# If I was king of baseball **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 8, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110 "2017-08-08T17:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/81 "2017-08-10T02:13:42Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Before Chief Wahoo is banned, proponents of such a ban must produce evidence of either actual harm or ill intent, neither of which has ever been produced to my knowledge. Saying, “It hurts my feelings and or self-esteem” doesnot constitute such evidence. Chief Wahoo is an offensive characterization and should be removed from the game. Replace him with something authentically related to American Indians. And before you get in a snit about this, let me mention that I taught at Indian Land High School, in Indian Land, SC, and coached for both the Warriors and the Lady Warriors. Our football field was named “The Reservation”. We had the field blessed with an official ceremony from the local Catawba tribe, on whose former reservation land the school is built (hence the name of the community). It’s quite possible in my opinion to reference Amerinds with mascots and such, but it should be done in a respectful way. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/82 "2017-08-10T12:59:23Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > #6 - should there still be separate MVPs, Cy Youngs, etc. for the two leagues? As King of Baseball, I deem that this shall continue to be the case. In my major leagues, there are 40 teams. Winning the National League MVP Award will technically be a more impressive accomplishment that it would have been to win a Major League MVP Award in 1959, and nearly as impressive as a Major League MVP Award in 1992. > [@](#): > > As for youth baseball being “less competitive,” they tried that about 40 years ago when they banned non-USA teams from the Little League World (er, “Championship”) Series; so many people complained, and I have a feeling most of them said, “We want the chance to beat the foreign teams,” that Little League relented after one year. That’s a very odd decision for them to have made and I don’t think it really relates to what I was trying to get across, but I don’t want to go too far down that rabbit hole. > [@](#): > > On a related note, as a safety measure (I grew up across the street from the mother of someone who was nearly killed in a high school game when he was hit by a batted ball), what would your position be on requiring wood bats in youth leagues? Have major league teams help pay for them. I see your point but at least initially I don’t think we can move in that direction just now. Wooden bats carry their own risks but perhaps more crucially, they’re much harder for children to use. Returning to wooden bats will, I believe, expand the difference between talented and less talented children (or just big, strong kids and smaller ones) and prove discouraging for the smaller child. I like your charitable intent in terms of paying for wooden bats but that’s kind of a logistical hassle. As King of Baseball, I consider getting non-professionals to play and love baseball at least as important, if not more so, than little tweaks to the major league game, which is doing very well as is. I would support not only Little League but also softball, boith for children and adults. I don’t see why the baseball industry can’t put a few bucks into helping co-ed slo-pitch leagues and women’s fastball leagues. All are forms of baseball. Spreading the love of baseball will help the sport in the long run. Someone getting a big hit to win their Division F slo-pitch championship is just as much of a joy as watching their favourite MLB team win a game. Whenm you get right down to it, one of the fundamental principles that guide me as King of Baseball is: Baseball is awesome, and more baseball is more awesome. I’d prefer to pour that money into safety research. I would support research into composite material bats. There are other ways to increase player safety as well, especially for pitchers. I am all for safety measures, and would even be open to adopting the safety base at first base at the professional level. Someone had the idea of allowing more armor but making armor on some parts of the body not subject to HBP if it’s struck by the pitch. That is a safety measure with a built in game balancing element I do find intriguing and would not mind experimenting with in the minors. > [@](#): > > #7 - why can’t a manager be in the Hall of Fame for managing? Owners and other executives, I agree; maybe have some sort of “honorary” membership, or something similar to the Ford Frick award. Managers can have a Ford Frick type thing. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/83 "2017-08-10T13:32:12Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > 1. eliminate the playoffs as we know the and replace them with a knockout Cup Tournament that plays concurrently with the regular season. The World Series will have no playoff games. The team with the best record in the NL will play the best team in the AL. Winner take all. (I might be able to be talked into keeping 2 divisions per league and having a single series divisional playoff.) > > 5a) the games for this tournament would be played on the last week of every month April until October with the last game being the final. Seeding for the tournament is based off the previous year’s standings and all teams play. Each series is 3 games long for the first 3 series, 5 games for the next 3 and the final is a 7 game series. > [@Chronos](#): > > To be clear, this means that a team could be mathematically eliminated from the championship, a fraction of the way through the regular season, correct? Once that happens, what are they trying for? They are playing for the LOVE OF THE GAME. Baseball is the Platonic Ideal of sport, and playing it is an absolute good in its own right. Each team would have two or more double headers scheduled at the beginning of the season. The lights at Wrigley Field are to be removed, posthaste. The Cubs are a DAYTIME ball club (at home). Making a quantum jump over to SOFTBALL (a subset of baseball), each player on the field is encouraged to have either a can or a red SOLO cup of beer within easy reach at all times (other beverages are permitted, unless they’re wine coolers. Or ZIMA). Refilling your beer or other beverage is permitted only at the end of a half-inning. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/84 "2017-08-10T13:45:40Z")
[quote=“Procrustus, post:71, topic:793110”] > [@](#): > > Interesting idea, but not sure it would work given that most (all?) AAA teams are farm teams for MLB teams. If the Tacoma Rainiers were in the Majors, how would it work if the Mariners wanted to call “up” one of the players? Farm teams are frequently not permanently attached to a particular MLB team and can have shifting sponsorship over time. Once they make the majors, they don’t need a MLB to be affiliated with. Other sports have promotion/relegation mechanics, they can get complicated but not unmanageable. It also makes minor league play more exciting. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/85 "2017-08-10T15:31:53Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Once they make the majors, they don’t need a MLB to be affiliated with. But the MLB team owns the contracts of most of the players. They’d just move those players to other minor league clubs leaving the minor league team with bupkis. Or the MLB team would call up the minor league players to the bigs. You’d have to change the entire drafting/minor league structure for this to work, and for no benefit that I can see. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/86 "2017-08-10T16:12:51Z")
Anyone complaining about the DH rule must go on to explain (A) why it is good to see pitchers pretending to bat while they’re really just killing rallies and letting their arms cool off, and (B) why, if it is good to go back to the rules of 1972, then why we should not go back to the rules of 1872. Failure to do both will result in a sound thrashing. In fact, forget the explanations and just go directly to the thrashings. It’s long past time for the whining to stop. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/87 "2017-08-10T18:28:28Z")
I personally like one league having the DH and one not. Makes for a little variety, and it’s one of the things that makes baseball cool. Of course I grew up with it like that, which might explain my affinity for it. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/88 "2017-08-10T18:45:44Z")
There must be ball-eating prickly hedges planted randomly behind the plate and baselines, which wild pitches and missed throws will risk having the ball retrieved from. Maybe a golden retriever that roams the outfield to run off with the ball occasionally. We all played this way, it is sacrosanct. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/89 "2017-08-10T19:23:27Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > There must be ball-eating prickly hedges planted randomly behind the plate and baselines, which wild pitches and missed throws will risk having the ball retrieved from. Maybe a golden retriever that roams the outfield to run off with the ball occasionally. We all played this way, it is sacrosanct. If we do that, then we have to institute a rule that says at a random time during a random game, a randomly-picked player’s mother must call him home for dinner and he has to leave the game, no matter the score or his position on the base paths. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/90 "2017-08-10T19:32:23Z")
As king, I’d like to see MLB expand into baseball-crazy Latin America. If any country should have a baseball team, surely it’s the Dominican Republic. Could cities like San Juan, Santo Domingo or Mexico City support a MLB franchise? They would probably need some stadium building, but I wonder if ticket sales and tv revenue could support the cash hungry sport. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/91 "2017-08-10T19:46:00Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > But the MLB team owns the contracts of most of the players. They’d just move those players to other minor league clubs leaving the minor league team with bupkis. Or the MLB team would call up the minor league players to the bigs. You’d have to change the entire drafting/minor league structure for this to work, and for no benefit that I can see. There is a limit to how many they can call up. When the AAA team gets promoted to MLB, the league compensates the sponsoring team based on a formula that is intended to fairly compensate the team for their investment ion the players. The main benefit in the first instance is more MLB teams with a decade of excitement about which tam will get promoted each year. Relegating the worst team in a league has the benefit of getting teams to continue playing hard even when they are having a shitty season. It also helps recycle good players on crappy teams. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/92 "2017-08-10T19:49:50Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Ok, that’s the second time a king tried to ban the Yankees. :mad: > > Keep it up, and I’ll make _every_ team the Yankees. The Boston Yankees, the Los Angeles Yankees and the Chicago Yankees. Every minor league team too. Pinstripes for everyone. Too late. Let me tell you why. Back in the VERY early 60’s, summers for me largely consisted of hanging around outside, waiting for my dad to come home from work. After he had kissed Mom “hello,” he would say either “What did the Dodgers do today?” or “Let’s see what the Dodgers are doing.” This led me to the unshakeable conclusion that “Dodger” and “baseball player” were interchangeable terms (I was really confused the first time I saw “Oliver!” because the Artful Baseball Player dressed like a street urchin in Dickensian London. But I digress). So, having established that ALL baseball players are Dodgers, let us fast-forward to 2005. The California Angels had been flying under my personal radar for pretty much all my life, and the only reason I was aware of them was because of their distinctive name, “The California Angels.” So along comes Arte Moreno, and he has the nerve to change their name to the abominable “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,” just as though being the owner of the team gives him the right to commit such blasphemy without even asking for my permission (number one, it doesn’t; number two, I would have denied it if he _had_ asked; number three, the old adage that it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission doesn’t apply here, as I’m not prepared to grant _that_, should he ever bother to seek it – unless he shows true contrition by changing it _back_ to “The California Angels”). I am vaguely aware that the Walt Disney Company had committed the first blasphemy by presuming to rename them “The Anaheim Angels” in 1996, but I wasn’t paying attention at the time (well played, Walt Disney Company). Anyway, Moreno’s shenanigans gave me the idea to declare that ALL the baseball teams would be the Dodgers. The Los Angeles Dodgers of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Dodgers of New York (Bronx), the Los Angeles Dodgers of New York (Queens), the Los Angeles Dodgers of Kansas City, well you get the idea. And _that’s_ why you’re too late. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/93 "2017-08-10T19:52:58Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > This is easy. Get rid of the DH. Everything else pales by comparison. > > Otherwise, get rid of all the teams except the 16 that were in existence when I was a kid, and no playoffs, just the series. That way the pennant means something. > > In general, return everything to the way it was when I was eight years old (1960). Your ideas intrigue me, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/94 "2017-08-10T20:06:06Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > In general, return everything to the way it was when I was eight years old (1960). I hate to break it to you, but Mantle’s dead. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/95 "2017-08-10T20:10:05Z")
Two leagues: One Drug-Free for the faux-PED-outrage faction, and one Unlimited Class. Let’s see what modern biochemistry can \*really \*achieve with no restrictions. I think we all know which league would dominate the TV ratings. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/96 "2017-08-10T20:12:04Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > There is a limit to how many they can call up. When the AAA team gets promoted to MLB, the league compensates the sponsoring team based on a formula that is intended to fairly compensate the team for their investment ion the players. > > The main benefit in the first instance is more MLB teams with a decade of excitement about which tam will get promoted each year. > > Relegating the worst team in a league has the benefit of getting teams to continue playing hard even when they are having a shitty season. It also helps recycle good players on crappy teams. Relegation has no place in baseball; as it it written, so it shall be. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/97 "2017-08-10T20:12:20Z")
> [@Marine\_One](#): > > 1. Pitcher can’t request another baseball. **The one you’ve got is white with red stitching and is round.** Throw it. It’s scuffed up and the pitcher can do anything with it? Then too bad for the batter. As a sop to the AL, who are going to be losing their execrable DHs, they can have their baseballs colored red, white, and blue (like the ABA did with basketballs), just to distinguish themselves from the NL. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/98 "2017-08-10T20:25:18Z")
DH-hatred really is just religious dogma, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/99 "2017-08-10T22:13:28Z")
I will eliminate the 7th inning stretch and replace it with releasing an [adorable animal to run around the field, so that we may enjoy the reactions of the players and groundskeepers.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH5bDPlswvA) While this is going on, Cubs fans may sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110/100 "2017-08-10T22:28:38Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > DH-hatred really is just religious dogma, isn’t it? I think it goes deep into the American psychic. Not making the pitcher take his plate appearances sounds like he’s getting a “free ride.” He’s getting the benefit of playing in the MLB (and getting a nice salary to boot) without playing the whole game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-was-king-of-baseball/793110.md?page=6)