2

someone dig up some attendance/television numbers

5/23/2006 1:39:23 PM

the fact that "success" is measured with 33% makes it a defensive game.

And if you move the bases further apart, you say that the extra step will be calculated in for the extra 2 foot drop in bases. You assume that a thrown ball and a person running average the same speed. That is wrong.

5/23/2006 1:40:27 PM

well I've never measured it, but my guess is that the extra time it takes the ball to get to the fielder plus the time it takes the fielder to throw it to first is roughly equivalent to the one extra step (if that) the baserunner needs.

5/23/2006 1:42:32 PM

why would the fielders play any deeper

5/23/2006 1:43:07 PM

your math is way off buddy. And what about Ernie's question? Why would they play any deeper? It seems that where they're set maximizes their chance at fielding a ground ball. And they'll modify that for special circumstances (bunt potential)

5/23/2006 1:44:48 PM

it does seem that way

but I still don't think adding a couple feet would make much of a difference

and my other point was that even if batting averages dropped .025 points or whatever, we would just accept that .275 means you're a decent hitter. And you'd still be saying it's a beautiful game - you'd just say "<92 ft. ground balls would be too easy, >92 ft. too difficult...baseball is one of the few defensive games - 2.75/10 makes you a decent hitter" etc.

5/23/2006 1:52:50 PM

in order to save baseball you would have to get rid of the NFL

so in short, you cant save baseball, at least not back to its former position of "America's national pasttime" or the "#1 sport in America"

the NFL is the daddy to all other leagues

5/23/2006 1:53:55 PM

i still don't understand what baseball needs to be saved from

5/23/2006 1:54:01 PM

from its downward spiral as a result of -

1. many people were turned off by baseball when all the arrogant players went on strike for an extra million or two
2. many people were turned off by baseball when it became evident that so many players were juicing
3. many people were turned off by baseball when they realized there are 162 games in a season and the players dont try until the playoffs

5/23/2006 1:55:28 PM

itself.

I digress with 3.

[Edited on May 23, 2006 at 1:56 PM. Reason : .]

5/23/2006 1:55:36 PM

Quote :

"A record total of 74,915,268 fans attended Major League Baseball games in the 2005 regular season, representing a 2.6 percent increase over the previous record of 73,022,969 in 2004, it was announced today. The average attendance of 30,970 fans per game in 2005 is up from 30,401 in the 2004 season."

http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20051003&content_id=1236174&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

5/23/2006 1:57:23 PM

^wonder what percentage or how many of all those fans went to games in LA, Oakland, Minn, NY, Boston, St. Louis or Chicago...aka the only places where they care about baseball

5/23/2006 1:58:53 PM

As much as I dislike the Red Sox and their bandwagon fans, I think the 2004 WS had a lot to do with a resurgent interest.

5/23/2006 1:59:44 PM

it is true

which means baseball doesn't suck

at least according to a couple million people

your post makes my head hurt

[Edited on May 23, 2006 at 2:00 PM. Reason : ]

5/23/2006 2:00:19 PM

^^agree

and their 1998 resurgence was due to mcgwire and sosa doing steroids and hitting long balls

maybe if Bud Selig wasnt the biggest doofus of all the pro sport commissioners...and i dont know anything about the NHL commissioner, probably a jerkface, but probably more competent than Selig

5/23/2006 2:00:55 PM

ahahaha i think bud wins out over bettman

5/23/2006 2:01:57 PM

Quote :

"It's ashame. As a true baseball fan, I wish I could be happy about Barry Bonds*. 700 home runs is an amazing feat. I used to read books as a kid about the Babe and Hank Aaron and I never thought I would see the day these records would ever be passed. I wish I could watch this chase as vehemently as I did the single season race back in 1998 (before we really knew what was going on). I wish I could watch in amazement at Bonds* hitting 715 or 756 like I did when Cal Ripken, Jr. played his 2,130 consecutive game passing the great Lou Gehrig. I wish I could be happy about this. I wish I could be amazed. But I just can't."

Has anyone, in this whole deal of Bonds chasing Babe's home run record, just looked at Bonds and looked at MLB, and realized that MLB are fully deserving of the blight that Barry Bonds is giving them right now?

ESPN: The Magazine did an article I read a year ago that talked about steroids in baseball the years preceding this big blowup (going back to the late '80s when it was very small until and after the strike, when it really mushroomed). The point the article got across was kind of like "there's an elephant in the dining room, but no one talks about it". The players knew what their teammates were doing, but didn't want to be a snitch. The owners knew something was going on, but intentionally did not ask questions and didn't want the headache.

Plus, people loved the home run. So the owners saw that people loved McGwire and Sosa, were selling tickets, and clammed up because why ruin a good thing?

A few years on, after Bonds preceded to beat a 2-year-old home run record, the BALCO raid by the FBI happened. Along with the baseball connections were track & field connections. I remember reading about Selig's comments of him trying to run away from the whole thing and how he said "there is nothing tying this lab to any of our players" and the word "alleged" was mentioned a good bit. By comparison, the IAAF pretty much got out the knives and said "who were the drugs given to?"

The only reason this is a big deal was Congress threatened MLB about losing their anti-trust exemption. Selig can say all he wants about the sanctity of the game being threatened by steroid users and how the records are now useless. But that pretty much occurred already because no one in power used their power to speak up when the chance came up. They are not going to make Maris' record of 61 number one again. Pujols is not hitting 74 home runs. Bonds' single-season record of 73 is going to stand for all eternity until ballparks become much smaller.

So the only thing left for us to do is to ignore the attention-grabbing of a home run total and realize that a home run has no relevance outside of the game it is played in. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. A home run is great, but it shouldn't happen too often, otherwise it's not worth much.

As far as the Bonds asterisk some people talk about, it better be applied to every major league player that ever used steroids. I'm betting that's a long list.

[Edited on May 23, 2006 at 2:21 PM. Reason : .]

5/23/2006 2:11:09 PM

I disagree with your last statement. 61 and 714 were for years and years and years regarded as the holy grail of all sports records. Now 755 is that holy grail that bonds* is chasing (and Aaron did it legitimately).

Yes, baseball is to fault. We all are. We all kinda knew. What they were doing no one had done in a 100 years the game was played. The fans were ignorant. The owners and the players were negligent. But that doesn't mean we have to sacrifice history for cheaters. And this is where you see the backlash coming in. I hope baseball returns to it's purist roots where a pitchers duel is far favored over 500 foot homerun. That way, when another person comes around and plays like Babe Ruth, it will be truly special.

5/23/2006 2:22:08 PM

I'm not reading this but NOTHING needs to be saved. Record attendance again this year.. it's fine. Who cares if a bunch of 'necks would rather watch NASCAR...

[Edited on May 23, 2006 at 2:30 PM. Reason : V don't have the time right now..]

5/23/2006 2:28:50 PM

good job not reading the legitimate complaints in this thread from baseball fans like yourself

5/23/2006 2:30:08 PM

Quote :

"night games ruined baseball fucking shoeless joe said so"

5/23/2006 2:30:39 PM

Quote :

"My prayers are with Pujols. I hope he can stay healthy and continue. The minute he passes Roger Marris with 62 is the minute I consider him the single season record holder. "

Asterisks do not do much and are usually motivated by political reasons. For many years, Ruth was considered the single-season record holder because people didn't like Maris (the eight games more reason is soft). When McGwire and Sosa came around, Ruth was pretty much ignored and people focused on Maris.

But hey, the power to ya. My single season HR record holder will be Reggie Jackson.

[Edited on May 23, 2006 at 2:58 PM. Reason : clarification]

5/23/2006 2:50:12 PM

CHEATERS NEVER WIN

5/23/2006 2:54:12 PM

Quote :

"like I did when Cal Ripken, Jr. played his 2,130 consecutive game passing the great Lou Gehrig."

i missed this, so you are comparing one asterik to another? ripken missed half a fucking season. how he still gets the "consecutive" in there i will never know.

5/23/2006 3:00:00 PM

if you're talking about the strike, you're a fucking retard and your st privileges have thus been revoked.


beardawg, we need a hardly warranted suspension over here. I hear you give those.


but dude, you're still a retard if you think that warrants a *

5/23/2006 3:10:47 PM

Quote :

"many people were turned off by baseball when they realized there are 162 games in a season "

if people were unaware that there were 162 games in a season, I don't want them following baseball in the first place


and I agree with the comment that the '04 Red Sox helped out MLB a lot

but on the same token, the 4 most heavily populated metro areas in the US have teams who have had a lot of success in the past 5 years or so.

NYC - Yankees and Mets will always draw crowds and the TV contracts help a lot too
LA - Angels won WS and Dodgers are a beloved team across the US
Chicago - Sox WS and best record in baseball in '06, beloved Cubs/Wrigley
Houston - 248 regular season wins in the past 3 seasons, '05 NL pennant

5/23/2006 3:25:43 PM

^^^besides that

many times he was putting the streak before the team

not that i care

[Edited on May 23, 2006 at 3:26 PM. Reason : `]

5/23/2006 3:25:56 PM