I have been a baseball fan my entire life. When you cut me, I bleed Dodger Blue. I can remember stats and significant dates in baseball history as clearly as I can recall birthdays and anniversaries in my family.
I hate the DH, I wish they’d raise the mound. I sing “Take me out to the ballgame” when I watch the games on TV.
I buy the Baseball Prospectus each year.
I calculate player’s OPS.
I play roto every season.
I keep score during most games I watch, and I save my scoresheets in a folder in my closet.
When I play softball, I hear Vin Scully and Harry Carry calling the game in my head.
Yeah, I am a baseball fan.
I watch the All Star game. Every year. If I’m not going to be home, I tape it, and if I catch a replay of a classic game on ESPN, I’m lost for the duration.
Yeah, I’m a baseball fan, and I am furious. I mean, vein-popping, ear-steaming, teeth-gnashing, hair-pulling furious.
Just when I thought that Bud “King Jackass” Selig couldn’t do more damage to the game, just when I thought that we’d nearly hit rock-bottom, he calls the freakin’ All-Star game!
A major comeback by the AL, amazing individual efforts from players on both teams, towering home runs and extra innings, the hated Barry Bonds being robbed of a homer in the 2nd only to hit a two run shot in the third.
The first game in a decade that is TRULY exciting and Selig calls it.
No winner, no MVP. Randy Johnson couldn’t even be bothered to show up.
Those fans who paid their money to watch a game tonight in Milwaukee expected to see a full game. With a winner and an MVP ceremony. That’s what they paid for, and that’s what they deserved.
What they and we got was a nice big “thanks for your money, now please leave.”
I don’t buy this idea that the game doesn’t mean anything, so the players shouldn’t give their all. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything to the players, but it sure means a lot to us fans. Sure, it doesn’t count towards anything in the standings, but we baseball fans wait each year for this mid-summer classic, when the best of the best show us what they can do. It is supposed to be an honor to play in the All Star game. It is supposed to be a time when the owners and players give something back to the fans.
Major League Baseball should be ashamed of itself. During a year when Selig has talked of contraction, players are threatening to strike, and the spectre of steriod abuse looms large over each and every ballpark, this game was an opportunity for Baseball and it’s players to transcend the controversy and just play, the way we all play in sandlots and back fields and vacant lots all across America.
Instead, they showed us what they’re really made of, and it’s outrageous.
I have been a baseball fan my entire life, but I promise you this: after tonight’s disgraceful ending to an otherwise magnificent game, if there is even one day of strike or lockout, I’m done.
Let them play, Bud. Let them play.
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Selig == Bush?
I mean, they both so famously piss you off and all that.
Don’t make me angry, Mr. McGee. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
My thoughts exactly. I could understand calling it in the bottom of the 43rd, but the 11th? Didn’t Bud “Boom boom boom; three in the head, baseball’s dead” Selig get booed in his own hometown at the HR Derby last night?
Mr. Selig, sir, hit the showers.
I was a huge fan. I’ve even coached little league, and high school ball. I haven’t watched a game though since the last strike. MLBB really has had a lot of shame for quite a while. Little League Baseball is the best anyway. The game is just a game. Kids can be kids. A homer is really a grand thing in Little League, not just an everyday event. That really great play is something special.
I long for the days of Dave Winfield, or Reggie Jackson, or even Doc Gooden… baseball has really fallen a long way these days.
Ditto, Artone. *Was* is the operative word.
Politics always seem to take over the things we love.
Damn Americans.
Wrong order (minor nit)…
It’s not:
“Don’t make me angry, Mr. McGee. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
it should read:
“Mr. McGee. Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
Hi Wil,
i don’t know a thing about baseball, but i always wanted to go to a game and sing “Take me out to the ballgame” and start a wave in the crowd.
Hey Wil,
Regarding your last entry on WWDN; I thought you might find this link amusing. A good friend of mine sent it to me and I’m passing it along to you.
http://www.mlbfanstrike.com
Take it easy,
Your Chicago Doppelganger
(I’ve really got to post my new avatar. We’re eerily alike.)
I suppose college baseball doesn’t quite do it for you, huh?
(Which is totally irrelevant, except that it’s yet another chance for me to give hella mad props to the Texas Longhorns on their College World Series victory. Hook ’em!)
I don’t know anything about baseball, so this question should be valid enough: What the hell happened and why was it bad (in layman-non-baseball-english please)?
How is this for a sorta stupid idea: The All Star game should count. Whichever league wins the All Star Game earns home field advantage for its respective team in the world series. Regardless of final standings at the end of the year. Players would be playing for themselves and a whole lot more. This way the game could never be called and players couldn’t be said to be taking it easy.
Hey,
I lurk like mad, and this my first time posting.
Synix, as to your question, this is what happened: It was a very entertaining game, which eventually led to extra innings because it was tied.
All the pitchers on both teams had been exhausted since they only play two innings in an All Star Game… since they don’t want to get hurt or tired, so as not to ruin regular season games, which “count”.
So with no pitchers to pitch, it was decided the game would end at the end of the 11th. No one scored, so the game remained tied, and was called as such. With no winner, or MVP.
This really shows how little importance MLB puts on the All Star Game. People pay good money to see this, and they don’t even care enough to play a pitcher for more than two freaking innings, because they have to be ready for “important” games. Very uncool, and if MLB continues such an apathetic attitude, I believe fans should stop watching and attending.
Nice to meet you all,
Ilana
I’m not a baseball fan and still anxiously awaiting to hear more personal news from you, such as, what you did on your Alaskan cruise trip, if you and Anne feel better…
Wil, I’m apologizing in advance for mentioning Trek on your site. Sorry.
Anybody else remember how the end of baseball was predicted on DS9? Nobody cared anymore and it was gone by 2051 or so?
Perhaps this kind of crap is the first sign…
Sorry.
Ralph Nader can’t come to the phone right now as he is on hunger strike in Pitkin, Colorado over a disputed red rover call at Park Lane Elementary.
Your call IS important to Mr. Nader, so please try your fool’s errand at a later date or leave a profanity-filled tirade after the beep.
*beeeep*
Perhaps this quote is the most eloquent description of how the players feel toward the game:
“If I was a fan, too, I would be disappointed.”
–Arizona catcher Damian Miller commenting on Selig’s decision to call the game.
Well I didn’t watch the All-Star game due to personal objections with what’s going on with baseball (as Mr. Wheaton is a Dodger fan, I’m a die-in-the-wool AZ Diamondbacks fan), but I was seriously disgusted with Bud’s calling of the game. Bad move Bud, very bad move!!!
I also hope that there is no baseball strike, but after everything that I’ve seen gone on, and after everything that I’ve heard, I’m holding out little hope, and I fear what this will do to my favorite sport…
Hi Wil,
I’ll try to do this in proper english. You see: I’m Dutch. So bare with me. Anyway: when it comes to baseball, you can always count on my full attention. I understand what you are saying, but you really shouldn’t be so mad. In holland baseball (amzing but true) is totally unpopular. So I didn’t even get to see the game!!! Boohoo!! If we see any Major League games at all, we have to get up at 5 in the morning for a 3 second recap! OK, I know some things sometimes suck, but appreciate (I have no idea how to spell this) what you have. If you ever come to holland (to Rotterdam specificly) please come and watch a sunday game at Neptunus. It may not be MLB but it’s good fun and the player show up!
Enjoy, wil
Love your website
Abe
To John the Nebraskan:
First, I was sorry to see the ‘Huskers leave the CWS so early. They deserved better.
Second, the third-season TNG episode “Evolution” also mentions the demise of baseball, in a Wes-and-guest-dweeb scene about halfway through. (Guess who just bought the third season DVD set…)
OMG! I couldn’t agree with you more! I stayed up late for that?!?
Damn you, Mr. Wheaton… Just when I decide to go to bed and sulk over this whole fiasco, I have to come back here and read the ramblings of a man as angry as I.
I am a Minnesotan, born and bred. I’ve been going to Minnesota Twins’ games since long before I can remember, and I can’t remember a time when I haven’t loved the game or the noble team that proudly represents the glory of a united heritage between two communities that otherwise share very few true commonalities to one another. St. Paul – the smaller, more contemplative older sibling tends to sit quietly in the background as the cautious matriarch watching carefully over it’s younger, louder, hipper and more rebellious brother – Minneapolis. Even here, people have a definitive preference over which of these cities holds their heart. Baseball closed those gaps, if only for a few hours at a time. We were all Twins, and we all shared a common bond. A love. A pride.
I don’t remember the glory days of Harmon “The Killer” Killebrew. His 22 years in Major League Baseball… His 13 All-Star games… His 573 home runs… But I DO remember his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1984 (I was 10.) And then there was the street named after him leading to the parking lot that was once known as Metropolitan Stadium. Although I can’t remember the specific moments anymore, I DO remember what our family and our community shared on these otherwise random days. In these moments we were all Minnesota Twins. We shared a bond. We shared a love. And we shared a pride.
And then there were the glory days of the late 1980s and early 1990s. That first ever World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games. Hell, I still have my Homer Hanky, my Twins pennant clock, and the Wheaties Boxes. Oh, the Wheaties boxes… I remember the radio stations (all of them) interrupting any song or news story to play Queen’s “We Are the Champions” over and over and over. I remember the party in the streets long into the night. I remember leaving my 7th grade class to go to the downtown parade with a few friends and the one unlucky parent that drew the short straw and had to drive us. And these moments were GLORIOUS!!! They were Gods among men – Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunanski, Kirby Puckett, Frank Viola, Dan Gladden, Bert Blyleven, Zeus himself – coach Tom Kelly. Minnesota shared a bond, a love, and a pride in ourselves and in our new heroes unlike any we had shared before.
In ’91, we did it again. And again we shared those feelings and emotions that had united us so many times before. Since then we’ve had our ups and our downs, like any team. Team owner Carl Pohlad is nothing more than a flesh and blood Mr. Burns… The rich, evil miser that doesn’t give a damn about anything other than his pocketbook. And then there’s the stadium debate… Oh, God – the stadium debate… Another time, another place… But not here…
And then it came, just if it were prophesized by Nostradamus or forshadowed in Revelations. The second coming of the anti-Christ destroying all in his path… With one fail swoop of his mighty talon, teams could die… They call it CONTRACTION, but we know it for what it is… MURDER… The murder of the soul, the heart… Worse, the demon set out to kill all that had been built by this love we shares – our bonds… our love… and our pride…
Tonite this devil (referred to in the vernacular – Bud Selig) raised those disfigured claws once more… “There will be no winner… There will be no hero… There will be no glory!!!” In a game designed to bring people together, he chooses to tear people apart… In a sport designed to showcase talent and success, he chooses to emphasize mediocrity… He tries to destroy… There is no good in him… He’s more machine then man now…
And what of the outcome? Strike? Probably… Contraction? Sure, but he’ll be prying the Twins out of my cold, dead hands if he chooses to take them from us… The courts have stopped his minions onceand we can do it again… It would seem as if Mr. Selig is out to destroy baseball as we know it and love it, and soon the jokes we make about the sport dying in the early 21st century might truly come to pass… But Mr. Selig, Mr. Pohlad, and all the other horsemen must realize one thing… This is America’s Pasttime… And as we’ve proven all too many times, we are stronger when we stand together and fight… Baseball is the bond… Baseball is the love… And most importantly, baseball is the pride that we are stronger than the sum of our parts and can do whatever we must to survive… And not Bud Freakin’ Selig or anyone can ever take that away from us…
Anyway, this is your forum, not mine… I’ll go back to my little hut and get some sleep… Thanks for the time, Wil…
NOW BRING ON THE DANCING GIRLS!!!
Dodgers Rule! World Series! Shawn Green MVP!!!!!
Hey, Wil and others –
If the all star game DID mean anything, the players would not be rotated out of the game so everyone has a chance to play. That is a little league rule, not for serious MLB compition. Curt Schilling getting pulled in the second inning? Please – the only time that would happen in a real game is if his arm fell off. The all star game is nothing more than a gift to the fans. It’s a fun night of baseball where Barry Bonds is allowed to mock-tackle Torrii Hunter after the later robs him of a home run. It’s a night where the coaches and players are allowed to wear ear pieces and be interviewed durning the game. You don’t see pitchers brushing back batters like they would if it were heated competition. THIS IS NOT SERIOUS BASEBALL! If it was then there would have been enough players left by the bottom of the 11th for the game to go on and a winner crowned. Look at the scorecard on MLB.com – there are 60 players on it for Christ’s sake. The only thing I’m pissed about is the no-mvp thing. Hey, they had co-mvp’s in the world series, didn’t they?
If anyone sees this game as being any indicator that there is anything wrong with baseball, they are silly. This has nothing to do with a strike or steriod use or salary caps or any of this crap. This was Bud, Bob and Joe realizing that there were nobody left to play and Bud Sellig making what he KNEW would be a very unpopular decision. It sucks, of course, but c’mon – this is NOT a real baseball game, it’s an exhibition.
Kayt
Dude I hate baseball. Those kids get paid way to flippin much to pay a sport. Now soccer, that’s a sport. Baseball’s just soup compared to it.
Now, I love the A’s with a passion bordering on ill-educated lust.
I’m not one of them big ole baseball fanatics who knows every little thing. I know enough to get by, and even enough to heckle creatively.
But a tie? In the ALL-STAR game? What. The. Fuck.
This excuse for a donkey’s asshole Selig should realize his mistake, and submit to being covered in thousands of tiny spiders.
Like the one crawling across my desk right now.
I mean, fer chrissakes, a TIE?
That’s like getting to the point of orgasm – you see it in your sights, it’s riiiight there – and someone interrupts to say that Mary Tyler Moore is getting a colonoscopy RIGHT NOW.
And it was going to be a damn good orgasm, too. Spudnuts-worthy.
Wil, you’re lucky not to stuck in a city with a sorry excuse for a baseball team. The folks here in Tampa really wouldn’t being losing anything if there was a strike.
Hey, why not try cricket instead? There’s only ever been *one* tied Test Match – though there have been plenty of draws…
Baseball is dead…no wait I meant Disco. Nevermind. I shall always have my memories of being at Wrigley field and singing along with Harry Carey to “Take Me Out to The Ball Game”
My heart for baseball died in the last strike with the exception of my love for the Cubs.
Hey Wil, why don’t you send a copy of this post to… umm, whoever’s in charge of that stuff? I make it a point to send a letter of complaint whenever I am really, truly pissed off. Sometimes I’m ignored, but sometimes something will happen as a result. I’m not a baseball fan, but it sounds like a lot of players and owners and (whoever else) have forgotten that without fans buying tickets and merchandise, they’d have no jobs. So remind them.
Wil,
I can’t agree with you more. I feel your disgust for Bud Selig. Let me tell you, as a resident of the state of Wisconsin, we hate him just as much, if not more, than you.
I, unlike you, have not beena fan of MLB for many years. Sure, I love the game, and I go to several minor league games a year, but MLB? Forget it.
I know many many people who have said the same thing as you. If the players strike, MLB is done. Stick a fork in it. The little pop-up thing is out. They’re through.
Both sides of this manure-slinging contest are dirty, have no moral ground to stand on, and are just money-grubbing babies.
Ignore them, and maybe they’ll take their ball and go home.
Kahuna
Hey folks, calm down. I am a longtime baseball fan myself, but come on, they ran out of freaking players. You can blame that on poor management (Barry Zito throwing 3 pitches??), but the bottom line is that they used up all of their players. Can someone tell me what they would have done had they been the manager in the 11th inning of last night’s game? Huh? Maybe gotten some people out of the stands and used them instead? Stop crying. There is no crying in baseball.
I think baseball is boring, but listening to Harry Carry….THAT was entertainment.
to clarify. Bud Selig is from McCook Nebraska. and i too am a baseball fan. my whole life. i agree it sucks that they called what has always been my favorite game to watch, however, if one of these all-stars, one who could become the next babe ruth, or hank aaron, were to get hurt and end their career in an off-week, simply for fun, display of baseball prowess… that my friends would be the tragedy of the night.
good to hear you’re a baseball fan wil. it’s really good to know there are those of us who’ll fight for the game left.
“PUT ME IN COACH”…Wil have you ever thought
about YET another career as a ‘player”?
I mean look how dedicated you are..you just
happened to marry a lovely woman with two son’s
named Nolan and Ryan…
IT’S A OMEN!!! Go Wil..reform baseball !
Im not surprised. Baseball lost most of its flair after the strike in 1994(5?). Football has long since surpassed Baseball as Americas pasttime.
On another note, I thought that the tribute to Ted Willams was pathetic at best. Gee, you spent $5 for a little more chalk in the outfield. Whoo hoo! Here’s a guy who defined baseball, and you give him painted grass.
Calling a baseball game for going into the 11th inning? What is this world coming to?
I dont care if they ran out of pitchers. Each pitcher only pitched a couple of innings max, bring them back in or have some of the other position players have a stab at pitching.
That would have made it exciting.
It was a very sad night, I was pissed as hell and I am completely sick of Selig. Being from Minnesota, that guy really gets under my skin. Him and Pohlad
Wil,
I’m with you man. There’s no tying, there’s no tying in Baseball. What a rip off. Yea, rename the MVP trophy for Ted Williams and then not give it away? What, do they put the trophy on ice and save it for next year? Baseball is screwing itself royally and us too. It’s over!!
Alright. I am heartily in agreement with most of hte above posters. I am a baseballnut and I calculate out the weird stats. I was even doing WHIP before it was cool. Hoever I have to admit that I can undestand not exhausting the pitchers. Now, don’t they have something similiar to this in many other sports to keep it from becoming boring? Something called a shoot out? They should pick 5 players from each team and *hold your breath* have them hit homeruns. I mean (insert sarcastic tone) I realize that fans hate seeing people hit homeruns, there were only about 50,000 fans that paid to watch 8 men hit little white balls on monday. How hard would it be to setup the pitching cage and throw out 5 pitches to each side??? I am sure Bud Selig though of everything during that 10 minute delay before the bottom of the 11th, that is what he gets paid to do. Fricken bunch of Idiots.
This goes down as a little foreshadowing: The All-Star games gets cut short just like the season will be. No one will be a winner, especially not the fans.
– Law (Die-very-hard Blue Jays Fan)
I’m not a huge baseball fan because I’ve always felt like most of the players were greedy. They cared more about money than their fans (at least in the last 10 years or so). In fact, I’d rather go to a minor league game. The stadiums aren’t as crowded, the tickets are cheaper, the team is REALLY local and it’s all about the game. Those guys are just trying to improve their game so they can make it to the big league … there’s the spirit of baseball.
I’m more of a football fan … individuals matter, but they can’t do much without a good team. In baseball, too much hinges on one player.
I was at the game. I was amazed that Bud would do this to us…..He is the reason Milwaukee has baseball. As a season Ticket holder for the Brewers, I was able to get my Ticket for face–$175 bucks. Scalpers were getting over $1000 per ticket prior to the start. The fans that were still there at 11:30 pm were true fans–many corporate suites had already bailed. To do this to us was the final blow that may just kill America’s pastime.
Is Bud Seling deliberately trying to ruin the game of baseball? I mean what is it with this guy? Call the All-Star game in the 11th inning and not give out an MVP? What’s the excuse? “We ran out of pitchers.”
I call bullshit on this one. I saw Barry Zito pitch to ONE batter in the 7th inning. You want to avoid this problem, make all the pitchers pitch at least two innings. If all of them don’t get to play, then too bad, at least you were chosen as an All-Star.
Boy, Ted Williams would be proud.
Mark it down, if there is a lockout or a strike, the only games I will go to or watch again will be my son’s little league games.
Bud Selig, what a dick.
See, now you know why I stopped watching after the first strike. I was a huge fan in the 80’s, with Gary Carter, Dale Murphy, and Ozzie Smith being some of my heroes. Those were men on and off the field. Now who do you have to look up to? Barry Bonds? It’s a sad state of affairs when millionares are fighting with billionares about money. Just play the damn game already.
Amen, brother!
Sounds like they did the only sensible thing that they could given the situation. Perhaps Bud Selig is a jerk and they should change the rules for the all-star game, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. No team would want to risk injuring a pitcher that they pay millions for just for an exhibition game. The sudden death home run thing sounds like a good idea. But then again, what do I know? The only baseball I watch each year is the Little League World Series and even that was tainted by controversy (Danny Almonte) last year.
The All Star game mattered to Pete Rose
Being a baseball fan in Canada, I hope contraction does not go through. However, Bud Selig is a total jackass and doesn’t seem to give a shit about the Expos. Even in their, most likely, last season, he still manages to screw them by not allowing them to increase payroll. Good God man, let them live a little! 1994 screwed us. Let them try to have this.
I gave up on baseball when the strike happened. Bunch of money-grubbing, selfish weenies if you ask me.
Ummm, wait….you didn’t ask, did you?
Give ’em hell Wil!