Lame Stuff in Baseball

In My Humble Opinion
41

Well, good thing, then, that I never said it was!

My last post, I promise, on this particular topic (we’ve strayed from the O.P., anyway):
I’m a Yankees fan. I love it when the Yankees win. The last few years, then, have been a hoot for me. The Yankees have been kicking butt. They have been able to keep Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, re-sign Bernie Williams, experiment with Hideki Irabu (bust), sign Roger Clemens, and then go out and get Mike Mussina. Why can they do this? They have money. Why do they have money? They are a storied franchise, and, follow me closely here, they are in the nation’s biggest market, NYC. They have a massive television contract because many people in the NYC area want to see them, which means TV stations can charge advertisers more money, and pay the Yankees more money to televise their games. They lead all teams in merchandising, selling truckloads of hats, jerseys, jackets, etc. all with the Yankee logo. So, as of now and for the past several years they tend to steamroll other teams, then get to the World Series and win that too.
As I said, as a Yankee fan I love it. As a baseball fan, its not so good. In an era of declining national TV ratings, and flat attendance, it is shortsighted for the sport as a whole to allow a handful of franchises to more or less routinely flatten another handful, with a third group in the middle that can sometimes compete, but not always.

Getting back to the O.P., it is LAME. It does not help the popularity of the game nationally.

I don’t know why some teams (Angels) seem to be unable to take advantage of the resources available to them. There is such a thing as bad management. I see it all the time with the Red Sox (I live in Boston). Losing can become a way of life, just like winning.

I don’t know why you keep knocking the Dodgers. I see they are only 3 1/2 games out today and still in the race both for their division and for the Wild Card. That’s competitive, in my book.

42

This coming from the fan of the team who gave us the San Francisco Giant Crab

43

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen *
**

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by bup *

This is IMHO. It’s an outrageous opinion of mine. Sue me.

I do recall (but I can’t find a cite) that in the 1995,
the first season after the strike, the method of winding
around the inner core was changed. Baseball officially
claimed it would have no effect on the liveliness of the
ball, and a lot of people rolled their eyes.

I also call attention to the circumstantial evidence that
home runs have gone up tremendously since the strike. The
top 5 season homer totals ever have occurred in the past 4
years. People can talk about conditioning and the like, but
that wouldn’t explain why home runs went up so suddenly.

44

Well, if you’re quoting circumstantial evidence, at least do it right. The 5 homer totals you mention were achieved by 3 players. The fact that it hasn’t been more evenly dispersed to other hitters strikes me as evidence of their superior conditioning, not of the ball which everyone uses. I’d like to see the distribution of size and weight of players over the last decade compared to the rate of long balls. I would almost garuntee you’d see a hell of a correlation. The balls that baseball uses aren’t a closely guarded secret and everyone and their brother who was involved in the process has said the balls are the same. Without evidence any juiced ball theories are complete garbage. It the balls were juiced…someone would be able to prove it, they haven’t. Until they do, its a myth.

45

Okie-doke, Mr. Omniscient! The top three single-season home
run hitters have all done it in the past four years. Gee, to
me that still sounds worthy of attention.

You say that the fact they’re not more evenly distributed
is evidence that these are truly extraordinary players, not
of external changes. How many guys would have to be packed
right at the top for your suspicions to be aroused? I mean,
I guess that’s what you’re getting at - I could only say the
top three production rates of all time are going on right
now, and you imply I need more than that.

Home run increases are distributed - total home runs have
been at record levels the past 6 years (cite!):
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hihr8.shtml

And some people feel like maybe it’s the ball:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/baseballs010402.html

I don’t have the stats you asked for - height and weight
distribution of players for the past ten years against the
home run production - maybe you do. At any rate, I’m sure
there is a correlation. That doesn’t mean home run production
isn’t correlated to other things as well.

46

Well, I doubt they’d do it over a span of 15 years…they’ll have great years in their primes, those primes will span 3-4 years usually.

There are several other reasons, each with some type of measurable emperical data to compare, that are likely the cause of the increase in home run totals. The juiced ball theory has no factual basis, and in my opinion is a red herring.

47

I don’t mean Sammy Sosa’s best years are all bunched
together. Let me re-phrase it more clearly:

In the 126 years of major league baseball recognized by
Cooperstown, and in the 82 seasons of major league baseball
since the ‘dead ball’ era, the past 4 seasons have contained
the 3 highest home run totals ever achieved by players.
Maris’ record, which stood for 37 years, has been broken
5 times, by 3 different players, and is about to be broken a 6th, all in the past 4 years.

48

Divided among 2 teams.

Stringing a few good years together isn’t competitive?

But teams who don’t command this revenue are competitive.

Nor the Dodgers or Angels.

Maybe so, but as long as small markets are able to compete (and they quite clearly can) then I don’t see a big problem. Shoot, last year there was more parity in in baseball than there ever has been. The gap between the haves & have-nots is smaller than ever.