MLB...why bother?

[John Ranalletta]

A board retreat that I facilitated for a Chicago-area client included attending a Cubs game against the Washington Nationals - two teams in a race for the bottom.

 

Now, I've really tried to enjoy watching baseball and I had fun playing it as a kid, but this was 7.5 innings of exquisite ennui. The weather was perfect, the peanuts were salty, the beer was cold and company was grand, but it seemed we'd never get to the 7th inning stretch.

 

There were screaming, involved fans all around including those who who score each bat twitch and crotch scratch in excruciating detail. God love 'em for their enthusiasm. For moi, watching a baseball game is made only marginally more enjoyable than a root canal because of the hot dogs and beer.

[Whip]

Put on ESPN and watch the Little League World Series.

 

That's what it's all about.

 

 

[tallman]

"90 feet between bases is as close to perfection as man can get", or words to that effect.

Red Smith

 

 

 

 

[Whip]

[Eric the Blue]

As Humphrey Bogart once said, "A hotdog at the ball park is better than a steak at the Ritz."

 

 

[Skywagon]

I went to college on a full ride baseball scholarship. I loved to play the game......but I am with you. The last time I went to a game was the World Series with Oakland and San Francisco in 1989. Really fun to play, but watching is painfully slow...

[Matts_12GS]

[ltljohn]

Because I like baseball I watch it. I have season tickets to the Phillies AAA team in Allentown, PA.

[Bob Palin]

Don't bother then, just leave those of us that do enjoy the game to get on with it.

[JohnnyJ]

I've been priced out of the game. My entertainment dollar is going elsewhere.

 

 

JohnnyJ

[vizhip]

Now, I've really tried to enjoy watching baseball and I had fun playing it as a kid, but this was 7.5 innings of exquisite ennui. The weather was perfect, the peanuts were salty, the beer was cold and company was grand, but it seemed we'd never get to the 7th inning stretch.

 

Back in the day when the Atlanta Braves played in Fulton County Stadium and were the worst team in baseball, our company would buy up blocks of seats (40 - 80) and we would start off with a tail-gate grill-out... ie... someone with a pick-up truck would put a grill on the tail-gate and we would cook up lots of food... break out the ice chests and have lots of drink as well...

 

We would then mosey on over to the park to watch batting practice...

 

It wasn't about the game... we knew they would lose, but it was about the company and the atmosphere... and every once in a while a surprise - like Bob Horner dinging all those home-runs...

 

I also learned a lot of respect for Tommy Lasorda there...

 

As is typical with various major league teams, they invite the kids from the county leagues to come out and visit the ball park... to get a chance to walk on the turf where the big kids play... This day, the Braves were scheduled to play the Dodgers... and as typical, we were yelling at the Dodgers just for fun... and then the little leaguers came out to walk around the field...

 

They were lead by some lady in the Braves general office... They started from the gate in right field and were scheduled to leave at the gate in left field...

 

Batting practice was over... all the Braves were in their locker rooms and NONE of the coaching staff was any where near the field... but when the kids got near the visitor's dugout... Tommy Lasorda walked out... with two of his team... and they talked to all the kids, shook their hands, passed out autographed balls that they collected from the end of batting practice when they saw the kids come out of the gate...

 

To me that was a lot of class... talking to kids from a different town as the visiting team and providing something those kids will NEVER forget...

 

The Dodgers were cheered for on that day... and many a fan walked away from that park with a new found respect for Tommy...

 

So the teams may be bad... the game boring... but watch how the players act towards one another... guests in the park... etc... and enjoy the time with friends away from the office and out in the park on a beautiful day...

 

Why bother ??? It is like anything else we do... because there is entertainment value to be had... even though you may have to take some of it with you ... and because sometimes... just maybe... you will be given a rare treat...

 

And as bad and ugly and rundown as that stadium was... I still miss it... because there were a lot of good memories from there...

 

Regards -

-Bob

[John Ranalletta]

Your observations are spot on. The folks who were having the grandest time at the park looked to be groups of regulars and irregulars who were paying scant attention to the inaction.

 

The most interesting parts of last night's game occurred when ball shaggers on Waveland Avenue and bleacher bums threw Nationals' home run balls back onto the field.

 

I guess the other disconcerting fact was how really badly a team costing $150 mil/year can perform. How badly would they play if they only made $100 mil?

[Kathy R]

Put on ESPN and watch the Little League World Series.

 

That's what it's all about.

 

 

 

Absolutely right!

[Kathy R]

...... Chicago-area.....

 

South side

White Sox baby!

[Mike O]

My daughter and I attend Colorado Rockies games. Each and every time we walk into Coors Field I look at her, she grins, says "I know Dad" and I tell her

 

"This...is what it's all about."

 

And "This" is a collection of things for her and I.

 

"This" is the smell of hot dogs,

"This" is holding back a tear as we stand hands over our hearts as a young Girl Scout sings the National Anthem.

"This" is watching the sun set behind the scoreboard and over the mountains and thankful that the heat will finally subside.

"This" is watching fans scramble to catch a fly ball and one cheering with success.

"This" is a common bond resulting in small talk with whoever got tickets in the seats next to ours.

"This" is 4 hours as we debate a hit-n-run (and remarking that it really should be called the 'run-n-hit').

"This" is 40,000 fans singing in the 7th inning.

"This" is the water display when our team hits a home run.

"This" is booing the ref, and applause for fine pitching.

"This" is tension - 9th inning, leading by 1 run, full count, bases loaded and watching the opponent batter swinging for the fence.

 

And in the end..."This" is a baseball game.

 

Mike O

[Matts_12GS]

This was the opening game of the season for our AA afiliate.

 

The starting pitcher holding his little girl after the game signing autographs. This is what I love about the minors.

 

[Mike O]

Quick story... I was in Co. Springs and had a free evening so decided to watch a Skysox (AAA) game. Grabbed my hat, binoculars, etc and headed to the ticket window. I said "Gimme the best seat you got." And handed over $6. Walked to the gate, and gave the ticket to the usher, and he looked at the ticket, then at me and asked "Why'd you bother bringing binoculars?".

 

He escorted me to the first row where I sat a cold beer ON the dugout. Yup...$6 for first hand conversation (during the game) with the team. No, I didn't need binoculars

 

Mike O

[sgendler]

He escorted me to the first row where I sat a cold beer ON the dugout. Yup...$6 for first hand conversation (during the game) with the team. No, I didn't need binoculars

 

Yeah, but you still had to sit through a baseball game

 

 

:duck

 

[bakerzdosen]

I like going to baseball games. It helps when you're watching your team and they are doing well, but nonetheless, it can be a fun activity. I've been to two MLB games thus far this season (one in Cincy and one in San Diego) and I have tickets to a Mariners game next month.

 

Some like it, and some don't. I do.

 

Edit: And BTW, I've gotta agree with their marketing. PNC park is the best ballpark (I can only vouch for the ones I've been to) in the US from a spectator perspective. VERY picturesque.

[RichEdwards]

For moi, watching a baseball game is made only marginally more enjoyable than a root canal because of the hot dogs and beer.

 

Too bad you don't watch the American League East. Best teams, best rivalries, best games. Yankees, Rays baseball is about all the TV I watch in the summer.

It's football that bores me. This country went nuts when it started paying college football coaches 4-times what they pay college presidents.

[Matts_12GS]

It's football that bores me. This country went nuts when it started paying college football coaches 4-times what they pay college presidents.

 

Yeah, but who ever sent their kids to college based on the president of the university? Blame the Cult of the Athlete for that one. A good coach will attract far more money to a school than a president will so I'm pretty certain that line is pretty thin for those school administration types.

 

But, this is about baseball.

 

I will go spend an afternoon at the ballpark given the chance most any time, it evokes many pleasant memories for me. Now that my son is playing little league, those days together at the ball park are more important.

 

Baseball on TV is only worth watching in October when the games REALLY matter.

[OoPEZoO]

Put on ESPN and watch the Little League World Series.

 

That's what it's all about.

 

 

 

I'm with ya dude.......thats what I was watching last night.

[Ron-M]

I lost touch with baseball many years ago, but for the last couple of years I have slowly regained my interest. My wife and I will go and catch the local HS games because we know a lot of the kids playing. We attend as many of the local community college games as we can, our neighbor is the coach, and we will attend some Florida State games as well, especially when Florida is in town - Go Gators - I took my 16 year old daughter to Fenway last year and my brother took his daughter as well. A good time was had by all, everyone loved it. I like the sounds, which bring me back to when I was a kid listening to the Red Sox on my transitor radio. I like the relaxation aspect of it. A place to go and be entertained, whether it be by the fans, the person or people your are with, or the game, all with ballpark food. It is great to watch a good athlete play the game and most of the time, to me anyway, the game is exciting. Yeah, I'm glad I have rediscovered baseball.

[tallman]

If you truly understand the game, there is very little "inactivity".

Signals from the dugout to players.

Signals from catcher to pitcher.

Positioning of fielders based on type of pitch, count, inning, score, tendencies.

It is a ballet that has nine players working towards one goal

on a field that is dreamlike, if not close to aesthetically perfect.

Watching the interplay between baserunners and coaches, infielders and baserunners, players and umpires, there is so much going on that it there are virtually no periods of inactivity.

We are fortunate to have an outstanding college program and have had the National Player of the Year recently.

We have 2 other college teams, numerous high school teams, and hundreds of participants at those levels.

Many of them probably aspire to participate at the major league level, hoping to beat the odds and have their day of "inactivity".

 

Reminds me of an old joke about the couple who were delayed and arrived at the ballpark in the 9th inning.

He/she (take your pc pick) looked at the scoreboard and saw all zeroes for both teams.

"Oh good, we haven't missed anything."

 

[Lets_Play_Two]

I could listen to Vin Scully broadcast an 18 inning double no hitter.

 

By the way, Penelope and I were married under the statute of Harry Caray at the corner of Sheffield and Addision outside of Wrigley Field....the reception was the ballgame!

[Lets_Play_Two]

"It's football that bores me"

 

I don't know, watching a bunch of oversized kids unpile from a tackle, straggle back to a huddle where they listen to a guy tell them where the next pile-up will be, then slowly walk to the line and then watch the quarterback yeall a bunch of coded instructions to change everything he said in the huddle while keeping one eye on the play clock so he can run it down to 1 second......ABSOLUTELY RIVETING!!

 

And this is 3/4 of the "action" in a three hour football game (excluding all the guys with binoculars watching the cheerleaders)

[hANNAbONE]

 

 

 

...mY sCREEN ain't big enuf.........

[John Ranalletta]

Is this the same team that was held hostage by Manny Ramirez' felony malingering?

 

I'd buy a $50 ticket to see him dog it to 1st base again, wouldn't you? Then again, maybe he was in a drug stupor.

[Nice n Easy Rider]

We're fortunate to have a pretty good AAA team, a great ballpark and a $8 admission that buys you a covered seat with a cup-holder. Throw in some great junk food and cold beer and even the slow games aren't bad. MLB - virtually never watch it until the playoffs and then only if a team I like is in it.

[Albert]

If you find yourself addicted to MLB and feel this is an unhealthy trend I do have a cure. Become a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. We are poised to complete (drum roll please), our 17th year with a below 500 finish. Yes the Pirates actually spend more time in the toilet than your average plumber.

 

Not that we've had bad players, we've just decided that their monetary worth, in the form of trades, is more valuable than any contribution they may be capable of on the field ("we" being the Pirates owners). The results have been predictable. I used to enjoy watching baseball or even sitting on my deck on a summer evening listening to the games on radio. I am so thoroughly disgusted with it now that I'd sooner watch reruns of Fantasy Island while getting a root canal.

 

[Fugu]

 

 

 

 

Yup. A Washington-born Yankees fan from birth despite my father being a Brooklyn-born Dodgers fan who stuck with dem bums even after they moved.

 

 

[Boone60]

Good times with my dad.

 

[roadscholar]

If you find yourself addicted to MLB and feel this is an unhealthy trend I do have a cure. Become a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. We are poised to complete (drum roll please), our 17th year with a below 500 finish. Yes the Pirates actually spend more time in the toilet than your average plumber.

 

I used to enjoy watching baseball or even sitting on my deck on a summer evening listening to the games on radio. I am so thoroughly disgusted with it now that I'd sooner watch reruns of Fantasy Island while getting a root canal.

 

Once long ago in another place and another time.....

 

I was in the seventh grade actually. It was a perfect October day in central Florida and I took my transistor radio to school. It was, after all, the seventh game of the World Series and somehow, some way, I wanted to hear it. I was an Oriole and Red Sox fan or a fan of any team that happened to be playing the Yankees. They were too good, consummate overdogs, a virtual all-star team. Individually they were great, Mantle, Maris, Elston Howard, Bill Skowron, Whitey Ford, Yogi, Toney Kubek, even Casey Stengal. As a team they sucked, it wasn't fair.

 

I don't remember much about the early or middle innings but it wasn't important. I do remember the ninth inning, myself and two friends were laying on the concrete outside with the radio in between us. The game was either tied or the Pirates were behind by one. Probably the smallest guy on the team, the second baseman, known for his defense is at bat, and yes, there are two outs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, Bill Mazeroski, the diminuitive second baseman hit a home run and beat the shit out of the New York Yankees to win the World Series in 1960 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and all was right with the world.

 

Baseball has been a great game in the past and recently has lost some of it's stature as America's game but even with steroid abuse, ridiculous salaries, Bud Selig, and George Steinbrenner , it's still worth watching, or better yet, listening on the radio.

 

 

[Jeepster]

" Beisbol been bery, bery good to me."

Sorry but I thought someone had to post it.

I have very fond memories of the game. both playing, listening and watching.

But the freak show that MLB has become, doesn't seem like the same game to me.

I will sometimes watch a game at the local Little League field and enjoy it more than going to Dodger stadium.

[Shaman97]

I will sometimes watch a game at the local Little League field and enjoy it more than going to Dodger stadium

 

Yes...and especially if the parents stay respectable, and realize their kid will not be making any money as a baseball player, nor will they likely earn a Div I baseball scholarship. Just enjoy the game for what it is.

[Albert]

Well put Bill, I remember that momentous day too. I do find something sublime about sitting outside on a summer evening, perhaps sipping a cold beer and listening to baseball. Ahh if only Bob Prince were still around.

[philbytx]

Who cares....bunch of druggies !

Former Cub fan I am but gave up all interest in the sport after the strike.

[Jeepster]

gave up all interest in the sport after the strike.

Which one? I think I remember three MLB walk-outs/strikes in the last twenty some years.

The last one didn't bother me. I had already formed my current opinion by then.

[NoHeat]

we would start off with a tail-gate grill-out... ie... someone with a pick-up truck would put a grill on the tail-gate and we would cook up lots of food...

I also learned a lot of respect for Tommy Lasorda there...

-Bob

 

Sounds like Lasorda would have respected you, too. He was famous for loving food and for entertaining guests at his feasts.

 

Nice story, BTW.

[tonyla]

I Love Every thing about Baseball. The best parts have all been mentioned, by the folks who seem to like it the least.

[longjohn]

I haven't been to a regular season big league game in years, but I still try to get to spring training to catch some games. Paying $15 to park my mc at dodger stadium when the Giants come to town doesn't sit well with me, and good tickets are now just too freaking expensive. I may cave in though if I can catch a game with Tim Linsecum pitching. I would love to see the kid pitch in person.