If I were commissioner baseball, I would ...

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Posted By: <b>Cy</b><p>Finish the line with something you would do to improve the game of baseball. I have two suggestions.<br /><br />I am a traditionalist when it comes to baseball. However, it is time to synchronize the rules of baseball so they are the same in both leagues. Since the National League is the <u>only</u> professional league that does not have the DH, that needs to be changed. I prefer pitchers batting. But that is not going to change. It is ridiculous for two leagues in the same sport to have different rules. It's time to put the DH in the National League.<br /><br />Secondly, I want to take a rule from the NHL and place it in major league baseball. I am tired of managers or players going off on tantrums once they are thrown out of a ballgame. It is childlike and ridiculous. I just saw one more tirade the other day by a minor league manager after he was ejected. It is a terrible example to be shown. So if I were commissioner, whenever a player or manager is tossed from the game, he must leave the field <u>immediately</u>, just as a hockey player must do when a penalty is called on him. Tantrums are for 9 month old babies, not 55 year old babies.<br /><br />How about telling me what you would do to help out the game of basbeall.<br /><br />Cy

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Posted By: <b>Joe D.</b><p>I wish baseball had these two things -- so as commissioner, I would put them in......<br /><br />1) A real, hard salary cap. One that forces every team to make tough decisions each year.<br /><br />2) I would like to see Major League teams have no affiliation with minor league teams. All minor league teams would be independent. Baseball teams can have a practice squad - thats it. So, every year baseball would have a real draft. A draft where the worst team would go first and could select the best available player in the minor leagues.<br /><br /><br />What a great league... great parity... great fun it would be if there was a real cap and a real draft.

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Posted By: <b>RayB</b><p>...love my job!!<br />RayB

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Posted By: <b>peter chao</b><p>Guys,<br /><br />If I were the commissioner...I would...<br /><br />1) Forget about the DH, it takes all the real strategy out of the game.<br /><br />2) Fess up. Tell the world that the owners knew about the extent of steroids long ago and refused to do anything about it.<br /><br />Peter

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Posted By: <b>Steve M.</b><p>be in San Francisco August 4, 2007.

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Posted By: <b>Ray</b><p>My list in order...<br /><br />1. Salary Cap (and I'm a Red Sox fan!)<br />2. No DH in baseball. Pitchers need to hit.<br /><br />While I like all the points given so far, managers throwing tirades is part of the game. It makes it interesting and is good for a laugh. I'm not sure how I feel about making all minor league teams independent. Plus, I think minor league baseball would lose a lot of funding as well as fans, but what do I know.

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Posted By: <b>peter chao</b><p>Ray,<br /><br />You probably know almost as much as Bud Selig...sometimes he really seems to be in the dark about some of the issues facing baseball.<br /><br />Peter

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Posted By: <b>Fred C</b><p>Work towards doing a better job of promoting baseball in little leagues, inner cities and all corners of the USA in general.

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Posted By: <b>James Feagin</b><p>If I were emperor of baseball with no checks and balances I would (in terms or priority).<br /><br />1.) Eliminate the unbalanced schedule. It is unfair to the wild card on so many levels.<br /><br />2.) Remove the DH and bring strategy back to the game.<br /><br />3.) A hard salary cap accompanied by a salary floor. A salary cap is useless without an accompanying salary floor.<br /><br />4.) Immediately induct to the Hall of Fame without voting Buck O'Neil, Lefty O'Doul, and create a 19th century induction committee.

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Posted By: <b>dennis</b><p>i would get rid of the divisions in each league. then let the top 4 teams in each league compete in the playoffs. this would insure that the 4 best teams in both leagues would make the playoffs.

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Posted By: <b>Ray</b><p>Peter, <br /><br />ALMOST as much as him? I'm insulted! <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><br /><br />I seriously cannot wait for that guy to go. I long for the days of Judge Landis and Ford Frick. <br /><br />I won't even mention the current guy's name in this post as he doesn't deserve to be metioned at the same time the other two are.

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Posted By: <b>Cat</b><p>Carry the owners water because that's the only way to keep your job.

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Posted By: <b>DMcD</b><p>1) Get rid of the DH, steroids, and zillion-watt ballpark chuckycheese music.<br />2) Ditto James F.'s #4 (and include Joe Wood).<br />3) Bring back baggy flannels!<br /><img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/April07/GehrigCombsLazzeriRuth1931.jpg"><br /><br />(Edited for punctuation)

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Posted By: <b>Chris Counts</b><p>Fire Bud! Yes, the first order of business in baseball is getting a new commissioner. I mean, it's not like Bud Selig is the dictator of some Banana Republic. How about some term limits, for crying-out-loud? It's not like he's generously providing a public service. He made over eight figures last year! And what does baseball get for that obscene sum of money? A guy who declines comment on everything, cooks up highly questionable deals (see his recent cable wranglings and past attempts to contract the Twins), and avoided the steroid scandal until it reached a crisis ...<br /><br />My second order of business would be to put Minnie Minoso in the Hall of Fame. For all the furor that was created over Buck O'Neil's lack of recognition by Cooperstown, I believe Minnie has an even more compelling case. After all the debates over Ron Santo, Bert Blylevin, Andre Dawson and Goose Gossage, I've rarely heard about a whisper about Minnie. Yet in the last election, he received about a third the number of votes received by ... Buzzie Bavasi. What a joke ...<br /><br />My final act as commissioner would be to require teams that aren't within a reasonable distance of a sell-out to give tickets away to kids. Let's fill up those empty seats. For baseball to prosper in the future, the game needs to capture the imagination of kids the way it once did. Not only are the kids of today distracted by about a thousand things that didn't exist in 1947, but the cost of getting into a game is just prohibitive ...<br />

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Posted By: <b>Pcelli60</b><p>This is a great question...<br><br>1) A 154 game sched.<br><br>2) No inter-league play.<br><br>3) No DH.<br><br>4) No expansion.<br><br>5) Keep divisional playoff at best of 5.<br><br>6) Keep All-Star game unimportant.<br><br>7) Hard salary cap.<br><br>8) More day games.<br><br>And all of this stuff is possible..This is not far flung by any means..

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Posted By: <b>Mike</b><p>...actually have the Cleveland Indians play there games in Cleveland. (I shouldn't complain, I get to see two games for a total of $20.00 !)

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Posted By: <b>David Smith</b><p>Here is what I would do:<br /><br />1) Contract the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. People go to Florida in the Summer for everything BUT baseball. I would add two players to the remaining teams' rosters for three years. I would then take all of the contracted teams players and have a Draft. The key feature being that once a team drafts a player, they have to keep him until his contract expires. They can not get rid of him FOR ANY REASON!!! This would keep a team like the Royals from drafting a player and then trading him to the Yankees or Red Sox.<br /><br />2) In Inter League play, instead of Division playing Division, I would have the teams play against each other based on their record the prior season. This way the Yankees and Red Sox don't get to feast on both the Devil Rays and Pirates every year. Maybe this way, an above average team would make the Play-Offs when otherwise they wouldn't.<br /><br />3) Make a rule that ESPN CAN NOT televise ANY Yankees, Red Sox or Mets games until after the All-Star break. There are more teams in MLB than just these three but if one is just looking at ESPN coverage EVERY year, you wouldn't be able to notice it. <br /><br />How many casual fans know that a player from Pittsburgh (Sanchez?) won the NL Batting Title last year?? Maybe if more Pirates games were televised on ESPN, people would know and they could make a more informed decision about All-Star voting instead of just picking the most well-known players. This DOES have an effect on the game because home field advantage in the World Series is determined by which team (NL or AL) wins the All-Star game.<br /><br />Also, the Detroit Tigers went to the World Series but I don't think any of their games were televised on ESPN until WELL after the All-Star break. Disgraceful.

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Posted By: <b>Pcelli60</b><p>Hey David I dont want you to be the commish..

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Posted By: <b>Joe D.</b><p>I would make the Giants move back to New York.<br /><br /><br />(but barry can stay in san francisco)

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Posted By: <b>Ken W.</b><p>Require all NEW ballparks to have the following minimum dimensions:<br /><br />Lines: 340 feet<br />Power Alleys: 385 feet<br />Center Field: 420 feet<br /><br />Hopefully replace about half of the cheap-ass homeruns with exciting triples and inside-the-parkers!<br /><br />Also, raise the mound back to 15 inches, soften the ball (back to 1970's version), call the strike zone by the book, say bye-bye to the DH.

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Posted By: <b>Jim</b><p>1) require all players to sign autographs for 30 minutes before a game<br /><br />2) require all players to wear their sanitary socks the way they were meant to be worn.<br /><br />3) require all players to adhere to a hair policy<br /><br />4) lift the ban on Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose et al<br /><br />5) allow the DH to be used at will in both leagues<br /><br />6) make sure that all teams games are broadcast in their areas (screw you Peter Angelos)<br /><br />7) forbid the use of game used equipment in memoribilia cards. You break a bat, give it to a kid in the stands or aution it for charity.<br /><br />8) require teams, owners etc to make some games more affordable for families

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Posted By: <b>Silver King</b><p>Ask Barry Bonds to apologize to Hank Aaron for drugging away the record when and if it happens. (Today's paper says Bonds is surprised that Aaron hasn't contacted him about the record....what would Aaron say, "congratulations on breaking my hard earned record by cheating?"). <br /><br />I will be in SF on April 19th cheering for the Cardinals and booing SterBonds. If I get another beer tossed on me this year then I know I will have pissed off another Bonds fan and all will be good. Hoping the Giants continue with their slide so that the Giants finish in the cellar the year Bonds breaks the record....<br /><br />P.S. I used to love McGwire but he should apologize to the Maris family.<br /><br />Also, take away the DH. <br />Eliminate interleague. <br />Bring back scheduled double headers.<br />Install a salary cap and revenue sharing.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br><br>robert shaw

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Posted By: <b>Brad</b><p><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PoYF1q68OFc"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PoYF1q68OFc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />"Here's looking at you, kid!."<br />Rick Blaine ~ Humphrey Bogart

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Posted By: <b>Joann</b><p>In order of priority:<br /><br />1) Find a way to assure that no future commissioner will ever ever expand the playoffs beyond the current 4 teams per league. Protect the regular season, which means something in baseball.<br /><br />2) Mandate each team have a minimum number of games on free TV.<br /><br />3) Minimum number of double-headers per year, and require that they have to be back-to-back. No more of this day-night to double the gate. When I was a kid, the only Tiger games we went to were double-headers b/c it made it more worth the 3 hour drive.<br /><br />4) No more DH. Require more thinking and strategy in addition to just the pure power skills. Baseball will never compete with football or even basketball on pure athleticism, so it should empahsize the thinking and strategic parts rather than minimize them. Expand rosters by 3 or so to allow teams to have more situational specialists.<br /><br />J

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Posted By: <b>jay behrens</b><p>For those you that don't know, the commissioner has no authority to decide who can, or cannot get into the HOF. The people at Cooperstown make up those rules. All the commissioner can do is make suggestions.<br /><br />I'd take the fighting thing a step further. If you leave the bench, or leave your position in the field, you are automatically ejected. This will leave the fight between the pitcher and batter.<br /><br />The DH has to go.<br /><br />Cincinnati plays the first game each year.<br /><br />World Series games played at a time so that kids can watch it at a reasonable hour.<br /><br />Do away with minor league affiliation and expand the league to 32 teams with two 8 team divisions. The minor leagues set up the same way. The last place team in each division gets booted from the MLB and the top 4 minor league teams get promoted to MLB, ala the way they run soccer leagues in Europe. You reward franchises from being run well and punish those that are run poorly. If KC wants to keep it's team in MLB, then it better start fielding a competitive team.<br /><br />Jay<br><br>I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: <b>Kevin Cummings</b><p>.....be smart enough not to schedule home games in early April for the northernmost teams with outdoor stadiums!

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Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p>I would return soaking as an option. Definitely add some entertainment.

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Posted By: <b>Ken McMillan</b><p>If I were commissioner, I would pay a vet to neuter Barry Bonds. Remove the testosterone and it would balance out the excess steroids in his body <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>

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Posted By: <b>peter chao</b><p>Silver,<br /><br />That's a great idea have Barry Bonds publicly apologize to Hank Aaron after he breaks the record. You can have all the TV stations on hand.<br /><br />Probably the TV ratings would skyrocket. It's difficult for me to imagine Barry saying much of anything if he was put on the spot. Who knows he might come up with,"...actually it should be Greg Anderson who should be apologizing, he fed me the steroids intrvenously and without my knowledge." <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><br /><br />Peter

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Posted By: <b>Marty Ogelvie</b><p>I would start by getting rid of the DH. <br /><br />In line with the non DH rule, I would require all pinch hitters to play an inning in the field, if applicable. Obviously 9th inning pinch hitters could be excluded but if you pinch hit in the middle innings that pinch hitter must take the field otherwise its just a spot DH role.<br /><br />Lastly I would like to see minimum outfield fense deminsions. I like the uniqueness of each park but some of those short porches in left and right are simply TOO SHORT.<br /><br />National TV contracts would require the network in question to air every team in the league at least once a season. ESPN can air the Yankees as many times as they like as long as KC, Pittsburgh and the likes get 1 slot each.<br /><br />I would require more revenue sharing. <br /><br />I would schedule more double headers. I don't want fewer games but I want the season/World Series to end late September.<br><br>martyOgelvie<br />nyyankeecards.com

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Posted By: <b>Bill Stone</b><p>1. Require games 1 and 4 of the World Series to be day games.<br /><br />2.No more DH<br /><br />3.154 game schedule<br /><br />4.Cincinnati plays the opening game of the season and the President of the United States stays in the stands to throw out the first pitch.