Wow, can you feel the love?
As a 28 year old who sits squarely in the middle on this argument, let me say that the "old timers" in this thread have shown a remarkable tendency to sound like the old man character Dana Carvey used to do on SNL.
"Baseball in my day? It was Willie Mays, running buck naked through the outfield of Polo Grounds, catching the ball in his teeth. And he liked it! Fiddle-dee-foo!"
Gimme a break. For every wonderful fact about baseball in the 50's, there's an equally wonderful fact to be made about baseball in the 70's, 80's, 90's, and today. Baseball is neither better or worse than it was 50 years ago.
It's simply different.
You have Hank Aaron.
We have Barry Bonds.
You have Willie Mays.
We have Ichiro.
You have Don Larsen.
We have Jason Jennings.
etc.
etc.
One more thing. To imply that baseball players shouldn't be afforded the right to play for whomever they want is ridiculous. Baseball stopped being played for love of the game when the Cincinnati Red Stockings players cashed their first paycheck. It's a business. That's all. It's a business we love watching, but it is a business. If people would pay money to watch us scratch our butts behind our desks every day, then we too could be paid like Alex Rodriguez. And wouldn't you complain if you didn't have the right to scratch your butt for more money with another company?
Okay, rant over. I'll save the DH and interleague debates for another day.