How Do I Enjoy Baseball again?
 

I used to love baseball. As a kid, I played organized ball, collected cards, and went to several Jays games a season. Later, my friends and I would make the trip downtown to catch as many games as possible, and I've been to the Hall of fame in Cooperstown twice. When the Jays won the world series, it was a highpoint.

But thanks to the last strike, drug scandals, yankee domination, roster clearing and a poor home team with higher ticket prices, I've haven't followed MLB hardly at all. Despite loving the game itself, I just can't get swept up in the spirit of things.

The Red Sox winning the World series helped a bit, but now I'm back in my old funk: The only stories you ever read these dayse are business and labour related. I don't know any of the players anymore, and I'm skeptical of the two leagues playing each other during the regular season.

How can I come back to the sport I love and enjoy it? I considered entering the TFP fantasy league, but would have been useless at the draft.

Is there any hope for me?

come over to the dark side -- embrace the yankees - -hate the red sux... :) it's fun... the evil empire isn't all that evil... how can you trash my beloved yankees? :D

Is there hope? Well that depends on how much you're willing to overlook. The last baseball game I went to was a Cards game when Ozzy was owning the Brewers back in the early 90s. Since then I, like you, have become disillusioned with the sport. While it is still entertaining to some degree, it no longer has that air of hero worship it once had. Baseball players are not heros or role models. Frankyl, I've been turned of to pro sports for years because of this. Celebrities, whether being political, entertainment, sports, or whatever...have a responsibility to do right in the public eye. I know it's not fair, and I know these people are human, but doing a line of coke off a hookers ass and then shooting up roids isn't just being human. Sports are going the way of Rome, and it's really dissapointing. I only hope that the responsible celebrities of pro sports can somehow manage to shine brighter than those who are dissapointments. As for the dissapointments, well they should learn to act like adults. We're all looking at you, T.O.

My...beloved...Yankees?!?
/me shakes head in sorrow
Oh mal, mal, mal...the Yankees? Come...let me take you by the hand, and show you path of the Pirates fan. It'll only hurt for a moment...I promise.

Hey, I'm a Giants fan. Imagine how I feel.

Hey, I'm a Cubs fan that was at Game 6 (the Bartman game) AND I'm married to a very vocal White Sox fan. I've got everyone beat in terms of joyless teams.

F***in' Rodriguez can't hang onto a routine infield ball....

Turn toward the minor leagues! The baseball is soo good, and the players are there to play the game the way it was meant to be.

Right. See, I'd love to be able to trash talk like you guys above. I miss that. It's way more fun than talk of collective bargaining, senate committees and stadium financing.

How do I wade through all that nonsense to get back to the good stuff?

totally agree with you there... AAA and AA ball are so much fun to watch - -the players are playing (in my delusional mind anyhow) for the pure love of the game - most of 'em won't make it to the majors, nor will they make a living at it - but they are fulfulling some boyhood dream of playing baseball...

the newark bears -- a really nice stadium in a horrible part of crime infested newark nj - tends to sell out most of their games... it's just a good time...

the easiest way to get back into baseball is to go to a game and take in the smells, the fans, and the game itself. not the players... the game. The game isn't about the players.

Oh and the other way is to talk trash about the Skankees. They are so pathetic. Red Sox Nation will have fun with them this year.

Yes, I think that regardless of where you go outside of New York, one of the very few things that Americans can agree on is that the Yankees suck. They suck long and they suck hard, and they are the suckiest bunch of sucks to have ever sucked up a game. Except for the '06 Cubs - I can already feel myself getting pissed off about their underacheivment.

I am stuck in the hell that is new hampshire and I say you are WRONG!!!!

You all need a dose in perspective.

I'm a baseball fan.

I know this because I go to Royals games. :D

Try watching golf...

As opposed toooo...watching mold grow?
:D

But the Yankees do suck and I will have to report you to the proper authorities for living outside of NY and supporting the Yankees.

You can say that I'm wrong all you want, but it won't change the fact that you're just a dirty Yankees fan. I actually feel bad for wasting the electricity that I just used responding to you. :cool:

Thank god you're not a White Sox fan, because then we'd really have a fight on our hands. :D

I love baseball, I have since as far back as I can remember. Growing up watching the Big Red Machine and the Indians have some decent players but never being able to win. We used to have neighborhood games and little league and used to emulate the play of the stars we wanted to be like the most. For me it was Pete Rose and Tom Seaver.

But those days are over and baseball has become very self destructive. It seems they can't get the sport to stay truly healthy. I don't see kids playing much baseball anymore, or wanting to be their favorite player. That's one reason the sport is having to import talent. And when you lose the youth's interest you are on a serious slide to eventual death.

Maybe it's better that kids are losing interest. I mean how many times does a kid have to see his favorite players leave his (the kid's team) for more money and then bad mouth the city and fans? We saw it in the past decade here in Cleveland.... we watched them all leave and then bad mouth us fans. And the kids of this area are supposed to stay interested in that sport? How can you expect anyone to? Yet, baseball allows it, encourages it and supports it.

When you have supposed great players that take these huge contracts to play for teams that will never compete because of those contracts (i.e. A-Rod in Texas) it shows that the players don't even care about the fans or the game, but only about their wallets. If a sport's players don't care about the fans or the teams the sport will die.

The only thing keeping baseball alive right now is the television deals..... without them baseball would be going bankrupt financially, it already is morally.

If baseball is to grow and become the nation's pastime again, the sport needs to do something about salaries. Make caps, put all the revenue into a pot and split it all equally, whatever.... the sport owes it to the fans and to the beauty of the game to save it and try to keep the competitiveness alive.

I do believe, however, that the best way to watch the game I love is through the minors now. Watching the players work their asses off, sign autographs before the games, see them at restaurants and bars afterward, and so on. It's a great way to get to know the guys.

Akron has the Aeros, Cleveland's AA minor league team and it's great. We get to know the players before the rest of the country and they get to know Northern Ohio, which is the best location in the nation, and the attitudes of the people here. And we fans can see which players will truly be able to make it as Indians and which ones would be better off elsewhere (by their attitudes, interactions and so on).

I enjoy going to minor league games and as much as I love baseball itself (and loathe players such as A-Rodupmyass) I just don't get the same joy as I do watching a pro game. I practically cream my pants every time I walk into Fenway. Just closing my eyes and going back through all the history is what keeps it real for me. I try to focus on the plays that happen no who made the play. Sure this isn't good for having a favorite player etc, but I still think people and players need to take a step back and watch the game and realize it is above and beyond any player that ever was.. or ever will be.

Minor leagues are great. The Tucson Sidewinders will probably have a better lineup than the Diamondbacks. I hope to see them a few times

I enjoy the game as a fan, sure, but I get a huge amount of enjoyment out of the game as sort of an intellectual exercise. I'm a definite stathead, and I love reading about crap like the correlation of isolated slugging percentage to the winning percentage of playoff teams (from Dayn Perry's book Winners) or reading in Baseball Prospectus 2006 how the A's succeed by continually investing in players undervalued in the marketplace (er, draft, free agency....).

I don't know. I love Field of Dreams as much as the next guy, but I'm not about being sentimental towards sports like pan is. I respect his type of fandom, it just isn't me. I don't care how baseball is "morally" (p.s. football, with basically universal steroid use, is worse) or that players switch teams (it actually happens the same amount as in the era before free agency, or maybe even a little less). It's all part of taking the game the way it is and learning how to build the best team possible. You know - in a high-offense era, ditch bunts; if it's the 60's, bunt away, etc.

That said, the DH sucks and must die.

Two suggestions:

1. Start playing baseball again. Either in a hardball league or softball.
Nothing gets you more excited about a sport than actually participating in it.

2. Get into a fantasy baseball league. Become a stat freak.
What this does is give you a vested interest in a lot of games and incentive to watch and see what happens.

i'm assuming you mean alex gonzalez and not rodriguez

Well..................I've been a die-hard White Sox fan for years, so the last year or so it's not been too hard for me to have joy in baseball. :D

Looking good for this year so far too. :cool:

Think about this: unlike, say, the ongoing NBA playoffs, baseball don't allow in the majority of teams, doesn't have about 7 rounds, doesn't last 2 months, and all the rounds don't go to 7 games. Blech.

You have to go to a game.

At the very least, I make it a point to go to one ballgame a year (It's a five hour drive to Cardinal country :) ) just to recharge the old baseball batteries.

Baseball needs to be seen in person to appreciate it. If paying too much for Bluejay's tickets sits ill with you, go watch someone else. Once you're in the stadium, it won't matter...we're all fans, right?

Baseball has a lot of problems, but not every player is pumping themselves full of illegal shit, or making millions upon millions of dollars. A lot of the owners suck and a most of the salaries are outrageous, but it's still baseball and once you're in the stadium all that other superfluous shit just doesn't exist anymore.

Ya, that really bugs me. How legitimate are playoffs that allow half the teams in? You only have to be mediocre to make the playoffs in basketball and each series takes way too long to complete. They should really go to the baseball format: 8 total teams, best of 5, best of 7, best of 7; but it's all about the money so that's not happening.

Anyways, back to baseball. The DBacks are nothing special but Webb is kicking ass. To top things off, Russ Ortiz got booted from the rotation. Can it get any better than that?

I attend Minor League baseball at least once or twice a year. Most of those players will
never see MLB, but are chasing a dream.

Riding the White Sox happy train myself. Now if they could only win on the west coast.

I stopped watching after the 94 strike and didn't watch again for years. For me to get back into it took my local team (the M's) who were perennial losers starting to actually win. When that started happening, I couldn't stay mad. Also, I got into a fantasy league so the spirit of competition forced me to pay attention. The more I watched and read, the more I was glad to be back.

GO Harrisburg Senators!!

I dont go to many games anymore, but I also like the minor league ball, not as far to travel too.

Anyway, I also use to be big into MLB but havent been paying much attn to it now that i have kids, but this year I brought an XM radio and really only listen to Baseball and CNBC on it. It has gotten me back into the game, but my only complaint is that there arent enough games on tv, at least on my cable.

Correct me if I am wrong but didnt ESPN have like 10 games a week on tv, I am lucky to catch more then 3 a week.

I have been a Braves fan since 1990 when they sucked, but I would pick the CWS over the Yanks. :lol: