# Ways to Make Baseball More Interesting **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2001, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891 "2001-09-05T17:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/41 "2001-09-08T23:31:25Z")
One word: Dynamite. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/42 "2001-09-09T19:20:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DKW \* > \*\*\* Pitch clock. 30 seconds to get the ball over the plate or it’s a balk. Clock does not stop or reset for pickoff attempts. > > - Once the batter enters the batter’s box, if he steps out of it for any reason without putting the ball in play, he’s out. An exception is allowed to avoid a ball that’s about to hit him, but he must promply return to the box or he’s out. None of this “step out and take a couple more practice swings after every freaking pitch” crap.\*\* Agreed. These both seem like reasonable ideas. > [@](#): > > \*\*\* A batter who fouls with two strikes must either bunt on the next pitch or let it go by. Swinging, regardless of what happens, results in strike three. I _hate_ Foul Ball Derbies, and they add next to nothing to the game. Besides, this is about the only way to put some importance back on a long-neglected baseball skill.\*\* Add nothing to the game??? They ARE the game. If you’re watching a game and not understanding this, then it’s no wonder you don’t find baseball particularly interesting. There is practically no skill greater in baseball than the ability to draw out a 10 pitch at bat. The highest hitters for average in baseball are the ones that have the most pitches per at bat. Plus, it will take the pitcher out of the game that much faster, making it easier for his teammates, as well. > [@](#): > > **arguing solves absolutely nothing, and there’s no reason the fans should put up with this useless time-waster during the game.** Actually, just about a month ago, the Red Sox manager got the umpires to conference with each other by arguing. They then proceeded to change the call to the correct one when an umpire in better position to make the call overruled the original call. > [@](#): > > \*\*\* The minimum distance for any home run is 350 feet. A ball that goes over the wall but doesn’t reach the required distance is a triple. (A ball that bounces over the wall is still a double regardless of distance.) This eliminates cheap home runs while still rewarding big blasts.\*\* They tried this back in the 60s. What we got was 3 Rivers, Riverfront, the Vet, Olympic Stadium, the Skydome, Jack Murphy (Qualcomm now, I think), New Comiskey and all the other cookie cutter parks. Wouldn’t you rather have Fenway, Wrigley, Camden Yards, Jacobs Field, and the Ballpark at Arlington? It’s the variety in distaces, and “cheap home runs” that add the flavor to baseball. > [@](#): > > \*\*\* If regulation ends in a tie, there will be ONE sudden-death inning. If the game is still tied, it ends in a draw. (Playoff games will still be played to the bitter end.) I don’t know how many records have been ruined because the game just went on and on and on (Randy Johnson’s strikeout record being the most recent example), and in any case, nothing is more tedious than a baseball game that never ends. \*\* Again you’re showing your ignorance. There’s nothing cooler than a game that goes to 18 innings. I’ve had the pleasure of watching 2 such marathons this year, and while I was on the losing and winning side once each, it was still thrilling each time. Running out of guys on the bench, watching the bullpens get wasted away, and then, in one, watching a starter come in in the 17th to get the win, despite being scheduled to start the next day, is some of the best strategy/entertainment there is. But the best part is, unlike other sports, such actions carry over to the next game, as well. The bullpens the next day were dead, having been totally exhausted the previous day. This put even MORE importance on the 10 pitch foul ball derbies that would hopefully tire out the starters and give the other team the chance to hit against some VERY tired arms. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/43 "2001-09-10T04:47:59Z")
How about: The guys on the team that lost last, have to play the next game dressed like women? (Except no high heels, so they could still run.) ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/44 "2001-09-15T04:43:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kferr \* > \*\*All players on both teams wear white. > > The umpire wears a white lab coat and floppy hat. > > Two batters on the field at the same time. > > Flat bats instead of round ones. > > The pitched ball must bounce before reaching the batter. > > Bases replaced with sticks in the ground with other bits of wood balanced on top. > > No strikes. The batter stays in until the pitcher can hit the sticks with the ball. > > Change the name to cricket. \*\* Yeah, a batsman coming off a 3-day test took a look at his first baseball game, between the Yankees and the Orioles. He asked, “It is good, but why is the game taking so long?” ---
**Author:** ![Fanny\_May](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/45 "2001-09-16T03:59:10Z")
Making any sport more interesting is easy. Play it instead of watching it. Watching sports is a waste of time. Not unpleasant, but not interesting either. ---
**Author:** ![jojothecannibal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jojothecannibal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jojothecannibal)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/46 "2003-08-14T04:57:49Z")
Have the fielding team be dogs, and replace the baseballs with tennisballs. Twice in the game, the batting team can release a cat onto the field. ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/47 "2003-08-14T12:50:10Z")
I think it would be more interesting if people would quit trying to change it. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/48 "2003-08-14T13:23:08Z")
Or if people wouldn’t revive threads from two freaking years ago. Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/49 "2003-08-14T13:42:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Elvis \* > \*\*Wouldn’t it be impossible to devise ways to make it less interesting? \*\* This is very near to true. However one method would be to allow the players to go on strike more often. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/50 "2003-08-14T13:56:56Z")
Isn’t there already a rule in place limiting the amount of time between pitches? I could swear it’s actually on the books but it has just never ever ever been enforced. Here’s my idea: no warm-up pitches when a new reliever comes in. That’s what the bullpen is for. Can you imagine if when a hockey team switched goalies, the game stopped for 5 minutes so that he could face some warm-up shots? And while they’re at it, raise the mound to pre-1968 height and ban the body armor that wusses like Barry Bonds wear. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/51 "2003-08-14T14:15:44Z")
Batters wear full protection (like a football lineman) and KEEP the bat. Once on base, it’s full contact, he can use the bat as he sees fit, and the batter isn’t out until you take him out. or Nude Catchers. Let’s see the decision making ability when a 100 mph fast ball is heading towards your dangly bits. Protect with glove and possibly let the batter get on base? Ah decisions decision. ---
**Author:** ![Lenny\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9dc877/32.png) [@Lenny\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lenny_Carl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/52 "2003-08-14T16:26:57Z")
Every 3rd inning, two hungry Mountain Lions are released onto the field. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/53 "2003-08-14T16:48:25Z")
Beanball, ghost runners, steady pitcher from neutral team (then a no-hitter will be even more special!), and a 1-up home run rule (any HR hit after you have hit one more than your opponent is an out.) ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/54 "2003-08-14T17:01:24Z")
1. NO to strip baseball. Think 2 words: ‘David Wells.’ 2. Put into the game at once the stuffy ex-player colour men in the booth whenever they make a snarky remark about a current player’s ability. Yes, I’m looking at you, Mr Palmer – let’s see your comeback for a wee bit of light relief, as it were. 3. Anyone who commits a truly daft error must spend the next inning sitting on-field in the Chair of Shame 4. Really dumb mistakes mean you spend the next game wearing a shirt in place of your jersey what says, ‘I’ll be traded soon.’ 5. Managers are permitted to spank, on field, anyone who disobeys his signals. So what if the guy hits a homer to win the game, the manager had signaled for a squeeze play in the nine with 2 out and nobody on (a la Joe Schlabotnik), let’s see it. 6. 40,000 volts go instantly through the mike if the commentator makes a comment what would turn the late Mother Theresa homicidal, eg, The Orioles’ Michael Reghi’s ‘He just touched off a bomb/See. You. Later./You can book this one to the Orioles.’ I cannot look at televised Os games anymore because of this twit. Although he’s got serious competition in Arizona’s Jim Traber – what in the heck is that ‘rally song’ nonsense?! I am a nice little person, but after listening to him last night when AZ played Cincinnati I’d developed that Herbert Lom tic… 7. I like the MST3K suggestions for fan giveaways, especially the combo ‘Peppermint Schnapps and Tire Iron Night.’ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/55 "2003-08-14T17:49:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ms Boods \* > \*\*1. NO to strip baseball. Think 2 words: ‘David Wells.’ > > 1. Put into the game at once the stuffy ex-player colour men in the booth whenever they make a snarky remark about a current player’s ability. Yes, I’m looking at you, Mr Palmer – let’s see your comeback for a wee bit of light relief, as it were.\*\* Does Jim Palmer STILL do that? I remember a number of years back Palmer decided to make a comeback several years after he retired, saying the quality of pitching was so bad he’d be an improvement. He pitched a little in spring training and was pounded mercilessly. He wasn’t just pounded; **he did not throw a single pitch that an opposing batter swung at and missed.** Not one. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/56 "2003-08-14T18:17:50Z")
I usually avoid turning the sound up on Orioles’ matches (Buck Martinez’ voice gives ‘Singin in the Rain’s’ Lena a run for the money), but the times he’s been on, he’s his usual self…but baseball is all about tradition, innit. ---
**Author:** ![mojave66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mojave66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mojave66)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/57 "2003-08-15T00:15:21Z")
1. After a grounder is hit, a pack of rabid Labrador Retrivers are released in the outfield to compete with the players in getting the ball. 2. In bases loaded situation, rattlesnakes are released along the basepath. In the case of a grounder during this situation, both dogs AND snakes are released. If a dog kills a snake first, the team on offense scores a run. If the snakes bite a dog first, the offensive team LOSES a run. If a player is killed by either a dog or a snake, that team with the dead player forfeits the game. \* 3. The batter can use any type of “bat” he wishes, and the pitcher must use the corresponding ball/puck type; ie, if the batter pulls out a tennis racquet, then it’s a tennis ball thrown. If the batter pulls out a Titanium wood, then the pitcher must roll him a golf ball. If the batter brings out a broom, then a 20 lb. curling stone will be thrown. 4. The cores of all balls of all types at Coors Field will consist of granite forged from the Rocky Mountains. - note: I love animals, snakes included. I’m JUST KIDDING. Certain baseball players, however, are on their own. John Rocker, I’m looking at you. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/58 "2003-08-15T00:57:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flymaster \* > Add nothing to the game??? They ARE the game. If you’re watching a game and not understanding this, then it’s no wonder you don’t find baseball particularly interesting. Flymaster, you are dead right about this. (In the unlikely event you haven’t yet done so, read _Moneyball_ asap.) ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/59 "2003-08-15T01:19:10Z")
I really like how baseball evolved into ‘Blurnsball’ in Futurama. At one point, the batter hit a fly ball which fell directly into a hole in the outfield. The scoreboard blinked “MULTIBALL!” and suddenly baseballs were shot out in every which direction, with the outfieilders in a panic to retrieve them as the runner dashed across the base lines 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891/60 "2003-08-15T01:27:40Z")
As far as watching it on TV, lose the “rah-rah” play by play announcers who seem to think that they are an integral part of the team. Any time the home team announcer says “We win” or “We haven’t hit Smith’s fastball at all tonight”, put him on camera, and someone slap him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-to-make-baseball-more-interesting/79891.md?page=4)