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I still love baseball


AirwickWithCheese

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Please leave the game of baseball alone, it's timeless perfection. Baseball, football, sure but don't you dare talk about basketball as if it's worthy to be mentioned in the same sentence.

 

Baseball has taken some hits. All the drugs, the free agency, and now they want to speed it up for the speed addicts that will never appreciate or love her rhythmic beauty. That would be the death nail to America's past time.  

 

Sitting in the stands with your best girl eating hot dogs from questionable vendors.  The Dodger dog is heaven on earth. Atlanta is a cesspool but only the genteel go to baseball games. Try that at a Hawk game. 

 

Baseball is best listened to on radio. All the great announcers from the past painting such a wonderful picture and giving you a front row seat. Each time we lose a Harry Carey a part of our Nation's fabric is lost.

 

If baseball continues to be altered and disrespected we risk losing our unique identity.  America will cease to be great when baseball is no longer baseball. 

 

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I remember watching one of Willie Mays last games with DadCheese. I recall he went out for basket catch and made an error. 

 

I was happy because I was for the other team. They stopped the game and immediately replaced him with some forgotten teammate.  

 

I looked over at Dad and saw tears. I didn't understand then but I understand now. 

 

God bless you Willie Mays, I'm sorry I was an asshat that night. 

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America allows the freedom of speech.  That is beautiful.

I also enjoy the athleticism of hockey.  It seems intense.

The problem I have with baseball is the standing around that the players do.  It moves so slowly.  I have the same issue with football. 

See, that all sounds swell but here's the problem. Of course you have the right to appreciate and enjoy whatever you fancy but those of us who love baseball are being forced to change in hopes of attracting those of you who will never love our game. 

 

If baseball was hurting, ok then it would be inevitable but it's not. 

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Baseball beckons  a slower time.  A time of a slow walk home in the rain floating a stick or leaf in open ditches and chasing it along the roadside.  A time where kicking a can or a stone down the street was entertaining and to die a cowboy or an Indian was a drama we all acted out on the parents of our parents lawn.  It is a magical sport and a very American sport.  It isn't just the game that is under fire, it is everything in life.  Remember when a Dairy Queen was a place to gather on a warm summer evening?  Now it is a place to drive through as you hustle around the city.  We are an instant gratification society and we wait for nothing.  

I grew up in Vancouver where we had (on and off) the Vancouver Mounties, a single-A affiliate to several MLB clubs.  They played at Capilano Stadium, a quaint little ball park that was later named Nat Bailey stadium.  My father took my brother and I to weekend games and when old enough, I would occasionally cut high school class with some friends to watch a weekday game.  

Canada, is not a baseball country, it is a hockey country and expansion of the sport throughout the US did bring changes to the game.  The infamous blue dot on televised games and rule changes to expedite the game.  The latter changed how the game was played and who would excel at it.  Not good changes in my books but it suited those who possess that need for speed.

As a pilot, one of my forms of on the road entertainment has always been hockey or MLB games.  I have been to most big city stadiums in the US.  I have been welcomed to complete strangers tailgate parties, had beer spilled on me, enjoyed some of the best peanuts and hotdogs while watching a game of strategy and basking in the afternoon sun and actually enjoying the seventh inning stretch.  

What I like most about the game is the lack of change.  The ability to go back to those simpler times arriving at a ball park.  Nothing beats it.

I love soccer and enjoy going to games in Toronto or any of the great English parks.  I like going to the odd NHL game and have been to a few Raptors games.  Live NBA games are  constant entertainment completely suited to the time sensitive ADHD fans.  Nothing however, beats a summer baseball game.  Don't rush a good thing.

 

Edited by Wilbur
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The best baseball games we ever saw were at a Babe Ruth ball park, walking distance from the house.  The Vienna Senators played in a collegiate wood-bat league.  College kids playing wood-bat baseball for fun, to hone skills, or to get picked up by minor league teams with a shot at the show.  The games were free, concessions were cheap and people were there as a community.  The players lived with host families, we hosted one kid for a summer.  Broken bats were given to youngsters who asked for them.  I met scouts from the Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox.

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Sadly this thread is representative of why baseball is doomed. She will go down the same road as everything else and try to be all things to all people instead of being who she is. 

 

Soccer is perfect for those of you who want to combine the world. Have at it. 

 

Leave baseball alone.  Let Boston hate New York and Chicago win the World Series. If you don't like baseball, play cricket, hockey,  rugby, or roque. 

 

Baseball is America and America is baseball. 

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​Not as teams representing their national leagues.

IMO if it's a "world series" we should arrange for the best from the rest of the world to represent their countries.  Else it's just the US series.

That's what the WBC is for. 

 

The World Series is for MLB which has the world's best players. 

 

BTW, it's not just a U.S. league. 

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Sadly this thread is representative of why baseball is doomed. She will go down the same road as everything else and try to be all things to all people instead of being who she is. 

 

Soccer is perfect for those of you who want to combine the world. Have at it. 

 

Leave baseball alone.  Let Boston hate New York and Chicago win the World Series. If you don't like baseball, play cricket, hockey,  rugby, or roque. 

 

Baseball is America and America is baseball. 

​Ok, Football (soccer to you) it is.  After a very brief and flamed out career as a keeper and 2 decades as a part time pro referee I understand it better anyway.

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