Baseball Is Dying

[richtree]

I think baseball will hit the wall at some point.

There are so many things that baseball players and the culture of baseball do, that really are not necessary.

I always thought it would fall apart, but it was an opportunity to revive in a newer way that can last into the future.

Some thoughts I had after playing baseball in college and not really watching too often are:

1. Make all stadiums have retractable domes
2. Standardize the work week 5 games a week (all teams play on the same days) same amount of games in a month, etc... (this makes new records too)
3. Make fantasy sports friendly (the above will help it)
4. This one I am debating --- make a speed clock that if the teams are tied after 9 innings, the "faster" team wins
5. Let the teams use technology for signs (pitches, stealing, etc.) like a Bluetooth ear piece so there isn't all this looking at the 3rd base coach or stealing of signs
6. Shorten the season but allow ALL THE TEAMS INTO A GIANT PLAYOFF -- make the division winners get multiple byes, and much harder for the last team to get in, but all those games in August of 4place teams vs. 5th place teams mean nothing...



idk.....but me, personally, all the stats mean nothing --- lets have fun and make a new beginning......

*also that makes the historical greats more mythical

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by richtree

5. Let the teams use technology for signs (pitches, stealing, etc.) like a Bluetooth ear piece so there isn't all this looking at the 3rd base coach or stealing of signs

They already have this for pitchers.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by richtree

I think baseball will hit the wall at some point.

There are so many things that baseball players and the culture of baseball do, that really are not necessary.

I always thought it would fall apart, but it was an opportunity to revive in a newer way that can last into the future.

Some thoughts I had after playing baseball in college and not really watching too often are:

1. Make all stadiums have retractable domes
2. Standardize the work week 5 games a week (all teams play on the same days) same amount of games in a month, etc... (this makes new records too)
3. Make fantasy sports friendly (the above will help it)
4. This one I am debating --- make a speed clock that if the teams are tied after 9 innings, the "faster" team wins
5. Let the teams use technology for signs (pitches, stealing, etc.) like a Bluetooth ear piece so there isn't all this looking at the 3rd base coach or stealing of signs
6. Shorten the season but allow ALL THE TEAMS INTO A GIANT PLAYOFF -- make the division winners get multiple byes, and much harder for the last team to get in, but all those games in August of 4place teams vs. 5th place teams mean nothing...



idk.....but me, personally, all the stats mean nothing --- lets have fun and make a new beginning......

*also that makes the historical greats more mythical

I always thought hitting contest to decide extra innings would be a good idea. or you get to pick your hitter and other team pitcher and whoever can hit the ball the farthest on 3 pitches.....if nobody gets a hit but one guy took a ball while the other one had 3 fouls/strikes then then the one that took at least one ball wins

could always do just a traditional home run hitting contest as well...

[Hankphenom]

The Washington Nationals are about to be sold, rumors are in the $2 billion range. They paid MLB $400 million for the franchise in 2006.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

The Washington Nationals are about to be sold, rumors are in the $2 billion range. They paid MLB $400 million for the franchise in 2006.

right the real value is in the franchise value, but there are billionares that love the idea of owning a team and dont care if 'overpaying' heck look whats going on with Twitter..

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

right the real value is in the franchise value, but there are billionaires that love the idea of owning a team and dont care if 'overpaying' heck look whats going on with Twitter..

I don't know, between the owners and players there just seems to be so much more money in the game nowadays. If fan interest is deteriorating, who's paying for it all?

[dfletch00]

Just sat through about the shortest and one of the longest MLB playoff games in history - Its not dying .... 35,000 fans sat ... and mainly stood for 15 innings yesterday in Cleveland and game time was about 45F and windy...

Many families and more kids than I have ever seen ...and i've seen alot .

Its still fun - enjoy it ... see you next NYY!

(Kudos to my wife! spent her birthday at the game)

[HistoricNewspapers]

Originally Posted by dfletch00

Just sat through about the shortest and one of the longest MLB playoff games in history - Its not dying .... 35,000 fans sat ... and mainly stood for 15 innings yesterday in Cleveland and game time was about 45F and windy...

Many families and more kids than I have ever seen ...and i've seen alot .

Its still fun - enjoy it ... see you next NYY!

(Kudos to my wife! spent her birthday at the game)

Correct.

All one has to do is compare the Yankee average game attendance of 40,000 each of the last few non covid years and they dwarf the attendance numbers in Ruth's and Mantle's Yankee times. They aren't even close.

In the 1960's the Yankees outdrew the New York Rangers by only a few thousand fans a game.

Do the same for the Cubs. Not even a comparison. The NHL was more popular in the 1960's than the Cubs were. The Blackhawks outdrew the Cubs on a per game average.

So if these attendance numbers are considered as "baseball is dying" then what the heck was baseball when Hockey out-drew them? In a coma?

All these reasons given as to reasons of "baseball is dying" have been said for every generation when compared to the previous generation. Nothing new. Just a new generation of older people doing the same thing that was done/said to their own generation when THEY were younger.

It is more of a "get off my lawn' phenomenon than anything else.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I don't know, between the owners and players there just seems to be so much more money in the game nowadays. If fan interest is deteriorating, who's paying for it all?

right but movies make a ton of money, noone complains if tom cruise makes 300 million, it easier to have no talent to be an actor than a baseball player as you can lose your job much easier and higher risk of injury no matter what your name is.....certain movie names will continue to get work for far longer than if they were terrible hitters.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

right but movies make a ton of money, noone complains if tom cruise makes 300 million, it easier to have no talent to be an actor than a baseball player as you can lose your job much easier and higher risk of injury no matter what your name is.....certain movie names will continue to get work for far longer than if they were terrible hitters.

Not sure what your point is here. Just like the movies, in the end money=interest. If baseball was dying, the money would at least start to dry up, but it seems to be the opposite, everything just keeps going up and up and up.