Random Baseball Thoughts

This is my first sports related post. However, this will not be a "Lets Go Mets" post, nor will I ever talk about statistics. Most of the time I prefer to read about sports the next day, rather than watch it. That being said, there are few things better than watching and talking about BASEBALL. Anyone want to chime in on these random baseball thoughts?

The best thing about the Super Bowl is that it means "pitchers and catchers" will report soon.

Maybe this is self-evident, but one thing that makes baseball different than other team sports is......no clock. Incidentally, if you have never seen George Carlin's routine about the differences between baseball and football, he has it right. I got this from youtube, check it out....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YphEUa5LPjM

The designated hitter was a nice experiment, but the game is better without it. The strategy of the pitchers batting, pinch hitters and double switches, make the National League games MUCH more interesting.

Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. He played full tilt his entire career, had the most hits ever, played four different positions, and was a winner. Sure, he should have confessed to betting on baseball. I'd have accepted that and suspended him for 10 years, but the fact is, he deserves recognition for his accomplishments. If he had bet against his team or "dumped" a game, I'd reconsider and agree to the lifetime ban.

Afternoon games are better than night games.

Want to read a great baseball book? If you have never read Ball Four, by Jim Bouton, that's the one. Way ahead of its time, Bouton made a comeback with the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969, and kept a diary. Great day to day baseball stuff, and reminiscences about the Yankees. Takes place in the pre-free agent era, and shows the genesis of the issues leading to the union's ultimate success.

If I could pick one sports thing to be able to do....just once.....I'd like to hit a home run and circle the bases in front of a big home town crowd. There is nothing like that in any other sport.

Why has there never been a switch-pitcher?

I like the fact that the baseball parks are not uniform in dimension. The visiting team has to deal with it.

I like that baseball has a top and bottom of the inning, and that the home team gets "last licks". Only the morons who run football would decide their tie games with a coin toss influenced sudden death format, and never change it. Want the solution, football???? If a team scores in overtime, the other team gets the ball back one more time. If they don't score, game over.....if they score the same points the other team just did, play on....if they score more, they win. This way, if a team gets down to the 20 yard line, but they have a poor defense, they will think about going for the TD. Some day, they'll figure this out.

I am surprised there has not been another player who was a great pitcher AND hitter, like Babe Ruth. There probably have been, but they did not get the chance.

What is your favorite baseball movie? I'd go with Bull Durham, but welcome some discussion on this.

Next post.....back to the law (sort of)