Filed on behalf of HoraceClarke66, whose computer was stolen and sold to Russia...
“…What is,
what is?”
Well,
actually a lot of stuff, much of which is being debated right now. But
let’s not go there.
Instead, I
want to talk about something trivial: The proposals to make the 2020
Abomination Rules—7-inning games in doubleheaders, starting every extra inning
with a runner on second-base—a permanent disfigurement of the game we all love.
“Who
cares, who cares?”
The words
above were penned by the great Elvis Costello in 1980, part of a song called,
“Hoover Factory.” It’s about an old Hoover vacuum factory outside of
London that was about to be torn down, like several other abandoned Art Deco
buildings from the 1930s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FAzWgY8Ftc
As you can
see, it was drop-dead gorgeous:
But hey,
what would be the big deal if it was reduced to rubble?
“It’s
not a matter of life or death…”
Neither
are these moronic new rules for pandemic baseball. Installing them will
just be one more example of chipping away at the great game for no discernible
reason.
Baseball isn’t
overrun by extra-inning games, especially not those that go on and on, inning
after inning. The owners long ago all but eliminated doubleheaders, so
that they’re only played in the case of monsoon-level rainouts.
Nor do the
lords of MLB have any interest in actually shortening the games. Or
addressing the real problem, which is that the game today is more
one-dimensional—and boring—than it has ever been.
What they
are after is making the game more predictable. Squeezing it into
reliable, three-hour boxes. This way it can be turned all the more easily
into one of the timed games that baseball envies so much, football and
basketball, where advertisers can be assured that the action will always take
place within certain time slots.
It’s all for
the money, of course, like everything else, and if it mutilates the game some
of us love so much, well, is that really so bad?
And will
it really be so bad when, not long from now, MLB puts ads on the outfield
grass? Then on the infield grass, the bases, and the uniforms?
When all
teams, as well as their stadiums, are named after their corporate
sponsors? When our favorite team becomes the My Pillow Yankees?
“Who
cares…?”
The Hoover
Factory, incidentally, was saved. It was converted into a supermarket and
apartments, with all of its salient elements preserved and it looks
great.
Just
another beautiful thing. Just something to make people feel better as
they go into it or drive past it on another working day. Just the way we
think of baseball.
If only
somebody would save our favorite thing.