You've got the power

[Guest AG/DC]

... and it's great power, to change one and only one thing about Major League baseball.

You can't change the laws of physis or anything, but neither can you be held back by political or business interests if you want to elimnate the DH or contract the Yankees or something. Eradicatinon of PED usage an acceptable answer also.

Val is on the record as wanting to guarantee that every game is played, no matter what.

[metirish]

Less IL play is all I can think of right now , I like IL play but I really have little interest in playing Kansas , Detroit and the like.

[Guest holychicken]

Can I change the flow of the profits into my pocket?

If not, I say get rid of IL altogether. I like the idea of teams having not played each other for long periods of time. They can keep their stupid DH for all I care.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

This is too easy and you know it.

DH, out.

Out.

Later.

[metirish]

The DH doesn't really bother me becasue it's not in our league.Only when we go there do I give a damn and then I see it as a chance to "rest" one of the guys , especially when it was Piazza.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Years ago I would have chosen to eliminate artificial turf. Since that's pretty much a thing of the past now, I can use my magic wish elsewhere.

I'll have to think about this a little bit more.

[seawolf17]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: This is too easy and you know it. DH, out. Out. Later.

Yep.

[Gwreck]

Other than "free season and playoff tickets for life for Gwreck," I'd get rid of the DH first. There can be no other choice.

[soupcan]

1. DH.

1A. Network television control and MLB not giving a rat's ass to the extent that a Sunday afternoon game that I planned to take my kids to months ago that they were excited about, where they would get a Johann Santana bobblehead and run the bases after the game, got rescheduled to an 8:00 pm starting time with the kids having school on Monday so they can't go.

[Centerfield]

Eliminate the orange dot on the blue caps of the New York Mets.

[Guest AG/DC]

Bwow, maybe there should be anti-DH organzation with a website and t-shirts and online petitions and stuff. Folks are not only united that it's a bad thing, but the worst thing. Bwow.

Of course, we're still waiting on Centerfield to log on and crusade against the dot.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Things I'd like to get rid of:

• The DH.
  
• Interleague play.
  
• The New York Yankees.
  
• The current adherence to pitch counts.
  
• The impact that the Save statistic has had on the game.
  
• Black Mets jerseys
  

Changes I'd like to make:

• The way the schedule is balanced. I'd prefer 16 against each division rival, 9 against each team in other divisions within the same league. (Some exceptions would be necessary to fit to exactly 162 games.)
  
• Start times of post-season games.
  
• Number of minutes between innings.
  
• Price caps on ballpark food. $2 for a hot dog is more than reasonable. Same with $2 for a soda or $1 for a bag of popcorn. And all ballparks should allow you to bring in bag lunches. (I especially hate when I'm told that I can't bring food into the ballpark for "safety reasons.")
  
• More affordable seating at the newer ballparks. (I'm talking to YOU, Citi Field.)
  
• I'd redraw the broadcast territories. (Why is cooby blacked out from Mets games? Ridiculous!)
  
• I'd expand the roster from 25 to 27. Given the way pitching staffs have grown, there are no longer enough bench players for any given game.
  

I think if I had to choose one, it would be the one about affordable ticket prices. Going to a game will never be affordable to everyone, but the games should be more accessible than they currently are, and the trend is heading in the wrong direction.

[Guest AG/DC]

Yes, I was typing away merrily when Centerfield submitted.

[Centerfield]

Uncanny. It's like another Oprah moment.

[bmfc1]

Benjamin Grimm nails everything ("it's like I have a twin!"). The start time of World Series games is pathetic. Two-thirds of the country is on east coast time but the games, because they start between 8:20 and 8:40, and there are 2 1/2 minutes between each half-inning for commercials, last past 11.

Oh, and if I could, I would like to bring Bob Murphy back.

[Farmer Ted]

Organ music only at the ballpark.


Yeah, I said Organ.

[Fman99]

Buh bye, DH. See ya, wouldn't want to be ya.

[Guest themetfairy]

As was previously stated -


[list:9b44d73816]Eliminate the DH
Eliminate Interleague Play
Bring back organ music![/list:u:9b44d73816]

Also, bring back Banner Day!

[Guest cooby]

New parks for some teams every 20 years.

Dozens of uniform variations.

Non cable TV coverage.

[HahnSolo]

Change in between inning time from I believe 2:45 now to 1:45.

[Frayed Knot]

The DH.
Not only is it the one thing I most want to see gone but it's the one thing that the people within baseball have the power to affect.

Beyond that, I think the next biggest problem is the pacing of these games. There's nothing wrong with a 3 hour game but 3 hours shouldn't be the average with 3:20 games being as common as 2:30. And it only gets worse in the post-season which, when combined with the later start times, makes them that much tougher to follow. Want to know where your TV has gone Bud?
There are a myriad of factors which contribute to this so it's not an easy thing to fix, but I feel it's like the solution to our energy situation in this country: TRY EVERYTHING!

Game Times:
1969 World Series: 2:13; 2:20; 2:23; 2:33 (10 innings); 2:14
5 games = 11 hours - 43 minutes

2007 WS: 3:30; 3:39 (2-1 game, 8-1/2 innings); 4:19; 3:35
4 games = 15 hours - 3 minutes

[Guest AG/DC]

Frayed Knot wrote: The DH not only is it the one thing I most want to see gone but it's the one thing that the people within baseball have the power to affect.

They may have the power, but the union and (probably) the marketing people don't have the interest, though I'd hope they could be persuaded to actually do pair of deep-drilling studies to see if it's actually in their interests to retain.

It's been around som long, it's got it's own culutre, and misguidedly conservatie adherents. When I was growing up, Yankee fans would defend it just to be provincial --- and, occassionally, dicky. I don't put it past Hank Steinbrenner to irrationally be both.

[metirish]

Get with the times NL

[Benjamin Grimm]

The DH is such a 20th Century rule.

Eliminating it would be at the top of my list if it was in the National League. I'd like to see it gone from the AL only to prevent the possibility of it one day contaminating the NL, but I don't see that as any kind of imminent threat.

I also, by the way, hate the balk rule.

[Guest AG/DC]

It's undermined the record book for almost two generationss.

[nymr83]

]The start time of World Series games is pathetic. Two-thirds of the country is on east coast time but the games, because they start between 8:20 and 8:40, and there are 2 1/2 minutes between each half-inning for commercials, last past 11.

i'll take that one. give me no playoff games that start after 7 PM EST if an East Coast team is playing (or 7PM CST if a Central team is playing)

[Vic Sage]

soupcan wrote: 1. DH. 1A. Network television control and MLB not giving a rat's ass to the extent that a Sunday afternoon game that I planned to take my kids to months ago that they were excited about, where they would get a Johann Santana bobblehead and run the bases after the game, got rescheduled to an 8:00 pm starting time with the kids having school on Monday so they can't go.

soupy, after some discussion with Mrs. Sage, I'm taking my son anyway. It's September baseball, with the division lead on the line against our biggest rivals. So, he'll be a little sleepy and grumpy on Monday... it's not worth him missing that experience. I'm more worried about the parking, frankly.

[Guest attgig]

things to change:
remove bud
remove DH
remove the "make it count" mantra of ASG. make it an exhibition again, with modified rules so that they can play extra innings.
put in salary cap with luxury tax
- from that, bring benefits to fans:
-lower ticket prices
- lower ballpark food prices
eliminate PED
take out replays for rest of the year. install CC tv into all ballparks during offseason for all appropriate angles. hire video reviewer for each ball park, and make more things video challengable. earpiece to ump to cue what should be reviewed and what shouldn't. keep strikezone sacred - no arguing balls and strikes
eliminate some stupid "sacred rules" ie. allow milledge to high five fans. if there's the lambeau leap, there should be at LEAST high fives in baseball


and media based ones:
remove blackout restrictions from mlb.tv and allow saturday afternoon games to be watched via online.
have at least one out of market game avail on network tv or basic cable (ie, espn, fox, tbs, fx, etc) each day.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Hopefully he'll see a great win!

[MFS62]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: This is too easy and you know it. DH, out. Out. Later.

Yep.

Later