Why are you a baseball fan?

Padredurand.

You asked:

I loved baseball in the sixties and the seventies. The players were loyal team players (whether they liked it or not ). I became jaded like many other fans after the strike though.

 

So, JackRUS, does that mean the game is off? Double and Single A ball is the bomb. No inflated egos, low salaries and a love of the game. We had a Triple A team in the next town over until some guy named Ripkin bought it and moved it to Maryland.

During the summer Doubleday Field at the HOF hosts games featuring "geezer" (30+ league)ball. I watched three games on a Saturday afternoon last fall. Spent three bucks on two hot dogs and a Pepsi. That, my friend, is a value!

The only things that get me cranky about baseball is long pants and aluminum bats.

Remember Jerry Park in Montreal? There was a swimming pool just outside the right field fence. Watched Stargell wheel one into the pool on the fly! Got Jackie Hernandez's autograph that day as well as Tim Foley's and "Boots" Day's from the Expos. (Ex-Expos?)

 

I love baseball because it is a talking sport - 9 months of cussing and discussing whats going on - on and off the field, debating strategy, and why are the Rangers still wasting money on Chan (on no) Ho Park.

Baseball is the only professional sport I really love attending. You can take your family for a resonable amount of money - and then sitting out in the stands with a friend talking strategy is fantastic. And what better place than the Ballpark in Arlington - or as we like to call it the Temple! Even when the Rangers stink, it is still a great place to go watch a game!

In the winter you have the hot stove league - who got who, who traded for who - did the Yankees finally buy a winner?

 

The game does not have to be professional. Or does it? Of course even the parents have ruined even the Little League.

Ah, those were the days...

This on the other hand is today:

http://postgazette.com/pg/05039/454337.stm

And did I mention the ridiculous players CBA?

Please excuse me while I yawn...

 

Jimmy.

You wrote:

I have to agree with you on that. For a single day's entertainment value for the whole family, a day at the ballyard isn't bad. Especially for the kids. If I had kids I would take them there myself.

But my argument that the game itself on the whole stinks still stands. Especially compared to the way it was when I grew up in the 50's-70's.

The Drug scandal and strike was first, and now steroids. Free agency is fair to the players, but their greed and their union has ruined the game.

It's like what Bob Dylan said about unions in general. "It was a good idea when it started, but you got greedy."

[ February 08, 2005, 09:30 PM: Message edited by: JackRUS ]

 

Jack

I think we all are inflicted with "good old days syndrome" from time to time. The drugs of choice have changed, but the fact that back in the good old days players came to the ballpark drunk from the night before. Read some of the stories about Babe Ruth, or the Dean brothers in St Louis. Even in the 60s and 70s marijuana and cocaine began to make the scene - uppers and downers before that. I dont think the greed of the players is much different from the greed of the owners. The only difference now is that the players have the hammer.

The union in baseball is absolutely the strongest union in all of sports. At least they have started (finally) to take roids seriously. Sadly, as long as the players were performing, I dont think the owners cared what thier players were injecting. According to surveys - fans still dont, as long as Sosa and McGuire can have a big home run race, or a marginal player can suddenly have a huge season - the fans go nuts.

Baseball is still a great game, and I hope they can really clean it up - but I just dont have any illusions that the game is much different now than it was.