HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!
It’s New Year’s Eve again – and time for some “more or less” thinking for those of us who love baseball and the game itself, as it is played today. What could make it better? And what could make it worse. Please don’t over-think this one. – For each of the following baseball conditions, stats, entities or individuals, simply select either “more” or “less” as your vote on the direction of each listed possibility.
For example, in 2015, erstwhile Houston SABR member Mike McCroskey should sing “Our National Anthem” prior to various baseball games … More often? … or Less often?
Simple enough. Don’t complicate it.
You may keep your answers to yourself … post them as comments on this column … and maybe even add some additional “More or Less” baseball possibilities and choices of your own for these extra contributions.
Then go out, more or less, or stay home, more or less, and have a Happy New Year – in whatever honest and legitimate way best serves your spiritual needs at this point in your life! – and no “more or less” component on that last one! – Give and take all of the genuine Peace and Love you can muster with the people and purposes that are important in your life. We all get one big run at Life’s Lemonade Stand – and it’s up to all of us to learn what, when, and where to “swig” when the really valuable nectars of life pass our way.
And now, my few 21 contributions to the truly endless list of things we could resolve to embrace or decline about contemporary baseball on a “more or less” basis:
For Each of These, Do You Want to See “More” or “Less” of each in Baseball in either 2015 or in years to come?
1) Use of the Designated Hitter ….?
2) .300 hitters ….?
3) 20-Game Winners …?
4) Pitchers Trained by the 100-Pitch Count ….?
5) 3,000 Career Hit Players in The Hall of Fame ….?
6) Four-Man Pitching Rotations ….?
7) 25 Man Active Player Rosters ….?
8) 13 Man Highly Specialized Relief Pitching Staffs ….?
9) Monitoring for Illegal Drug Use Among Players ….?
10) Games Played Under Three Hours ….?
11) The 162-Game MLB Regular Season …?
12) Two Wild Card Teams in a One-Game Ticket Ride into the Playoffs ….?
13) All Night Game World Series Schedules ….?
14) BBWAA Writers with Lifetime Voting Privileges on HOF Candidates?
15) Foul Poles That Are Turned into “Fowl Poles” by Advertising?
16) Package Change: Shorter MLB Regular Seasons, More Playoff Teams, Longer Playoff Seasons ….?
17) Removal of All Obstacles to Joe Jackson’s Induction into the Hall of Fame ….?
18) Induction of Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame …?
19) An MLB/HOF Policy Decision on How to Recognize the On-the-Field Accomplishments of Steroid-Tainted Players ….?
20) The Bud Selig Rule that Grants Home Field Advantage in the World Series to the Team from the League that Wins the All Star Game ….?
21) Another Baseball Commissioner who thinks like Bud Selig ….?
The Pecan Park Eagle 
December 31, 2014 at 3:27 am |
I’ll say MORE on 1,2,3,5,9,10, 17 and 20 and I vote LESS on all the rest. And a very hearty MORE for continued happiness, health and success in 2015.
December 31, 2014 at 3:32 am |
SABR Member Father Gerald Beirne of Rhode Island supplied his answers in “lickety-split lightning” time in he easy way we had hoped for, but by e-mail Thank you too, Shinerbock, for doing the same:
1 less 2 more 3 more 4 less 5 less 6 less 7 more 8 more 9 more 10 more 11 less 12 less 13 less 14 less 15 less 16 less 17 less 18 less
19 more 20 less 21 less
~ Fr. Gerald Beirne
December 31, 2014 at 4:06 am |
1 more 2 more 3 more 4 less 5 more 6 more 7 more 8 less 9 more 10 more 11 less 12 more 13 less 14 less 15 less 16 more 17 more 18 more 19 more 20 more 21 less
December 31, 2014 at 2:29 pm |
More of 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, and 19. Less of all the rest.
Get rid of the magic number 100 for pitch counts & get rid of the left-handed, one-out relief specialist and others of his ilk.
Get rid of HOF voters who haven’t even followed the game for two or more decades. And get rid of voters who use their ballot as their soap box. The Hall is already filled with players of dubious character – including two of the greatest in Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth – so eliminate the character clause and let other greats in, even if they were jerks or ne’er-do-wells off the field. That includes PED-tainted stars like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, who were clearly two of the greatest players of their era (and of all time).
December 31, 2014 at 2:37 pm |
I’ll think on the questions above, but for now, just wish our dear friend and author, Bill McCurdy a very Happy Birthday!
December 31, 2014 at 2:59 pm |
Thanks for letting us know (well, those like me who didn’t know, anyway). Happy Birthday, Bill (& Happy New Year as well)!