[VT Os fan]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by CBL-Commish:
<strong>I'm pretty sure I could find some guys from the Negro Leagues, or the 1930s, or if they weren't dead, the 1880s, 90s, 1910s, etc. who think that baseball was ruined at some other point in time than the 1960s and 70s. Lots of people think all the strategy and beauty went out of baseball when Ruth started hitting home runs. Ty Cobb was often quoted as saying that modern baseball with the "jackrabbit ball" was far inferior to the game of the 1910s. People have complained about greed and money and big business destroying baseball since at least the 1860s.

You guys touting the 1950s as the apex of baseball can't contradict any of this, either, since you weren't alive 80 or 100 or 125 years ago. You don't know. You can't know. If you say anything differently, you're wrong, and that's by using your own logic.
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Hello! And the other point to make is that "better" has no objective definition. Pre-1970s baseball wasn't necessarily better, just different, emphasizing different aspects of the game. Just like the dead-ball era of baseball was different and emphasized different aspects of the game.

DH is fine. Especially as it stands now with one league using it and the other staying "traditional". Someone else noted that the DH doesn't eliminate managerial strategy, just changes it. Something yet to be noted is that adding a better hitter places a premium on pitching, thus making those pitching change decisions all the more important.

Wild card is good in that it almost guarantees some sort of race through the end of the season. Can the 50+ crowd honestly say that September baseball was exciting when the World Series teams were all but decided at the start of the month?

Interleague play not only gives cross-town and intrastate rivalries, but it also adds interest to the post season. I look forward to the Yankess-Braves series as a preview to what might happen in October. And if the teams do meet in October, the fact that we got a mid-summer preview doesn't mean we already know the outcome, but rather gives a point of comparison.

Free agency has improved conditions for everyone in baseball except the fans. Players should be able to paid what they are worth. Teams are worth more than ever to the owners who pay the outrageous salaries. But it's very hard for a family of modest means to see their favorite team at the park. But this is true of every major sport these days, and most entertainment. (How much does it cost a family of 4 to go to the movies?)

Things that are genuinely "bad" do eventually go away. Artificial turf and generic stadium parks are all but gone. It appears enough momentum is building to install a salery cap or other device to reduce the A-Rod salaries and Marlin bought championchips. If the DH, interleague play, or wild card system is really bad, they will eventually disapear as well.

Is chocolate better than strawberry or vanilla? It's all a matter of taste.