The MLB lockout is all about money. And in order for everyone to earn more money, the league will implement a bunch of new things fans aren’t asking for. Some of these are harmless and others do actually improve the game. There are also quite a few proposals that make matters worse and none of them address what is really wrong with baseball.
That is the real issue here. The owners and players can fight over money all they want. Seriously, no one cares about that. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred can continue on with his quest to implement ad patches on jerseys, expanded playoffs, the universal DH and pace of play initiatives.
No matter how the lockout plays out and no matter what adjustments are made, none of these will fix what is really wrong with baseball. That’s because both sides are too negligent to see the real issue. So, while the work stoppage will bring about change to MLB, it is nor truly needed or wanted.
More Baseball: Jeffrey Maier – The OG Steve Bartman who was celebrated instead of jeered
What is really wrong with baseball?
Manfred obsesses with the need for baseball to attract new fans and particularly younger ones. If you didn’t know any better, you may think he was scouring AOL Chatrooms spamming ‘A/S/L?’ every few minutes. A lot of his efforts have been focused on improving pace of play, but he has also tried emphasizing MLB’s young stars.
“We’re really directed at the marketing of the game, and more importantly, marketing the young stars in our game,” Manfred said in an interview with Mile High Sports. “We do believe that we have a tremendous opportunity because of the number and quality of young players that are in the game. I’m not a talent-evaluator, but you do hear the buzz around the game pretty uniformly that we have a uniquely talented group of young players that have entered the game.”
The thing is, people who become fans of baseball don’t stay for the star power. Everyone in the 1990s knew about Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. Maybe they were the entry point. But those who became fans stayed for its motley crew of supporting characters.
Young people back then who are baseball fans today were more interested in Otis Nixon looking like a 60-year old, Kent Bottenfield waddling around the mound and Todd Hollandsworth sucking butt for years. We got plays like this:
Everyone wants to credit the 1998 home run chase for bringing people back to the game, but Albert Belle chasing trick or treaters with his car and doing things like that were far more interesting. Hell, even a guy like Walt Weiss was so ordinary that it made him fascinating.
Baseball’s motley crew of interesting characters has vanished. Replaced by a bunch of boring, interchangeable drones who are all stylistically the same, more or less. Seriously, there must be nearly 50 dudes who play like five positions, hit around 20 homers and who couldn’t steal base to save their life. Relief pitchers are even more bland. Where is Rod Beck when you need him?
Baseball doesn’t have a pace of play problem and more teams in the playoffs won’t solve this issue. MLB desperately needs more interesting players who do interesting things both on and off the field. Because if the sport is going to keep relying on the same cookie-cutter guys, it may as well let the lockout go on forever.
Remember Him: 7 former big leaguers who are now MLB base coaches
