tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post9129656973417772459..comments2024-03-29T02:42:01.539-04:00Comments on IT IS HIGH! IT IS FAR! IT IS... caught.: Was Expansion a Big Mistake?Stanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17758839786688249648noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-79106501129283730322021-11-11T13:08:21.841-05:002021-11-11T13:08:21.841-05:00And JM, just to clarify, I think adding major-leag...And JM, just to clarify, I think adding major-league teams was a necessary and good idea. They just should have been put in their own, separate leagues so both players and fans could enjoy some winning—and so we could have more fun playing old rivals.<br /><br />Too late to put that cat back in the bag. But not too late to make the game better!<br />HoraceClarke66https://www.blogger.com/profile/16965472730239358589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-27145490167719568572021-11-11T13:06:49.572-05:002021-11-11T13:06:49.572-05:00BUT, the fact that people like me too often tend t...BUT, the fact that people like me too often tend to miss "the good old days," when we're really missing our youth...doesn't mean that things DON'T decline and get worse. They really do, in all sorts of ways.<br /><br />In baseball, there is a legitimate debate to be had about whether keeping guys in the minors longer to learn various skills is better than bringing them up to get in great years when they're at their youngest and quickest.<br /><br />But to play the game the way it is played today...it's just not working. And it's not working in the most fundamental way: people are bored and don't want to watch it. When you're a spectator sport, that's the bottom line.<br /><br />HoraceClarke66https://www.blogger.com/profile/16965472730239358589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-63654428503743679442021-11-11T13:02:56.938-05:002021-11-11T13:02:56.938-05:00Good points all around, Joe. And I especially agr...Good points all around, Joe. And I especially agree with listening to people who have skills I don't have (which means almost everybody). Listening well, I think, is one of the hardest—but most important—things for a writer to learn to do.<br /><br />It's a funny thing about the whole, "Things aren't what they used to be" lament. It has so often been so overdone that we tend to doubt it on its face. <br /><br />I know that in baseball, the earliest known example of that was one "Old Pete" O'Brien, a player on the Brooklyn Atlantics, who told a reporter that they just didn't play baseball the way they used to 8-10 years before. He was speaking in 1868!<br /><br />BUT...HoraceClarke66https://www.blogger.com/profile/16965472730239358589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-4150262003576293552021-11-11T09:57:55.814-05:002021-11-11T09:57:55.814-05:00You have a point, Joe. But I do think fewer teams ...You have a point, Joe. But I do think fewer teams would increase the general quality of play and rid us of the not ready for prime time players who clog most rosters. Maybe all. And that's something I would love to see.<br /><br />I'm surprised one of the sports leagues hasn't put a team in Schenectady. Sure is a lot of space there to build an arena or stadium nearby. And it can draw fans from as far as Saratoga and Glens Falls! Even Selkirk!JMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09876016557456927299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-25628193331354520982021-11-11T06:33:57.257-05:002021-11-11T06:33:57.257-05:00A different perspective:
For many years, my wrist...<br />A different perspective:<br /><br />For many years, my wristing/editing/publishing career was focused on one industry -- a construction trade. I'll omit which one, but it requires knowledge, skill, and ability (at the very least) to do this work. And if the people doing the work make mistakes, it puts at risk the health-safety and even the lives of the ultimate occupants of the buildings built.<br /><br />One event I attended was a dinner, in NYC. Long story, but I ended up sitting next to an old veteran workman in this industry. He also did (at night) training of apprentices in the field. He had been in the field 43 years. In my experience as a writer, if someone with that much experience is willing to talk with you, you should STFU and just listen!<br /><br />He opened my eyes. He basically said this: "The skilled guys we're training as apprentices and turning into journeymen today aren't close to being as knowledgeable as those (skilled tradesmen) who I worked with when I started out" -- decades earlier.<br /><br />I don't know if "it's not as good now as it was then" is prevalent everywhere. It is at least in baseball (Hoss is right) and the skilled trade I covered and was associated with for decades. My friend who is an avid football fan frequently laments all of the changes in the NFL. <br /><br />AND: From my limited reading about Ancient Greece, the poet Hesiod (lived in 8th century BCE) included in his poems laments about how great things were several hundred years earlier.<br /><br />MY POINT: Maybe things just deteriorate over time, naturally (as in, maybe, American democracy?). Or maybe those of us who have been around for a time have some kind of golden memory of the way things used to be (or could be now) . . . a memory that's part fact and part wishful remembering.<br /><br />If you want to concretely document "wishful remembering," see Zachary A's comment at the top of this thread. We NYY fans think our team is quite something, but it barely has performed as well as an expansion team -- for 2 decades. <br />Joe Formerlyof Brooklynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16970448525840486063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-72140760197363852772021-11-11T01:26:37.142-05:002021-11-11T01:26:37.142-05:00I'm all for those other cities getting their o...I'm all for those other cities getting their own major-league teams. It only made sense, as our population grew and shifted.<br /><br />But if baseball had just put them in their own leagues, it all would have been much more fun and much more competitive. You know, I thought the NHL—of all institutions—actually had a pretty good idea when they first expanded by putting all 6 of the new teams in their own division.<br /><br />My idea would've been to go even further. Start off with something like the Continental League that was basically just used to push the established bigs into expanding, but could have been a fine idea on its own. All those fans could've had real hopes on their own, and we could have avoided having to watch games in the Tampa Dome, or whatever it's called.<br />HoraceClarke66https://www.blogger.com/profile/16965472730239358589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-60561024159240162052021-11-11T01:22:00.515-05:002021-11-11T01:22:00.515-05:00Thanks, JM. I agree. The old PCL was the greates...Thanks, JM. I agree. The old PCL was the greatest loss of MLB's idiotic ravaging of the old minor leagues—though the loss of the International League, the American Association, and others come close.<br /><br />And as you say, the PCL for a time was Triple-A-plus, and some guys just preferred to stay and play out there. It's really a little surprising that it DIDN'T become its own major league...<br />HoraceClarke66https://www.blogger.com/profile/16965472730239358589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-81951025866653503722021-11-11T01:19:48.065-05:002021-11-11T01:19:48.065-05:00But at least there's been lots of general winn...But at least there's been lots of general winning, Zach. Not so much with the newbies. Even when "new" is 60 years old.<br />HoraceClarke66https://www.blogger.com/profile/16965472730239358589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-17889566838157126072021-11-10T17:30:24.732-05:002021-11-10T17:30:24.732-05:00I heartily agree. You didn't even mention how ...I heartily agree. You didn't even mention how watered down the talent is. Half of the players we suffer through watching would be playing AAA or Pacific Coast League or AA. Or lower. (The Pacific was a damn good league, btw. Some of those guys didn't want to leave the coast, so they really didn't care too too much if they didn't go to a major league team.)<br /><br />Anyway, I'm willing to have the Dodgers in LA, even though they weren't dodging streetcars. And the Giants in Frisco, I guess. The west deserves some teams.<br /><br />But if MLB capped the number of teams at 10 and 10, and allowed franchises to move, it would be a much better game. This is stupid. Let the NBA and NHL put teams in Bumfuck. I think baseball would gain fans through quality and rivalries.<br /><br />So there.JMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09876016557456927299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3932285159851204335.post-16920910366688232682021-11-10T14:06:01.386-05:002021-11-10T14:06:01.386-05:00The Yankees have 2 pennants and 1 title in the las...The Yankees have 2 pennants and 1 title in the last 20 years. <br /><br />Did we become an expansion team at some point and I missed it? ZacharyAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17137461064117359216noreply@blogger.com