Bud Seling stepping down as MLB commissioner

[Sunstroke]

That's like saying Bernie Madoff was a great man for donating millIons of dollars to charity only to find out later he made those millIons while running a Ponzi scheme

No. It isn't like that at all.

It's like saying you can't really get the true flavor of the peanut unless you're eating chunky peanut butter.

[Spider-Dan]

That's like saying Bernie Madoff was a great man for donating millIons of dollars to charity only to find out later he made those millIons while running a Ponzi scheme

That analogy is not at all accurate, but to that point, from the perspective of the charities I'd say he would be a pretty good guy.

I don't think they'd give the money back.

[Brian Fein]

Dave has had beef with baseball, mainly the number of games they play, since forever.  I think Dave just doesn't like baseball.  Perhaps he has tried in the past and has devised this scheme for making him like it better, but it just won't work.

There's no "penalties" in baseball.  You can't back them up 5 yards or give them free throws.  There's no power play.  How do you get a guy in trouble for beaning the opposing batter?  Give him a free base?  Or, right they already do that...

My only thought on improving baseball is to do away with this ridiculous play-in 5 team wild card playoff structure.  I'd like to see them return to 4 divisions, AL, NL, East and West.  Then take the top 2 teams from each division and play for division titles.  Division winners play for League championship.  League champs play in World series.  Eight total teams, very clean.

Otherwise, baseball is fine as it is.  Maybe there's room for replay, but not for balls and strikes.  Its just not for everyone.  If you like fast-paced games with lots of action, I suggest you turn on an NHL game this October.  Baseball is not for you.

[Spider-Dan]

How do you get a guy in trouble for beaning the opposing batter?  Give him a free base?  Or, right they already do that...

If you can't think of any other penalty, your imagination is pretty limited:

- 4 free bases instead of 1
- pitcher automatically ejected
- pitcher suspensions
- manager suspensions
- fines all around
etc.

There are plenty of options; however, I would want to leave some room for genuine wild pitches and batters crowding the plate.  And I do also realize that pitcher suspensions can be pretty toothless when many of them don't play every game anyway.  So my solution is: keep 1 free base on hit batsman, intentional hit (at discretion of umpire) is automatic ejection.  All beanballs are reviewed by league office, and league hands out 5-game unpaid suspension (plus potential fines) for any intentional hitting of a batter.  (If pitcher is ejected by umpire at the time, 5-game suspension automatically applies.)  Any ruled intentional hit also results in a 1-game manager suspension.

If a dugout or bullpen player steps on to field of play during a scuffle, 5-game suspension.
If any player throws a punch at another player, 5-game suspension.

It is not some sort of random coincidence that brawls are extremely rare in the NFL and NBA.  Heavy suspensions up and down the line will solve it near instantly.

Maybe there's room for replay, but not for balls and strikes.  Its just not for everyone.

I agree: the use of replay for balls and strikes is pointless, particularly since that could be done entirely electronically.

[Landshark]

That analogy is not at all accurate, but to that point, from the perspective of the charities I'd say he would be a pretty good guy.

I don't think they'd give the money back.

Then the charities themselves would be the subject of public ridicule because they took donations from a man who supplied them with money that wasn't his. 

[Spider-Dan]

I presume I can find this record of public ridicule in the same place where I can find the public ridicule of the car companies, restaurants, jewelry stores, etc. who happily accepted Madoff's ill-gotten funds and promptly chalked it up in their ledgers as profit?

It should be pretty easy to find... right next to the Hall of Shame where everyone who accepted money from Enron and Lehman Brothers is memorialized.

[MaineDolFan]

Bud Selig: great commissioner, or the greatest commissioner?

Greatest, hands down.  Anyone who knows anything about baseball, I think, would agree.  The white noise of strikes, PED's, etc, is exactly that.  White noise.  Show me a sport where those items don't happen. 

Wait.  You can't.  Hockey?  Strikes.  Recent ones.  Check.  I remember not too recent entire seasons gone.  Basketball?  Yep.  Football?  Uh, yeah.  PED's?  Baseball has Arod.  Funny, if Von Miller played baseball this board would be exploding about a baseball player trying to trick the system.  I'm not hearing a thing about it.  Six game suspension.  That's it.  Baseball?  He would be wearing a red scarlett letter for life.

Baseball is a machine, one which is rolled on through generations and generations.  The only commissioner who I put on par with Selig is Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle.  The only "blurb" I put on Selig's resume is not finding a way to bring the American and National league more in line with each other, rule wise (DH).  It wasn't a large deal into more integrated play.  Now it is, and needs to be dealt with.  It's crazy that the National League hasn't had a vote on it in decades. 

The amount of games = perfect.  This won't change.

Tempo of the games could be worked on.  I have attended games that were under two hours.  I've been at games over 4.  I think you will see some teaking here, no matter who comes in.  This being said, I can take the stance that every sport, minus hockey, takes forever. 

Every.sport. 

Basketball is impossible to sit through at the end.  Football, with the TV timeouts, the challenges, reviewing every TD, coaches challenges, reviewing everything within two minutes, the team's time outs, injuries, fake injuries...takes forever.  Last night's Patriots game was well over four hours.  Much longer than any baseball game.  No one ever bitches about that.

Hockey?  Your favorite team is down by 2 goals and there is 8:43 left in the 3rd.  You think "plenty of time."  You blink and there is :43 left.  Hockey is the only game which actually goes fast.

Somehow, baseball is the only game demonized by this, however.

Selig has done amazing things in baseball.  Amazing, amazing things.  The game is going to miss him.

[Dave Gray]

You're trying to make baseball into basketball. 

Good.  I like basketball.  And baseball sucks, so I'm fine with that.

[Cathal]

Somehow, baseball is the only game demonized by this, however.

Because it's the slowest "sport" out there. It's slower than golf.... Nothing exciting happens.

[Brian Fein]

People who think baseball is boring should go back and watch the 9th inning of yesterday's 0-0 "snooze-fest" Marlins game.  I dare you to say it wasn't exciting.

Spider, I'm fine with your suspension theory but I was more talking about in-game penalization.  In football you can give away yards, basketball you give free throws (note, not points).  In hockey, you give a man-advantage.  What do you do in baseball?  Make them play without an outfielder for an inning?  They already give you a free base.  I guess immediate ejection is an option, but I don't like the idea of potentially costing a team their star ace starter in the 2nd inning based on a judgment call by the umpire on the spot with no available replay. 

[Sunstroke]

Because it's the slowest "sport" out there. It's slower than golf.... Nothing exciting happens.

NOTHING is slower than golf. You could televise the world championships of paint drying, and it would move faster than golf.

Baseball is fine at its current speed.

[Spider-Dan]

Wait.  You can't.  Hockey?  Strikes.  Recent ones.  Check.  I remember not too recent entire seasons gone.  Basketball?  Yep.  Football?  Uh, yeah.

Football has not lost a game to a strike in over 25 years, so I'm not sure what you're referring to here.

The only "blurb" I put on Selig's resume is not finding a way to bring the American and National league more in line with each other, rule wise (DH).  It wasn't a large deal into more integrated play.  Now it is, and needs to be dealt with.  It's crazy that the National League hasn't had a vote on it in decades.

As a non-baseball fan, I'd say there needs to be more pressure from the media on the absolute farce that is NL pitchers at the plate; for example, this.  And I don't care that Mike Hampton (or whoever) is a great batter; every batter should be attempting to hit, and if they aren't, you need to think about what's wrong with your rules.

This being said, I can take the stance that every sport, minus hockey, takes forever. 

Every.sport. 

Basketball is impossible to sit through at the end.

If you want to call out football, fine.  But for you to compare the last two minutes of a basketball game to an entire game of baseball is pretty silly.  The problem with baseball is not so much the actual length of the game; average game times are around 2h18m for NBA and 2h58m for MLB.  (FYI, average NHL games run about the same length as the NBA: 2h19m.)

The bigger problem is that nothing is happening for the VAST MAJORITY of of an MLB game.  There is so much time wasted in baseball on completely untimed garbage.  To me, it seems like time between pitches is probably the worst offender, though the delay in changing pitchers is pretty horrible, too.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Going off what Spider said....

suspension of pitchers or even ejections won't work if you eject a starting pitcher in the fifth inning for beaning someone how much has he been punished?

And there should be some leeway for genuine wild pitches....so adopting a NBA style system.

The first time a pitcher that season hits a player, the player is awarded a single base.
The second and third time that same pitcher hits a player in a season, the player is awarded a double,
The third and fourth time....a triple.
Fifth and subsequent.... an automatic homerun. 

Fighting...automatic ejection.

In cases of attacks (e.g. hitter storms the pitchers mound) if initiated by an offensive player... end of the half inning.  If initiated by a defensive player batter advances home. 

In case of a player leaving the dugout for a fight....or entering the dugout of another team.... suspend for the rest of the season. 

[Spider-Dan]

The first time a pitcher that season hits a player, the player is awarded a single base.
The second and third time that same pitcher hits a player in a season, the player is awarded a double,
The third and fourth time....a triple.
Fifth and subsequent.... an automatic homerun. 

The only problem I see with a system like that is that you would have batters scouting pitchers for their current position on the penalty chain and getting closer and closer to the plate.  A system like the above would also need to have some penalties added for batters that are too close to the plate.

I understand that wild pitches happen, and that pitchers need to be able to claim the inside of the plate.  I think that umpires and the league office should be able to intelligently tell the difference between a pitcher throwing a ball to an area he is entitled to, and a retaliation beanball.

[Cathal]

NOTHING is slower than golf. You could televise the world championships of paint drying, and it would move faster than golf.

Baseball is fine at its current speed.

OK, then let's say that they're on par (sorry) as both being equally slow and boring.