spending half the practice wondering around until my mom drove by and tossed it to a coach.

My athletic years were spent swimming and playing water polo. By the time I was finished with College and a young adult, I could describe, in detail, the nuances of each offense in College Football’s top 25.

Oh, and then we had a kid. It was in kindergarten that he first played the Spring sport. As I signed him up, I thought nothing more of it than it’d be a “rounding out” experience.

At the leagues Dodger night, I drank a beer, ate peanuts and talked mortgage rates and career trajectories with the other Dads. Late in the game, my son told me that J.D. Drew, considering the pitching match-up, wasn’t having a good night at the plate. And I experienced that most special moment of a parenting process, the instant you realize a light has lit in your child.

My son is still very early his baseball (life) experience - he will play his 12U Little League season this Spring - and there’s always the possibility that his interest will fade away and Baseball will become just part of his memories of his preteen childhood. But since he played his first Fall Ball game yesterday morning and was still badgering me to keep playing catch with him even after the sun was set and the lack of light was making it dangerous for my middle-age eyes, it sure doesn’t feel like.

So now I listen to Vin Scully as often as possible and scour sites like HSBB to learn and keep up with information on my son’s passion. I even have a fantasy team and understand what a Hold is.

Don’t fret for baseball. It is a better game. It will ebb and it will flow. But it will always pull in the hearts of new fans.
ILVBBILVBB1,000+ posts
CADad-

I am not talking about the simple differences; I am concerned about the changing American culture. Football is like a pretty girl that everyone stops and ogles; America has become a voyeur society, whether it is our pop culture, Maury Povich or Football. Our society has changed and it is affecting families. As our society changes, the roll or place in our society that Baseball filled for most of the last century has changed. With this change I am questioning whether Baseball has the leadership to forge a position in our society that the game once held.

The manifestation of our societal changes is evident in our media. Football has mastered American media and now stream football at some level 12-months a year. The game has been embraced by educational institutions as a money maker. Yet in the end; are we helping our kids? Is football a true reflection of our society and should we as parents focus our attention to Football as a tool to a better education, job and social acceptance?

At the same time; if you believe that baseball is instrumental to the history and culture of America (like I do); who is responsible for directing and growing the game? If parents see Football and Basketball as the icons of American culture; then what happens to baseball?

I questioned the leadership of MLB as focused on their bottom line and not the health of the game. With that one can come to all kinds of adverse conclusions as to what happens to our children, our communities, cities that invest in stadiums, taxpayers and the list goes on if MLB does not provide the leadership that the game needs for it to at a minimum hold its historical place in society.
Last edited by ILVBB
D deldad500+ posts
Terrance Mann from the movie the Field of Dreams:

Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.
Three BaggerThree Bagger1,000+ posts
bothsportsdad,

Very eloquently put. Exactly the way I feel about things.

CaBBallFan,

Looks like you might have gotten the BB virus via your son. I've had it for 50 some odd years and there's practically no hope of cure. I don't know why it was me and not my brother, when we were exposed to the same BB levels and played countless two person games in our backyard together. I think baseball gets you when you first experience one of those facets of it's genius be it hearing Vin Scully for the first time, seeing Willie Mays make a catch, Seeing a young Ken Griffy laughing and playing like its the easiest game in the world, or maybe one of its more serious moments when a dying Lou Gehrig stands alone on the field making an unforgettable speech. Or maybe its just seeing the excitement and fun it can bring to your own young son. Baseball is all of these things.
fillsfanfillsfan1,000+ posts
ILVBB, with all due respect, you are way overthinking this thing. Baseball is a game that attracts tens of millions of people every summer. Always has, always will. Attendance this decade is way ahead of attendance in the 90's.

I don't think the parent/child experience of attending a baseball game together can be replaced by any other sport. The relaxed atmosphere of a summer evening at the ballpark with your toddler will always be a right of passage for young parents, hopefully creating new fans from each generation.

Like someone else said football is a perfect TV sport. Rectangular field fits perfectly into our rectangular televisions, perfect view of every play and you get to see every play 2 or 3 times. Plus you can watch two or three at a time. NFL has done a good job exploiting that.

It does not mean people have stopped watching or attending baseball games. Baseball is not going away anytime soon.
ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
quote:
Originally posted by fillsfan:
ILVBB, with all due respect, you are way overthinking this thing. Baseball is a game that attracts tens of millions of people every summer. Always has, always will. Attendance this decade is way ahead of attendance in the 90's.

I don't think the parent/child experience of attending a baseball game together can be replaced by any other sport. The relaxed atmosphere of a summer evening at the ballpark with your toddler will always be a right of passage for young parents, hopefully creating new fans from each generation.

Like someone else said football is a perfect TV sport. Rectangular field fits perfectly into our rectangular televisions, perfect view of every play and you get to see every play 2 or 3 times. Plus you can watch two or three at a time. NFL has done a good job exploiting that.

It does not mean people have stopped watching or attending baseball games. Baseball is not going away anytime soon.

Excellent post and agree! I have enjoyed the discussion in this thread!

I think ILVBB might be arguing that baseball could do better. On that count, I think baseball could learn a few things from football (i.e., salary controls, revenue sharing). I think baseball can do better. In 1997, the Indians played the Florida Marlins in the WS and the ratings were down. How that can be I don't know because it turned into one of the most exciting world series ever. I believe the sport can get ratings (even if the Yankees were not in it) if it were marketed properly.
CADadCADad5,000+ posts
ILVBB,
Certainly there is more of an emphasis on the bottomline both amongst the players and the owners. The commissioner was supposed to be the one impartial overseer of the game although he was always beholden to the owners to some degree. Now the commissioner is essentially an owner and there is nobody who is really looking out for baseball first and foremost.

Baseball will find it's niche and will survive but other sports will continue to make inroads.
Last edited by CADad
ILVBBILVBB1,000+ posts
My premise is that Football has clearly defined who and what they are; and as such now are a dominate force in American culture. Whether it is high school, college or professional football; it is at the center of our culture. High school football dominates many communities; it is not unheard of for entire towns to come out and support the local team (we have all heard the stories of Texas high school football and their massive stadiums). With the students returning to colleges; football is at the center of attention for a good portion of the country.

I look at youth sports as a vehicle to learn important life lessons (teamwork, commitment, failure and sportsmanship). I also believe that we as Americans have a social contract to develop productive citizens, support our communities and provide for our common welfare. At the same time; one should recognize that we are living in a global society where we must be able to compete and excel.

We as a forum constantly talk about the inequity in the allocation of scholarships. We go on and on about how the collegiate game is hurt by the lack of scholarships. We also spend hours discussing the inequity of many of the rule placed on collegiate baseball by the NCAA. Yet we do not focus on the relationship between the game and those that benefit from it. Shouldn’t those that ultimately benefit from collegiate baseball be leading the charge advocating for the game? From my prospective; MLB has created its system with its product in mind; HS and Latin players are available and can be run through a training program which is both cost effective and self-sufficient.

Football realizes that it is an American institution and has created a social contract with American universities and media for the development of a product which is strictly American. Football is strictly a North American phenomenon. Our society has embraced it and supports it at every level; from Friday night lights to Sunday night football. It has become the essence of American culture.

If we look at Baseball historically we can see a gradual shift from it being an American sport to an international sport. Basketball has also made the shift; but in my opinion have done a much better job as the world has embraced Basketball with successful professional leagues operating throughout the world (Hockey has also been successful and S0ccer is making a reverse inroads). Baseball has utilized the economic disparity between the US and Latin America for its benefit and not that of the game. Do they need collegiate baseball? Do they care if they are losing prospects to other sports?

If baseball had the leadership with vision; baseball would be a true international sport. Yet we see a relationship in baseball which looks to the rest of the world as the low cost provider of talent. Baseball thrives in Japan, Korea and Taiwan where they have created a culture of baseball which is unique to their societies. Does MLB see the rest of the world as a low cost supplier of talent or is their mission to grow the game?

As a result; I see America moving away from baseball. Our culture embraces football and basketball; however, the physical and talent requirements of these sports have help generate increased popularity at the youth level of other sports which have different athletic requirements. However, the economic incentives of these sports have led to a shift in American culture which in my opinion will ultimately hurt baseball as an American institution.

My premise is baseball needs leadership; the logical group should be MLB. However, I believe that their bottom line dictates their actions which may not be in the best interest of the game or American culture.
Last edited by ILVBB
VectorVector1,000+ posts
I think it is an interesting topic on many levels. I've always wondered why college baseball does not get more TV coverage than it does. You hear the complaints of the game being slow compared with football and basketball, but they are obviously not true baseball fans.
Regardless, two quick thoughts on how to grow the game.
First make the NL & AL championships as well as the WS be broadcast early enough for kids to stay up and watch. I cannot tell you how many times my baseball loving son fell asleep because of the late hour, all the commercials, etc. Heck we had to put him to sleep for his own good because games ran so late he needed sleep for an upcoming test the next day in school.
Second, they need to do something to prevent the same big money teams from buying the championship every single year. It is hard to follow teams in smaller markets and build a loyal fan base when all their good players will be gone in a couple of years. Take the Oakland A's for example. That team has produced so many great players only to have them gobbled up by the Yankees/Redsox etc. Take their top players for the last 10 years and put them on the field together, and very few teams would beat them. Instead the A's are always struggling because all their talent follows the deep pockets.
More to come.
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
Baseball rules in our house but come football season (college and NFL), you might as well forget that it's a baseball household, except for the WS. Frown Same for March Madness.

I may be missing something, but didn't ESPN broadcast 3 games a week during summer and still does 2 times a week? Plus here we get three ML games, Rays and Marlins and the Cubs. But yes, I do get a bit tired watching the yankees on more frequently than other teams. We also live in a football driven state, so MLB gets poor attendance, also because the FL teams just don't have the history that others have.

Once playoffs come in October there will be more coverage.

I think that the baseball season is just too long, for it's fans and it's players. WS used to be done in October and now pushed into November, and they want to know why everyone is hurt and on the DL. Roll Eyes

College baseball doesn't draw enough viewer revenue to put more games on, college football does, that's just the way it is.

Yesterday at a home 2:00 pm playoff game on son's AA team the attendance was over 2000k, usually 5-7K. Simple reason, yesterday was opening day for the NFL season.

Baseball is still and always will be America's family game, I agree, where else can a father and son bond and be able to discuss the game, you can't even here yourself talk at a football game, and young kids running around trying to catch a ball doesn't happen. Young kids aren't even often found at football games.

I think you have to appreciate each sport for what it is and what it offers.

fillsfan is correct, until there is a salary cap, things will remain the same, some fans just tired of shelling out and walking away with another loss. And he's right in the respect that it's not going away soon, there just comes a natural shift from a spring/summer sport to one that is played in the fall.

JMO.
B BaseballReviewUSA10+ posts
Baseball, like all professional sports, will always be a business... so a lot of this is here to stay (like cutting costs by setting up shop in the Dominican, etc.). However, I agree with two big ideas discussed previous: shortening the season and implementing a salary cap. I think that this will keep guys fresher for the playoffs (resulting in better play), and the salary cap... well that's obvious, haha. Also, even though there is a doomsday-like atmosphere to parts of this post, I would note that I think baseball is growing in popularity, regardless of what football/basketball do (examples - MLB network, frequency of games on ESPN, RBI academies, World Baseball Classic, etc.).
GM Gingerbread Man500+ posts
Baseball isn't going anywhere. In fact, I think it is on the upswing. The one thing I am glad about is the fact that they haven't turned it into a NASCAR drama show that has a short lifespan for only one generation of watchers.

Let's look at some of the facts-

What sport is most played by youth age kids? Baseball

What sport at the youth level gets more national television time?
Baseball

What sport has the greatest family environment?
Baseball

What sport has the most professional teams?
Baseball

When you add up these facts you have a great stock option on the future. Invest in baseball, it may grow slowly but the fan support is solid. I would beg to guess that professional baseball draws more revenue than any other American sport, and it can be found in just about every small town in America. If I want to go watch a professional baseball game it is just a short drive with the family to the nearest town, bring 20 bucks and have a good enjoyable evening. If I want to watch a professional football or basketball team its a half a days drive, only select family members want to go, the traffic sucks, the weather is unforgiving, and the cost is about 3-4 times as it is baseball. It's no wonder that more cities have professional baseball teams than any other sports combined.
Baseballdad1228Baseballdad1228500+ posts
Selig is a mixed bag as a commissioner. I'm still trying to get over wild card teams in MLB playoffs and the home field advantage in the World Series going to the league that wins the all star game. It's like a Chuck Barris game show in a few respects.

But Selig or anyone like him simply can't screw up the essense of baseball. Just remember playing catch with your child for the first time and you know I'm right. The rest is only economics.

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