Inspired by another thread on getting rid of the home plate umpire, and by an article by Hunter S. Thompson at http://espn.go.com/page2/s/thompson/001106.html, I hearby ask you, what can we do to make baseball more exciting? (A disclaimer: I actually love the game just as it is, but there’s no thread in that, is there?)
Here are a few of my ideas.
the order of running the bases changes every inning
every fielder must switch catching hands every other inning
one ball per game will be loaded with a device that will cause it to explode upon impact
Help out our summer pastime by contributing your own ideas.
Instead of the Designated Hitter, have a different random fan chosen from the crowd bat for the pitcher each time he’s due to come up. (And paid $1,000 per base reached.)
For one inning each game the fielding team must each carry a glass of beer onto the field. Anyone who spills more that a quarter of it will be penalized one run.
In the 2, 4, and 7th inning: Slip-n-Slide from 2nd to 3rd!
Exploding baseballs are a good idea.
Underground basepaths as well as the regular ones.
Even if he grounds out to the shortstop, the baserunner still gets to plow into the catcher at top speed on the way back to the dugout.
Put the rightfielder in rollerskates for day games.
You could have high scoring games if you batted “against” your own pitcher & catcher–i.e. the pitcher would be trying to serve up the pitch you can hit best. Of course, a lot of other things would have to be changed (balls would lead to outs instead of walks; no advancing bases on wild pitches; no stolen bases; and more). It wouldn’t be baseball anymore, but it could be fun for the spectators to see 100-home-run games.
Al Jaffee did a feature on this in Mad magazine about twenty years ago. His solution:
BASEBRAWL
Your own team pitches to you, so every pitch is a piece of cake, but:
The ball is solid steel “Even a line drive becomes a memorable incident.”
The Batter gets to keep the bat as he runs the bases, and gets to use it as an offensive weapon.
All players are heavily padded and helmeted.
I don’t recall the rest – innings are replaced by “zappings” and the like. Look it up, though. well worth it.
None of this infinite time taken between pitches, nor any of that ‘human rain delay’ schtick. Pitch the ball like they serve in tennis or volleyball, and if the batter is not ready, then tough. Note that some pitchers such as Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson do so.
All runners must try to get to the next base on each batted fair ball, be it by sacrifice or whatever. Also, no force plays.
The baseline will be expanded to 25 feet wide.
Pepper games are not only allowed,it is mandatory during the practice session before the game. Also, all fielders on all teams must deploy a Gashouse-gang type practice session.
