The Cleveland Indians, Bob Feller, Larry Doby, and Satchel Paige were some of my AL favorites as a kid. I will be looking forward to the first visit of the 2013 Tribe to Houston. (Artwork by Myrtle Hunt in the 1930s)
Last Thursday I had this wonderful luncheon visit with good friend Greg Lucas in which he also brought me a copy of this most interesting article from the June 6, 2000 USA Today Baseball Weekly and a “Leading Off” column by writer Paul White.
It was all about figuring various ways to realign the 16/14 club NL/AL in a way that would make inter-league play and the playoffs more attractive to fans. All of the plans were not spelled out in expressed detail, but the pony being pushed by Commissioner Bud Selig back then was not the one that happened when Houston was finally forced to the AL as a sales condition placed upon new owner Jim Crane in 2011.
In Selig’s 2000 plan, one AL team from the ALE (probably Tampa Bay) would move to the ALC, producing a 6-team division to go along with the two remaining post-change 4-team divisions in the ALE and ALW. By some other (here unspecified) formula, the NL would be reorganized into four 4-team divisions.
At the same earlier time, however, the Major League Baseball Players Association drafted its own counter-proposal to the Selig-streaming MLB plan. In the MLBPA counter-plan, the goal was to create two 15-team leagues, with the most likely way to go being the movement of Houston from the NL to the ALW, as actually happened over time.
Very interesting, but not that surprising. After all, there are only so many ways to do things like this actual change to the 15/15 two league format. It wasn’t likely that it would happen by a way that had not been suggested previously.
In spite of all the NL tradition issues “the change” has spaded in Houston’s baseball soil, I do prefer the symmetry of the six 5-team divisions it gives baseball over one large 6-team division fitting its way into the old pattern that included four 5-team units and one dinky 4-team division.
4-team divisions are unacceptably too small for competitive purposes over the season. 5-teams may not statistically be much better, but they certainly look better on paper as competitive units and, the more clubs you have, the more you increase the odds of competitive presence.
The Astros may not win much this year, but they will not quit, not with a guy like Bo Porter at the helm. There is no room for quitters on a club managed by Mr. Porter.
On that optimistic note, have a beautiful baseball Sunday, everybody!
The Pecan Park Eagle 
April 8, 2013 at 6:18 am |
Bill, why do you suppose Mr. Porter chose Jose Altuve as his DH Saturday night, playing Carlos Pena at 1st base?
April 8, 2013 at 12:16 pm |
Mark, all I know is what Porter says. He says he wants to use the DH to give starters a partial break while he also makes playing time available to the rest of his roster, including Pena, whom Bo sees as a first baseman, anyway. Saturday also gave Marwyn Gonzalez a game in the field at second base. That sounds like “it’ to me.
April 8, 2013 at 3:39 pm |
I guess I can see where Altuve would have needed a rest after that long grueling stretch of four games from March 31 through April 6.
I’m just funnin with ya fella. 🙂 Given what he has to work with, if I was Porter I’d try out Jason Castro at shortstop, Marwin Gonzales as a pitcher, Wesley Wright as a ball boy, and Rick Ankiel as the team doctor.