I Love Baseball - The World's Most Annoying Sport

With the Phillies winning the World Series recently figured this would be a good time to vent some of my frustrations with America's past-time. And let me reiterate what I said in the title - I love this game. I've played baseball from pee-wee little league to the present (big Wiffle-ball tournament coming up in 2 days). As a kid I would go to watch the Met's all summer long - including all scheduled double-headers. You know - that extinct species which was 2 games for the price of 1. I can probably punch out 50 pages on my complaints - but will spare you the agony and limit it to just a few.

Base Brawl
We've all seen fights break out during an MLB game. Pitcher throws at hitter. Hitter drops his bat and charges the mound. Arms flail, maybe one of the guys takes a shot to the jaw. Usually not though - just a bunch of guys rolling around on the grass. The annoying part is that it becomes a bench-clearing brawl. 30+ players and coaches (from each time mind you) charge onto the scene - as if they are giving away free t-shirts or something. These "Gang busters" do nothing more than block the view of us, the home viewers, trying to see the fight at hand. It's just a bunch of sissies in tight pants acting tough. And here is the absolute worst part about it. It's when the overweight middle-relief pitcher that was previously napping in the bullpen decides to join the melee. He'll come blasting out of the door of the outfield fence like a bat out of hell. Then comedy sets it. This "Athlete" runs out of steam about 1/3 of the way to the actual fight scene - and then decides to walk the rest of the way (if even that). Some even decide to just stop and watch from center field. Thanks buddy. Glad to have a teammate who cares enough to leave his seat to help, but then throws in the towel 10 seconds in. Though I don't agree with fighting in the NHL or NBA - at least Hockey and Basketball got it right. In the NHL the refs let the two players duke it out and then break it up when it gets boring. The NBA fines and suspends any player who leaves the bench during a fight. That's a great rule (even though it cost the NY Knicks a playoff series against the Miami Heat back in the day).

Pyramid Scheme
Agents claim that their clients should be paid in accordance with the profits they generate for a team. In other words if the Yankees remain "profitable" as a business, then it's OK and fair for most of the players on their roster to make in excess of $10 million a year. I don't mean to use the Yanks as an example, though they are the obvious choice. Anyway, the agents B.S. is duly noted - but the issue is that this works in a backwards fashion. The profits are dictated by the cost of doing business. So (simplified), if a team has a $200 million payroll, they need to generate more than that to be profitable. Well, how do you accomplish this? Simple - charge $100 per ticket, $8 for a beer and $9 for a foam finger souvenir. How about we pay all players the league minimum (about $300k per year). That would put these "workers" in the top 5% of income earners in the country. Not bad for playing a game. This way ticket prices can come back down to double-figures. And maybe I won't feel like giving the concession stand "The finger" when ponying up $$$ to buy "The foam finger".

Success...At a Cost
There's an undocumented rule in baseball where if a batter or batters have consecutive success against a pitcher in a game...that he (or the next batter in the lineup) is due to get beamed in the back with a 90mph fastball in the next at bat. Here's two examples: If a batter homers twice in a row off the same pitcher in a game, he is likely going to be "thrown at" in the third at bat. If two batters in a row hit a home run off the same pitcher, it is likely that the innocent next batter in the lineup is going to be delivered a message via being stung with a pitch. This is outright ridiculous. Maybe this will end when one of these "Victim of circumstance" hit batsman gets permanently disabled as a result of this action.

Miscellaneous
1. The Manager and coaches should stop wearing uniforms. They are not playing and I don't understand it. If anything it does add some humor to the game.
2. Suspending a starting pitcher for three games (for whatever the infraction)...when he pitches once every five makes no sense. He would be sitting on the bench those three games anyway.
3. Fining a player who makes in excess of $5 million a year $10,000 is meaningless. It's the equivalent of fining you or me $10.