I…see your point.
I saw it as a case of “there was no color line, then there was, then there was no longer”, but the more I think about it, I think that applies to discrimination across the board.
This is exactly what I was saying.
Here’s an interesting insight into the era. Here is the NY Times article on Robinson being called up to the majors.
That is a literal interpretation of the Official Rules, after all.
Word around the campfire (no site, just talk) is that MLB is going to expand the number of teams in the payoffs, even more. Think NHL/NBA. :dubious:
Griffey never wore #42.
Uh, yeah, actually he kinda sorta did.
They just expanded the playoffs last year by adding the second wild card. I don’t think they’re expanding beyond that any time soon.
Interesting article. I either never knew or forgot it started with Griffey. I move that the Mods close this thread so the OP can open one pitting Ken Griffey Jr. All in favor?
Agreed, it won’t happen tomorrow. From what I read, and I don’t remember where, is that the recent expansion was so successful that they may expand it further. Again, no time frame given.
“No time frame given” means there’s no plan to do it. Of course it COULD happen, just as it could happen that MLB could add some expansion teams.
At this point however MLB is already quite aware of the fact that the three-round playoff system has become a problem in terms of weather and early-season attendance. It is worth noting that Jackie Robinson made his MLB debut in 1947 on an Opening Day that fell on April 15. That year he also played in the last game of the MLB season, Game 7 of the World Series, on October 6. These days, by April 15 most teams have played 10-12 games by then, and the World Series doesn’t end up the end of October. In cold weather cities without domes - Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, Boston, et al. - that can play hell with scheduling and can depress attendance in early April. There is no practical way to compress the season (they don’t want doubleheaders.) Recent World Series have been noteworthy for their horrible weather.
So if you went to the NBA/NHL 16-team format, you’ve got to either start in March or play into November, which MLB doesn’t want, or shorten the regular season, which they definitely do not want. You could shorten the first two series, but no one wants that. Until they can solve those problems it is very, very unlikely to happen. Adding the “wild card game” is just one game and isn’t really a big deal since the schedule was already structured to account for one-game playoffs.
[quote=“Spiderman, post:1, topic:686302”]
[li]Moving ‘his’ team to the NL & then moving the Astros to the AL[/li][/QUOTE]
For this alone, he should be tarred and feathered.
My mistake. I thought whoever posted that meant he wore #42 regularly like Mariano Rivera and Mo Vaughn did.