MLB Chatter Thread

[Cotton]

The way the game is played today vs how it was played back then is a major reason why a lot of people have stopped following the sport.

The game is not nearly as exciting as it used to be because the game has pretty much become a station-to-station game and there's not nearly as much action in the game as there was 30 years ago.

I loved the days when you had several guys across the league stealing 50+ bases. I loved when the ball was put into play more often and it wasn't just guys parading to the plate striking out 200 times. Also, all the extreme defensive shifts have kept even more runners off base.

I believe it was Theo Epstein who said this in a recent interview regarding defensive shifts and analytics in the sport.....baseball's problem is they got too smart for their own good and it's hurt the product on the field and made the sport harder to watch.

1000% agree.

 

[bbgun]

The biggest culprits are pitching changes, stepping off the mound, and stepping out of the box. Eliminating the shift and instituting a pitch clock would improve the game greatly.

 

[Cotton]

The biggest culprits are pitching changes, stepping off the mound, and stepping out of the box. Eliminating the shift and instituting a pitch clock would improve the game greatly.

I'm torn on the shift. Part of me thinks it should be allowed and hitters just need to adjust, and the other side does believe it would improve the game to a degree if it was eliminated.

 

[bbgun]

I'm torn on the shift. Part of me thinks it should be allowed and hitters just need to adjust, and the other side does believe it would improve the game to a degree if it was eliminated.

That's what bugged me about Gallo. He said he wasn't gonna change his style of hitting by going the other way and beating the shift. Besides, offense puts fannies in the seat, so anything that hurts it will be eliminated.

 

[1bigfan13]

The biggest culprits are pitching changes, stepping off the mound, and stepping out of the box. Eliminating the shift and instituting a pitch clock would improve the game greatly.

Yeah, I miss the days when pitchers were real men and took pride in finishing what they started.

Aside from ERA, I don't think we'll ever see another major pitching record be challenged because they baby the hell out of pitchers today.

Pitchers used to be able to pitch 300 innings and arm injuries weren't widespread. Even hard throwers like Bob Gibson used to pitch a ton of innings. Now these guys are being pulled out of games in the middle of 1 hitters and no hitters just because they've reached 100 pitches.

 

[1bigfan13]

I'm torn on the shift. Part of me thinks it should be allowed and hitters just need to adjust, and the other side does believe it would improve the game to a degree if it was eliminated.

I used to think that way as well. But it's been over a decade and clearly the hitters are either unwilling or unable to adjust. So for the betterment of the game, MLB needs to step in and fix the issue for them.

 

[bbgun]

Yeah, I miss the days when pitchers were real men and took pride in finishing what they started.

Aside from ERA, I don't think we'll ever see another major pitching record be challenged because they baby the hell out of pitchers today.

Pitchers used to be able to pitch 300 innings and arm injuries weren't widespread. Even hard throwers like Bob Gibson used to pitch a ton of innings. Now these guys are being pulled out of games in the middle of 1 hitters and no hitters just because they've reached 100 pitches.

No more 300 game winners from here on out. Strikeout and ERA records are all they have left. Seems counterintuitive that today's pitchers, who are coddled like crazy, get hurt way more than the old-timers who threw tons of innings.

 

[Cotton]

I used to think that way as well. But it's been over a decade and clearly the hitters are either unwilling or unable to adjust. So for the betterment of the game, MLB needs to step in and fix the issue for them.

If I just had to choose I would make hitters adjust. We haven't messed with defensive positioning regulations since the game was invented. Hitters finally adjusted to the curveball and people back in the 20s wanted it eliminated.

 

[bbgun]

 

[Genghis Khan]

I had to look it up because it seemed like a joke. No way he was 47 in this picture.

Sure enough, this appears to be his 1966 card. He was born in 1918. He was likely 47 when this was taken.

This is what smoking, drinking, and being in the sun all day every day does to you.

 

[NoDak]

This is what smoking, drinking, and being in the sun all day every day does to you.

I spent the first 45 years of my life drinking, smoking, and working all day in the sun. And I don’t look half as old as that dude. There has to be something more.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Lot of people on Twitter saying he fought in Iwo Jima... Maybe that's it.

 

[Genghis Khan]

I spent the first 45 years of my life drinking, smoking, and working all day in the sun. And I don’t look half as old as that dude. There has to be something more.

I'm sure genetics play a large role as well. You have those viking genes and they partied hard.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Lot of people on Twitter saying he fought in Iwo Jima... Maybe that's it.

Maybe. No doubt people who lived through those decades between the 30s and 60s saw some shit.

I definitely think people who lived back then aged faster than people today. A lot of people say nutrition but I look at how many obese people are around today and I have my doubts. People seem to eat worse nowadays.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Maybe. No doubt people who lived through those decades between the 30s and 60s saw some shit.

I definitely think people who lived back then aged faster than people today. A lot of people say nutrition but I look at how many obese people are around today and I have my doubts. People seem to eat worse nowadays.

Like people in that string were saying, like a lot of people from back then, he probably grew up on a farm or something and was in the sun for 15 hours a day in the summer... and started smoking when he was like 11.

 

[bbgun]

Great Depression, WW II, sun, drinking, smoking, etc. Yep, it adds up.

 

[boozeman]

 

[Genghis Khan]

MLB uniforms were just better back then.

Even the nicknames were better. "Scrap Iron".

 

[bbgun]

Gallo wasn't born yet. That alone makes it better.

 

[Cotton]