Is this the beginning of the end of American Baseball?

Question

Baseball has been struggling more and more over the last few decades. The Strike. the Steroid frenzy, The Yankees tyring to buy championships. The Red Sox finally winning a championship. Franchises on the verge of bankruptcy with spending out of control

After reading the yahoo article on how the Boston redsocks are willing to pay 51 million for the right talk to a player from Japan, it makes me utterly sick.

I can't help but wondering if we are seeing the end of Baseball as a professional sport in the same league as the NFL, NBA and NHL (although this is only a quasi league anyway.

I think the only thing left is to break everything up and restructure, but then what are you left with. I grew up playing teeball. Watch baseball. My kids grew up playing soccer. They watch the NBA and NFL. If they had a choice between going to a ball game and chuckee Cheese, I think I would end up shelling out money for those tokens.

Answer 1

No every generation has gone through this. Baseball is not the same as it was when you or I were kids, nor was that game the same as our parents, but on the basic level of the game it is the same the rosters have been set at 22-25 men since the early 1900s, the mound has been 60 ft 6 inches away from home plate since the early 1900s, basepaths 90 ft from base to base, the changes that have come about the DH, free agency, and unions have been talked about since the early 1900s. One of the biggest changes the BIGGEST in terms of how the game was played is on its way out, artificial turf. About 3-5 teams now have artificial turf, Minnesota, Toronto, Florida maybe or Tampa Bay any way from the early 70s to the 90s turf played a bigger role in baseball than anything it added speed, to both the offense and defense, made the stolen base much more of a threat, in the mid 70s almost every team had guys stealing 30-40 or more bases a year and these were succesful teams look at how the Royals of the 1970s were built and the success they had as a team, Amos Otis, Frank White, Willie Wilson later on even George Brett had some decent base stealing numbers. Just take a look at those teams from the 1970s. Anyway the 70s also had the beginning of free agency and people thought that would destroy baseball, baseball has lumbered on. In the 40s-50s and into the sixties people thought integration was going to destroy baseball, in the 40s it eas the war, before that the depression, and before that the White Sox scandal and many smaller and sometimes bigger scandal we never hear of involving gambling. So in closing baseball is changing and staying the same it is bigger than the players although very few of them realize that, it will keep on making us happy and sad at the same time, it will keep us entertained and p i s s us off, it will destroy some players lifes by offering too much temptation (ie Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Joe Jackson) and a lot of the players will rise above the fray and and tantalize us with feats of grace, power, and humility.

Answer 2

It's not the game or the athletes or the organizations that are the problem here, it's the fans of professional sports.We continue to shell out exorbitant prices for tickets, team apparel, etc. It's a simple proposition - whatever the market will bear. The Yankees have been accuse of "buying championships" well that couldn't be father from the truth. The fact is that the Yanks haven't won since 2000 but we're the evil empire. What Boston has done with this recent move for Matzusaka is to break new ground in overpaying an athlete. They still have to discuss a contract that could bring the total to over 75 million or more for 4 years. That's evil.
I don't think you're aware of "Revenue sharing" that goes on in baseball. There are several team that have payrolls in excess of 100 million that pay tax that's distributed to the lesser market teams to be able to compete to sign players to compete with the larger market teams. Most of these lesser market teams, the "Franchises that you speak of", pocket the money as revenue and do nothing to better their teams.
The problem that you talk about is greater than Baseball as it exists in all professional sports to lesser degrees. Its also a problem of a greater magnitude as it addresses a misguided view of sports figures as heroes when a Teacher or Doctor or Policeman gets little respect today where they should be viewed as the heroes.
'Nuff said.

Answer 3

I'm sure people said this when they went to the live ball. I know people said this when free agency was approved. You can also say that the Red Sox are trying to buy a pennant which they probably are but it is not the end of baseball as we know it. Baseball is thriving as it has before the strike. You also need to play the games on the field. I am sick of hearing big market v. small market. neither of the teams in the World Series would be thought of as big market and the still were there

Answer 4

I don't believe this is an uncommon thought at all. I also grew up with baseball all around. I watched with my father, played with friends, and took advantage of throwing a ball against one of those mesh screens that would bounce it back whenever nobody else was around. I grew up in farm country where we could never get even 9 guys together to play let alone two teams. We wanted to play so much we came up with a one on one on one game where you had to call your field.

Nevertheless, it seems that baseball seems to lack some luster for guys between the ages of 15 and 30. As a young boy, it's a great game to play with a number of friends. It's as much social as physical. You can hang out for half of every inning where other sports demand constant attention as you're on the field the entire time. For some reason, there's no rec leagues after around 15 years of age. Basketball and Football seem to take over interest at this point. Probably due to the nature of being able to play at the drop of a hat.

I've only just recently rediscovered baseball. Now that I have a house and a family, I enjoy listening on the radio while doing work on the weekends.

Even with east coast teams spending out of control, there will always be the underdog to root for. So far, money hasn't led to a direct correlation with championships. Having a team to root against is just as important as having a team to pull for. So long as fathers and sons maintain interest in the game, I don't see anything happening to it in the near future.

Still, MLB could do something about the ridiculous broadcasting rights in place.

Answer 5

This past season broke all attendance records for MLB. The fact that Boston, a perennial also ran, is desperate enough to spend $51 million for the rights to negotiate with a player is simply a knee-jerk reaction of their management to their poor decision making in the late season draft. If you decry the end of the curse of the Bambino, you can always switch to the other great losers- the Cubs.

Answer 6

More like the middle of the end. The beginning of the end came when the Rangers decided to pay A-Rod a quarter of a billion dollars to play a kid's game and the Yankees then agreed to take him.

Answer 7

HEY THAT'S HOW THE GAME IS RUN. THE RED SUCKS OWN A CABLE SPORTS NETWORK ( NESN ) WHICH IS BASICALLY A LICENSE TO PRINT MONEY. AS FOR THE POOR TEAMS IT'S THEIR OWN FAULT. I HAVE LOST TRACK OF HOW MANY TIMES IN YAHOO ANSWERS I'VE SAID TO GUYS LIKE YOU IT'S BRAIN DEAD OWNERS IN THE SMALL MARKET TEAMS THAT ARE THE PROBLEM NOT THE TEAMS THAT SPEND MONEY TO PUT A WINNING TEAM ON THE FIELD & TRY TO ALWAYS WIN. ARE YOU A FAN OF THE MARLINS OR ROYALS? THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT CHEAP OWNERS WHO POCKET THE WELFARE THE GET INSTEAD OF IMPROVING THE PRODUCT.

Answer 8

We don't have to carry the burden any more. I dropped the Phillies in the mid-eighties and MLB after the Series was cancelled in 94.

Answer 9

no, the fact that the red sux (sp?) can afford to spend 51.11 million just for the right to negotiate with an unproven major league pitcher is direct testimony against your theory.

Answer 10

I agree with you, but I believe this...I grew up playing pitch baseball when I was 5yrs old...I know giving my age away...I played ball before T-ball and Pitching machine and before they even let girls play! I played ball because I LOVED to play. I had two guys I played little league with that went to the pros....Dave Gallagher and Chris Pittaro( hope I spelled your last name right Chris!) These were probably two of the last of the remnants of ball players that played because they loved the game. Now there are nothing but PUNKS playing. It's all about the money and the fame to them. But, do you know who I blame? The owners and league itself. They allow owners to run their teams by telling the coach who will play and who won't. Like if a guy isn't performing or isn't acting like a team player(hotdog), they will tell the coach to play them because they payed alot of money for them to play. The thing that really pisses me off about pro sports now, is that the players get away with murder...LITERALLY!!!!! guys are shooting and killing people, spitting on umpires, choking coaches, etc. etc....and the league does NOTHING!!!!NOTHING!!!! When Spreewell choked that coach, the NBA should have sent a message to the league and either suspended him for at least a year or kicked him out all together. A fine is nothing to these guys. when That Baltimore Oriole that spit on the umpire a number of years ago, he should have been suspended immediately!! But no..the playoffs were coming up so he had to wait til next season. That is a load of SH*T!!! These guys need to be disciplined like they used to...look at Pete Rose..one of the best players to play, Mr. Hustle was his nickname...he played because he loved the game. He gambled on games and now can't get into the Hall of Fame because of it. But guys like Dexter Manley, Barry Bonds, Dwight Gooden...have ALL abused the drug laws and rules..MORE THAN ONCE!!! and nothing has happened because they claimed to have gotten help..or " I won't do it again" obviously they were full of sh*t...but what happened to them?....not a whole hell of alot. The priorities are all F***ed up! They need to do like you said...start over clean out the leagues, and teach these *ssholes to respect authority. Look at the kid who got a Hummer while in college...His mother bought it for him?...and she lives in poverty? Not bloody likely! Pro sports needs a clean sweep. they need to be taught to respect the authority figures ...coaches, managers, and officials. Don't let the money get in the way...they claim they will lose sponsorships? Maybe for a minute....because they ALL know that professional sports are watched everywhere around the world...if someone pulls their sponsorship, there are plenty more businesses out there that will jump at the chance. One last thing...there is not a single team sport athelete that I would want my kids to look up to. Remember that commercial that Charles Barkley did for Nike(that's another problem...nike) where he says "I'm not a role model". That is also CRAP. When you sign that contract for all that money, you represent not only your team, but the sport and league as well. Yes, you are a role model...as soon as you signed that contract you have to set an example. I rarely watch sports anymore because of this...I've been protesting baseball since their third strike (pun intended) in the '70's / '80's and refuse to watch or go to a game until they clean the place up. I haven't been to a big league sporting event in over 20 years because of it. These league owners and those that run them must learn and use integrity and not let the almighty dollar run their sport...integrity is worth much, much more. Well, thanks for letting me vent! lol sorry it's so long.