Baseball. America's FORMER favorite pastime (Comcast, playoffs, athletic, lose)

[Ohiogirl81]

One of the things I like about baseball is its pace, yet if you look away for a minute, you may miss a home run or a stolen base, etc. Not only has TV made the pace even slower, but also the constant pitching changes, mound conferences, etc. Replay would make it even worse.

The constant player shuffles have left a lot of fans disappointed and disgruntled. The late start of many televised games, nationally or locally -- especially playoffs and the World Series -- leaves a lot of younger (and older, LOL) fans unable to watch.

Baseball has to stop trying to match the NBA or the NFL; the allure of baseball is different from slam dunks and acrobatic wide receivers.

[tkx7]

one thing that bothers me about baseball is how the players have to warm up EVERY inning when they take the field! There is more practicing than playing. They should just do this every 3rd inning or every other inning, but every inning is so excessive and annoying.

[Travel'r]

Having been averaging 45 games a year in person, stopped cold turkey in '89 because, not just banning of Rose, but the zillion chances the druggies kept getting. Ban the gambler, but see the news every single day with another kiddie getting in the crossfire of drug related gunfire, and cocaine addicted babies being found abandoned all the time. Not to mention that the stuff Dwight, Straw & Howe were snorting was illegal!!

So by the time the '94 strike rolled around, only cared about Cal Ripken.

Kind of ironic when everyone was telling me back then that "Gambling is a crime against baseball. Drugs are only crimes against society. Gambling's much worse"
And, my favorite: "Gambling, not drugs, compromise the very integrity of the game." (As if MLB had any left anyway, yup.)

Just hope they're all still saying that now, instead of badmouthing Barry Bonds as he goes after Hank! Why an asterisk for Barry, I ask? Illegal drugs are only crimes against society, riiiight?
MLB allowed them all those years and look what it did. Congress had to get involved, and only because Jim Bunning's on the Hill!! (pun intended).

MLB is so corrupt, stinks to high heaven. Nothing like going to a minor league ballpark where it's not a carnival.

[unknown stuntman]

[/quote] instead of badmouthing Barry Bonds as he goes after Hank! Why an asterisk for Barry, I ask? Illegal drugs are only crimes against society, riiiight?
MLB allowed them all those years and look what it did. Congress had to get involved, and only because Jim Bunning's on the Hill!! (pun intended).

MLB is so corrupt, stinks to high heaven. Nothing like going to a minor league ballpark where it's not a carnival.[/quote]


When I did actually follow baseball as a kid, I recall the lack of uproar and all the chances given to these guys like Steve Howe and Strawberry. I know we're talking performance enhancing substances often times nowadays, but I just get the feeling that the media and fans' contempt for Bonds has less to do with honesty and integrity than it does w/ these vicarious folks for their own selfish purposes, not wanting to see a hallowed record broken by someone like Bonds. The guy is a jerk and a cheater, plain and simple. But fans seem to pick and choose convenient targets and don't apply the same standards to everyone, particularly if that individual player adorns the jersey of his/her favorite team. The more time that passes, the more I get the impression there are alot of sick people who are way to pre-occupied with professional athletes and sports every bit as much as Hollywood celebrities.

[Hungry For Cheese]

I stopped liking baseball for a good 6-7 years. I just didnt care. I was more into basketball, but didnt have a team...
Finally decided to come back to baseball one hot 120 day in Laughlin.
Decided to make a sports bet. Who is playing? Ah the Chicago Cubs, I thought to myself, "hey self, youve seen this team for years growing up because WGN shows the games and they are always day games...man their field is the best looking field. Their fans seem to not leave early unlike the hometeam Dodgers. They got cool pinstripe jerseys. Im gonna make a bet"

So I place a bet against the Cardinals and they lose.
I immediately get sucked in and follow them the year. Come to find out, their team is "okay" - on paper-. And they have that guy Dusty Baker, he seems alright. Hey they have the Sosa guy and almost got to the world series last year.....=/
Anyways, the more and more I discover about the team and ballpark, the more I love it. I am a die hard cubs fan.

Just found out that Wrigley built a field in Los Angeles back in the 60s for the Dodgers to play at....IT didnt work out and in 1966 The new AL team called the "Angels" played their first season at "Wrigley Jr." It was demolished after it was of no use.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by kgee

Just found out that Wrigley built a field in Los Angeles back in the 60s for the Dodgers to play at....IT didnt work out and in 1966 The new AL team called the "Angels" played their first season at "Wrigley Jr." It was demolished after it was of no use.

Actually, Wrigley Field in LA opened in 1927 as the new home of the LA Angels in the Pacific Coast League. And it had been named that in 1925, while the Chicago version didn't acquire the name until 1926, changing from Weegman Park. That had been built in 1914 for the Chicago Whales of the Federal League. Anyway, the PCL Angels played at Wrigley LA through 1957, and the Hollywood Stars of the PCL also played there in the 20's and 30's. As part of their move west in 1958, the Dodgers bought out the Angels and moved them off to Spokane, but as the seating capacity at Wrigley was only 20,000 and change, the Dodgers played at the LA Coliseum at first. In 1961, LA got an AL expansion team also named the Angels, and they played their first season at Wrigley. Both they and the Dodgers moved into Chavez Ravine when that opened in 1962, with the Angels moving on to Anaheim Stadium in 1966. Wrigley Field was torn down at about that time. It was in the heart of South Central...a better neighborhood then than it is now...

[newyorkjetsfan74]

Originally Posted by Blue Grass Fever

Wow!

Baseball haters?!

Hardest thing in sports is to do is hit a ball at 90mph+ !

Never did care for inter-league play. It sort of waters down match-ups come play-off time!

It's sad baseball is underappreciated nowadays.

i agree. the hardest thing to do in sports is hit a 90+mph pitch on a round ball with a round bat, trying to hit it square. and also gotta face 70 mph change ups when looking for fastball

im not a fan of interleague play either , and it is sad baseball is so unapreciated... is there anything better than world series game 7 in the late innings of a close game... oh the tension

[Travel'r]

Originally Posted by newyorkjetsfan74

and it is sad baseball is so unapreciated... is there anything better than world series game 7 in the late innings of a close game... oh the tension

True.
Thing is, who's still up that late these days to see it? Kids and early rising workers are long asleep by then -- especially with it being during the school months. Lucky if they catch the first innings.
Baseball has totally conformed to TV & $$$, unfortunately with no compromise here.

But you can always catch NASCAR, Golf, Basketball and of course Football on a weekend afternoon when TV programming's pickins in general are otherwise slim

[TheNewBaseballGame]

For a better baeball game check out...

www.TheNewBaseballGame.com (broken link)

[susquehannock]

Even with all its problems, baseball is still the greatest sport in world.