[mayday10]

I would go to Batavia games which has been a staple of the town for almost 100 years. The NY Penn League used to be great when it had small towns all through NY. It really looked like the players wanted to win, fans would travel, etc. More recently, they found it more lucrative to put teams in places like Brooklyn, Staten Island, etc.... zzzzzzz.... Batavia and a couple others hung on. Maybe these independent leagues will be great? I doubt it. I think a degree of MLB involvement, identity, and $ is imperative. Collegiate summer leagues feel like vanity leagues for most players.

I grew up going to Buffalo Bisons games in the 80s and early 90s. There used to be competition. I remember bench clearing brawls, pennant races, veteran minor leaguers who you knew by name, ex-MLB players who would pop up finishing their run. It was fun, and people cared about the result of the game. I saw Rochester win the Governor's Cup in 1988 and it felt like a World Series there. Players celebrating, then coming back out, spraying the raucous crowd with champaigne (I think Steve Finley and Curt Schilling were on that team). Horns and flags leaving the ballpark.

From 2000ish on, it all seems to be gone. Games just feel like exhibitions.

I get it. But overall, the sterilization and ruination of the sport in small-town/mid city america is going to erode the overall popularity of the sport in 20-30-40-50 years. Also add in that small and mid MLB teams cannot even hold onto their most popular players for a majority of their careers... its terrible overall.

Then smashing things that make baseball unique with 80-150 year legacy is tough.


I dont know. Im hoping for major apocalyptic labor war coming up. I feel like drastic changes are needed (and not this minor league shakeup). My fantasy is a full promotion/relegation system with numerous tiers (unrealistic I know, but imagine how cool that would be for people coast to coast?).