June 22, 2009

If It Ain't Broke...


Ever wonder why the National League Central Division is the only division in Major League Baseball that has 6 teams? Why does the AL West have only 4 teams? Why are there 16 teams in the National League, and only 14 in the American League? Well, I'll tell you why. It's because Bud Selig just couldn't leave well enough alone! Now, I can't blame ALL of baseball's problems on old "rat faced" Bud Selig, but I sure can pin a bunch of them on him!




Because of Selig's introduction of inter league play in 1997, we now have an imbalance in the number of teams in each league. This imbalance has led to the absurdity of a 6 team division in one league, and a 4 team division in the other. You see, you need each league to have an even number of teams in order to make the scheduling of inter league play balance out properly. So, instead of leaving a game that worked perfectly well as it was alone, Selig had to go and mess with it. He moved the Brewers out of the American league and into the National League.(Which was a very profitable move for the owner of the Brewers, who just so happened to be Bud Selig) I thought the whole point of having two different leagues was so that the best team in each league would meet in this grand matchup in the World Series. Two leagues out to prove who was the better. Now each year, we potentially get the "thrill" of watching 2 teams who just may have already played each other six times that year. Kind of takes some of the drama out of it, don't ya' think? Personally, I hate the inter league games! In my eyes, those are dates on the calendar that could have been games against divisional rivalries. Teams fighting to win their division, or secure a wild card spot. The only time I want to see the St. Louis Cardinals playing against the Seattle Mariners, or the Baltimore Orioles, is in the Fall Classic! The way it was meant to be!




Now, "rat face" Selig has screwed the game up in other ways too. To start with, it was Selig who changed the format of the All-Star game in 1993, awarding home field in the World Series to the league that won the "Midsummer Classic". He claimed it would make the game important again. Pfffffft!!! How is the All-Star game important to a guy who is only there because someone from his team "has" to be represented in the game, and his team is already 15 games out of first place? Hell, the fans didn't even vote him into the game! Do you really think that guy cares who has home field advantage in October? It was Bud Selig who also made the bonehead decision to end the 2002 All Star game in a 7-7 tie. He's been a genius as the commissioner! Bud, single handedly, can be blamed for the shortened 1994 season as well. The only season in the history of the game to NOT have a World Series Champion. Thanks Bud! Oh yeah... and the "steroid era" falls under good old Bud Selig's watch too! Although, I suppose you can't blame the steroid issue completely on Bud Selig... but I'm going too because it's just too easy, and I dislike him that much!




On April 6, 1973, the game changed drastically as well. While I've never heard Bud Selig's name mentioned in conjunction with this one, I'm certain, with out a shadow of a doubt, that Selig had to be involved in this debacle as well. (Vegas has it at 3-2 odds) It was April 6, 1973, when Ron Blomberg stepped up to the plate, wearing a New York Yankee uniform, and Blomberg had been penciled into the lineup as the "designated hitter" Another sad day in baseball history! The powers that be had decided that baseball was going to allow the pitchers in the American League to continue pitching, but strip them of their title of "baseball players" Since they were no longer required to play all aspects of the game like the rest of the red blooded American population, pitchers would relinquish themselves to merely being "pitchers". (Kind of like the rule in football that prevents the quarterback from being hit) That just sounds like a Bud Selig idea to me!!!


What would Abner Doubleday say if he were alive today? Doubleday is credited for inventing the game of baseball in Elihu Phinney's cow pasture in Cooperstown, New York in 1839. From that day, a century and a half of baseball went unchanged for the most part. Then somebody felt the need to try to fix something that wasn't broke! Selig is responsible for an awful lot of those bad changes! I wish we could shove Selig out through the back door and forget about him. Let someone like Bob Costas take over the role as Commissioner. Someone who knows, loves, appreciates and respects the game. Someone needs to put the game back together. Back to the way it was meant to be!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Shawn I can't agree with you more. I feel that the designated hitter is the biggest pussy move in history. If a power pitcher wants to take control of the plate and throw inside, he just puts the burden on his team-mates to have to listen to some chin music in retaliation. That's why I have always had a chip on my shoulder against AL power pitchers. Bud Selig will also go down as one of the biggest douchebags is baseball history. He has blatantly used his position to try to help his team, he even admits how he favors them. I DO blame the steriod era partially on him because he turned a total blind eye until the government threatened to step-in.