Let's talk ML Baseball...past vs present...

[HardWorkingDem]

Over the years, HBO has shown three documentaries on baseball called "When it was a Game." When I watch these documentaries, it is easy to see there is something different about baseball back then when contrasted to baseball today.

It's something I can "see" but can't put my finger on.


Anyone else notice this?

[Curtland1015]

1. Baseball, at some point, seemed to go from "pastime" to business.

I still love baseball, but it (and all other major sports really) are just so processed and corporatized it has sapped some of the joy out of it.

As an aside, something that has helped ruin the game a little for me is fantasy baseball. People can't seem to enjoy the game anymore. They just watch it with calculations running in their heads.

"That's the first baseman I picked up last year. Two hits today raises my overall to 85.6, plus the reliever for the Royals got three outs... add that the the walk the Angels right fielder just got..."

It gets tiresome quickly.

[HardWorkingDem]

2. But have you noticed...

something has changed and it's hard to describe?

I don't know if it has changed from a team effort vs an individual effort or what, but when I watch clips from the past, there is something different in the visuals. The players seem to play harder and mesh differently than they do today, but it's something that I just can't fully describe.

[Curtland1015]

4. I suppose there are more players now that aren't loyal to their team like they used to be

I'm sure even back when there were players that didn't care where they were playing so long as they played. But I'd be willing to bet that nowadays players are more interested in going where they'll get the most money, as opposed to getting to play for their childhood favorite. or for their hometown.

Certainly players are still loyal to their teammates, for the most part, but maybe not so much for the "team" they play for or the town they play in anymore.

[hibbing]

3. $

Hi,
I have not seen the documentaries of which you speak. However, often at a point in time all but the superstars had jobs during the off season. The strikes, the steroid era, and guys making more than what the taxpayer financed stadiums cost kind of turned me off the sport. I used to be able to tell you the leaders in every major statistical category and now I don't even know how many games back what used to be my team is.

Sorry for the rant!

Peace

[abq e streeter]

5. I think one thing is free agency. I support this in principle

since the players were at the mercy of the owners before, but it also has given rise to the phenomenon of the players bustin' ass for the old home team for the purpose of leaving the old home team to play for more money for someone else's old home team. I can't keep track of who plays for who from one year to the next, and that's a huge change , even though it was necessary and right. And now the players are all rich to flat out obscenely wealthy you can just sense that too.

[Bertha Venation]

14. + 1

[abq e streeter]

6. I think one thing is free agency. I support this in principle

since the players were at the mercy of the owners before, but it also has given rise to the phenomenon of the players bustin' ass for the old home team for the purpose of leaving the old home team to play for more money for someone else's old home team. I can't keep track of who plays for who from one year to the next, and that's a huge change , even though it was necessary and right. And now the players are all rich to flat out obscenely wealthy you can just sense that too.......on edit, it looks like Curtland said basically the same thing while I was writing this...

[hibbing]

7. off topic of OP and sorry about that but..

Hi,
Heard something on the radio, the third oldest stadium in the NL is now Colorado Rockies, how crazy is that? The only one that I can think of that was "privately" financed was in San Francisco after they voted down a taxpayer funded stadium several times I believe.

Peace

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. A great many esoteric elements of baseball have changed

If I could put them all into words, I'd have a best-seller.

[hibbing]

9. a few examples please?

Hi,
Give us a few if you don't mind?

Peace

[NewJeffCT]

10. A lot of things have changed

1) Baseball was the national pastime probably through the 1960s and into the 70s.
2) There are far more minorities playing the game now than in the past, so maybe baseball looks different to people now. Does "When It Was a Game" cover that at all?
3) Free agency was great for the players, but not so great for fans who prefer their hometown heroes stay their hometown heroes. However, is it better than 20+ owners keep all the money, or 800 players divide it with the 20+ owners?
4) Baseball is overmanaged now as well. A good game used to be 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Nowadays, the game has slowed down so much, and games take 3 to 3 1/2 hours to play and it gets tedious.

[rurallib]

11. May I add some things?

For one thing baseball is so exposed now because of TV going to a game is more like going to a - well a TV show. Players are more like TV performers than players and as such maintain a distance from the fans. Before the money ball players lived in the city they played in and mixed with the people. Witness stories of Willie Mays playing stickball with the kids in his neighborhood.
Many stadiums were in neighborhoods not an exit on the freeway. If you had nothing to do during an afternoon, you could walk over and go to a game. Players would talk with the fans.
One thing I remember as an old guy is that attendance was MUCH lower in general. Few teams drew over a million (@15,000/game for a 77 game home schedule). TV turning baseball into a TV show has done much to raise attendance. My team, the Cubs, rarely drew over 500,000. Of course they were pretty bad.
Most games were in the eastern or central time zone and many were still played during the day. So by bedtime most kids had heard the scores and calculated their effect on the standings. Baseball headlined the newspaper and sports on TV. Now it is usually a scroll at the bottom of the screen.
Teams that drew a million were the Yankees and Cardinals every year. Then it depended on how good the team did that year. I remember listening to some year end Cub games where the announced attendance was 400.
There are now twice the number of teams than prior to expansion. And of course back then there was only one winner per league.
All in all I think the money and show biz aspects have really changed things.
Another change is that you seldom see kids playing pick up games. Now it is video games or soccer.

Personal story. Back in 1977 my wife and I went to a Twins game on July 4th. This was the old Met stadium in Bloomington. Attendance was very small - I think around 4,000 - even though the Twins were near first. Carew was hitting @.410 at the time. We got box seats near the field down the first base line. Me being a huge fan at the time I insisted we go out real early to catch BP.
We were the only ones in our area. One of the players climbed over the rail and came and sat with us just to chat. Rod Carew! I couldn't speak, so he had a nice chat with my wife who had no idea who Carew was. He sat there for about ten minutes. He autographed my glove with a magic marker, but it has long since faded.

sorry for the long post.

[NewJeffCT]

12. True - baseball attendance is higher now than it was in the 50s and 60s

which is interesting.

[Bertha Venation]

13. Right now, it's all about money.

It's disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

I am sure the majority of players, those who make league minimum, for example, play for the love of the game. But I don't care how much Mark Teixeira (sp?) loves the game, he is not worth what the Yankees signed him for, nor is any other multi-million-paid player. The fact that these players accept - demand - the salaries they're paid negates, IMO, their love of the game. They don't belong in the same league with the guys who are paid relative peanuts.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

15. Let's see

I've been following baseball since the mid fifties so I've observed the following;
1) playing nearly every game at night- baseball is truly meant to be played during the day. It feels more like a sporting event that way, not a play or movie or some other form of entertainment. Because that's what baseball is really, entertainment.
2) baseball has become an international (in terms of the players) game. That's not a bad thing, but it is different.
3) the lowering of the mound. While it's terribly difficult to a)successfully hit a baseball and b) successfully hit a baseball on a regular basis that still doesn't mean fans want to see high scoring games. TV does so it can sell the offense of the game to casual watchers. True baseball fans know pitching and defense are the foundations of winning games.
4) the discovery by the players that the owners were screwing them royally and the formation of a 'union'. That then caused the owners to take a hard(er) line with the players and now we have to live with the idea that baseball could go through another period where the season is suspended because of a lack of agreement.
I'm sure there are others but these came to mind for me.........

[Mr. Ected]

16. The World Has Changed

Major league baseball is merely a microcosm of that change. It mirrors society and reflects back the image of ourselves and the times we live in.