Official MLB All-Star Game Thread

[Vern Gagne 0]

Yeah. Selig's so horrible. More teams are not only competive, but in playoff races. Attendance around the league continues to improve. Than there's interleague play and the wildcard which have been huge successes for the game.

 

Well, competitive balance only became a problem when Selig took the job in the first place. Attendance wasn't a problem until Selig took the job. All the problems that Bud Selig "fixed," were created by Bud. Teams like Minnesota and Montreal can't compete? It was the economic incentives of the '95 Labor agreement that encouraged them to stop spending money on their teams so they could get a big, fat check from MLB.

 

The Wild Card has done nothing more than create five new playoff games. It does not make the regular season more exciting, and it make the LCS and World Series worse, by giving inferior teams a chance to make it.

 

What keeps teams competitive despite inbalances in payroll isn't revenue sharing, its the amateur draft. Any team, no matter how financially desolate, controls their players for the first six years of their careers. For the vast majority of players, this is where they have their best seasons. That's what keeps baseball competitive.

Minnesota and Montreal had been cutting payroll long before Bud Selig was Commissioner. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Rod Carew are just a few marquee names dumped for cost saving measures.

 

You not liking the wildcard doesn't mean it hasn't helped create more interest in the game.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Minnesota and Montreal had been cutting payroll long before Bud Selig was Commissioner. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Rod Carew are just a few marquee names dumped for cost saving measures.

 

Just because a franchise lost a good player doesn't mean it was for cost cutting purposes. I don't have relevant salary data available for Carter or Carew. I just know that they left via trade. Andre Dawson certainly wasn't a cost cutting measure. He was a casualty of collusion. He made $1,047,000 for Montreal in 1986. The next season, he signed with Chicago for $700,000. Cost cutting? Andre Dawson shoved an open contract on clubs, and dared them to sign him. He's not applicable for this example.

 

Essentially, the '95 Labor Agreement funneled revenue sharing money to the lowest revenue teams, and the clubs in Montreal and Minnesota had no incentive to improve their teams, because the losses in revenue sharing would be more than the gain from added gate reciepts and other revenues.

 

You not liking the wildcard doesn't mean it hasn't helped create more interest in the game.

 

What interest has the Wild Card created in the game? It was instituted in 1995, and I don't recall the baseball renaissance beginning at that point.

 

Meanwhile under Bud Selig, MLB has funneled its TV Contract to the most dispicable bastards ever to broadcast live baseball, lied to Congress, lied to the fans about finances, blackmailed cities to build new stadiums with public money, permitted a convoluted sale which permitted a scumbag owner to piss on the Montreal Expos, and continues to piss on the game of baseball. Oh yes, and he attempted to sell advertising space on the pitching rubber to a fucking movie.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

I'm surprised Al hasn't shit on Interleague. That's what I think is the worst thing about baseball and what takes away from the World Series right now.

[geniusMoment 0]

I understand Fox gave MLB this great deal. I just wish they had different announcers, I cannot stand Buck or McCarver. Their cutesy back and forth caused me to turn the channel during the game.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'm surprised Al hasn't shit on Interleague. That's what I think is the worst thing about baseball and what takes away from the World Series right now.

 

I don't think it takes away from the World Series necessarily, although there is a good case for that. I object to it from the standpoint that there are too many interleague games, and they really fuck with the schedule. Its also a real drag that the Phillies only play 6-9 games against cross-state rivals the Pirates so that they can play 18 games against the AL Central, only 3 of which (Royals) hold any real interest.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

2010 will probably end up being the new Ballpark in Northern VA/DC as long as there isn't any realignment that would take the Expos/???/Senators out of the National League. Supposedly they won't have a new ballpark built at either site before 2008.

 

I'm surprised Al hasn't shit on Interleague. That's what I think is the worst thing about baseball and what takes away from the World Series right now.

 

The way I see it, Interleague pretty much killed the fun out of the All Star game but not the World Series. Its pretty much just like in football where teams play every team in the other conference over 4 years, and that hasn't ruined the Super Bowl much, is it?

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Difference being that if the teams in the Superbowl play in the regular season they're only playing once. If teams in the WS meet in the regular season they're playing 3-6 times against one already which sucks.

 

I hate Interleague because of that

 

I hate Interleague because it makes the unbalanced schedule(crappy idea) even more unbalanced.

 

Baseball was the only sport where you had to wait until the end to see a team from one league take on a team from another. It just doesn't feel as pure with Interleague.

[Guest Anglesault]

I'm surprised Al hasn't shit on Interleague. That's what I think is the worst thing about baseball and what takes away from the World Series right now.

My main problem is that it's supposed to be some exciting novelty, but they throw out Yankees/Padres and Braves/Tigers that have no appeal to anyone on earth.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Difference being that if the teams in the Superbowl play in the regular season they're only playing once. If teams in the WS meet in the regular season they're playing 3-6 times against one already which sucks.

 

I hate Interleague because of that

 

Actually, the World Series hasn't had two teams that played in the regular season since 2000. Its only happened twice actually, in '99 (Yankees/Braves), and 2000 (Yankees/Mets).

[treble 0]

Everyone who complains about Fox's game presentation and announcers should thank their lucky stars they don't have to put up with the Jays' guys on Roger's SportsNet. Rob Faulds is an idiot and John Cerutti says the most retarded things sometimes ('It's hard to hit a pitch that's out of the strikezone').

[Vern Gagne 0]

Minnesota and Montreal had been cutting payroll long before Bud Selig was Commissioner. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Rod Carew are just a few marquee names dumped for cost saving measures.

 

Just because a franchise lost a good player doesn't mean it was for cost cutting purposes. I don't have relevant salary data available for Carter or Carew.

 

Essentially, the '95 Labor Agreement funneled revenue sharing money to the lowest revenue teams, and the clubs in Montreal and Minnesota had no incentive to improve their teams, because the losses in revenue sharing would be more than the gain from added gate reciepts and other revenues.

 

You not liking the wildcard doesn't mean it hasn't helped create more interest in the game.

 

What interest has the Wild Card created in the game? It was instituted in 1995, and I don't recall the baseball renaissance beginning at that point.

 

Meanwhile under Bud Selig, MLB has funneled its TV Contract to the most dispicable bastards ever to broadcast live baseball, lied to Congress, lied to the fans about finances, blackmailed cities to build new stadiums with public money, permitted a convoluted sale which permitted a scumbag owner to piss on the Montreal Expos, and continues to piss on the game of baseball. Oh yes, and he attempted to sell advertising space on the pitching rubber to a fucking movie.

With Carew, Larry Hisle, Lyman Bostock and other former Twins it was cost cutting measures. The former owner of the Twins Calvin Griffith was cheaper than Carl Pohlad, and traded away players for the sole purpose of saving money.

 

So the benefits are supposed to happen overnight? It was 1995 a year removed from the first ever cancelled World Series.

 

Fox gave MLB the best offer, and may have been the only network to even make an offer. Variety would be nice, but the 3 other networks didn't seem to care about showing baseball games.

 

No one forced these cities do anything. They made the final decision on whether or not to finance a new ballpark.

 

Who cares. 50 years ago, outfield walls where full of advertising. Making a quick buck has always been apart of the game. This was no different.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'm surprised Al hasn't shit on Interleague. That's what I think is the worst thing about baseball and what takes away from the World Series right now.

One idea for interleague I heard someone suggest was to have games throughout the year. So instead of having a 2 week span in June and July. Have the Cubs and Mariners play in April, or August. This also included having 15 teams in each league.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Who cares. 50 years ago, outfield walls where full of advertising. Making a quick buck has always been apart of the game. This was no different.

 

It was different, because they were to be located on game equipment. And judging by public reaction, I'm not the only one outraged by it.

 

Generally, what pisses me off about Selig are the lies. He told us baseball lost $500 million in one year. Every independant source from coast-to-coast refuted that claim, but Selig just kept blathering about it. He continually claimed competitive balance was a problem, when baseball is more competitive than any sport in this country. When this "problem" fixed itself, he claimed, and still claims, it was due to his solutions. Bud Selig has done nothing to improve the game.

 

Fox gave MLB the best offer, and may have been the only network to even make an offer. Variety would be nice, but the 3 other networks didn't seem to care about showing baseball games.

 

Then its Selig's job to sell the game, and sell it to a better network.

 

With Carew, Larry Hisle, Lyman Bostock and other former Twins it was cost cutting measures. The former owner of the Twins Calvin Griffith was cheaper than Carl Pohlad, and traded away players for the sole purpose of saving money.

 

That's absolutely true. That doesn't excuse Pohlad however.

 

No one forced these cities do anything. They made the final decision on whether or not to finance a new ballpark.

 

Or in some cases, the states. In any case, Selig continually lied about how new ballparks were necessary for teams to remain competitive. Hell, this year he's still whining about how the A's need a new park to stay competitive. How many wins does he need to get bludgened over the head with? Not one free agency departure, with the possible exception of Keith Foulke, has damaged the Athletics.