Excellent article, probably the best that I've read on this topic.
Let's have fun back in baseball and let us imagine what could be. Burn the "unwritten" rules book. I want to see the stellar bat flips, the stare downs without a threat of 100mph fastball to the head, give me base runners stealing everything including the kitchen sink, let me believe again that my small market team can win it all with a cast of misfits that won't be poached next year by the Yankees. Let's see the pitcher last 7+ innings and pitch 2 days later for another 7 innings. Let the players be unique and celebrate them for it.
Not that the more “modern” Chief Wahoo is any great shakes either but goddamn the older version is breathtaking to behold. It’s like the mascot is from a Bugs Bunny cartoon that doesn’t get aired anymore.
Riding on the coattails of your point we can also take a look at the minor league pay scale. Most players are making less than minimum wage while living in apartment with four or five of their teammates. And baseball is somehow legally allowed to do this because of some court case that took place before baseball was even integrated.
Dead solid perfect, sir. Baseball is a good metaphor for the country in the sense that while it has never fully lived up to its promise, it does seem to keep bending toward a "more perfect union." The new generation of stars is diverse and fun, and MLB finally seems to realize that we need personalities to drive interest in a six-month season beyond the hardcore fans. Now, my kingdom for the next Moneyball approach to winning a division with contact hitters. In the words of the great American philosopher, Crash Davis, "Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls; it's more democratic."
I'm not much of a baseball guy, although it was the first American sport that my family took to when we moved to southern California because it's really easy to understand. I remember how pissed some people were about Fernando Valenzuela not being especially fluent in English - not much changes about (some) Americans' ambivalence, to be delicate, about immigrants.
Scott, if this were a column that ran in the Washington Post or the NYT, it would be on your Pulitzer nomination. It’s that good. 🙌👏
Excellent article, probably the best that I've read on this topic.
Let's have fun back in baseball and let us imagine what could be. Burn the "unwritten" rules book. I want to see the stellar bat flips, the stare downs without a threat of 100mph fastball to the head, give me base runners stealing everything including the kitchen sink, let me believe again that my small market team can win it all with a cast of misfits that won't be poached next year by the Yankees. Let's see the pitcher last 7+ innings and pitch 2 days later for another 7 innings. Let the players be unique and celebrate them for it.
Not that the more “modern” Chief Wahoo is any great shakes either but goddamn the older version is breathtaking to behold. It’s like the mascot is from a Bugs Bunny cartoon that doesn’t get aired anymore.
Riding on the coattails of your point we can also take a look at the minor league pay scale. Most players are making less than minimum wage while living in apartment with four or five of their teammates. And baseball is somehow legally allowed to do this because of some court case that took place before baseball was even integrated.
Boy howdy, that picture says SO much. In the words of John Mellencamp, ain't that America, something to see.
Dead solid perfect, sir. Baseball is a good metaphor for the country in the sense that while it has never fully lived up to its promise, it does seem to keep bending toward a "more perfect union." The new generation of stars is diverse and fun, and MLB finally seems to realize that we need personalities to drive interest in a six-month season beyond the hardcore fans. Now, my kingdom for the next Moneyball approach to winning a division with contact hitters. In the words of the great American philosopher, Crash Davis, "Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls; it's more democratic."
I'm not much of a baseball guy, although it was the first American sport that my family took to when we moved to southern California because it's really easy to understand. I remember how pissed some people were about Fernando Valenzuela not being especially fluent in English - not much changes about (some) Americans' ambivalence, to be delicate, about immigrants.
I made a fun lil thread of some of Ohtani's HRs this year and how absurd they are here: https://twitter.com/stannahmontana1/status/1413495259405819914?s=20
I love that description of Ohtani's swing. Just so much violence.