Quote:
Originally Posted by Hrycaj
I'm not sure it is possible to speed up the game. All the things they try are band aids. I have taken the time to watch old ball games on YouTube. It is just a different game. Guys worked the count a whole lot less, pitchers didn't take as long to deliver the pitch, and it seems guys put the ball in play more. (But that may not be true, haven't analyzed the numbers, it just seems that way) For better or worse the game has naturally evolved.
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I enjoy watching the old ball games, too, especially from the 1980s. I think one key element of the game that is missing today is speed. Not just the speed of the games, but speed in general. Back in the 1980s when you had teams like the Cardinals, Reds, Expos, and Royals stealing hundreds of bases as a team, the game moved faster. It wasn't just watching guys trying to hit balls out of the park and striking out 200 times a year. The cookie-cutter, Astroturf parks might have been ugly compared to the retro parks with grass, but the game was much more fun to watch then IMHO.
I still think speed is a great weapon to have for your offense and you can still have speed without sacrificing power. Look at the 1989-1990 Oakland Athletics. They had lots of power, but they also had Rickey Henderson leading off and he could steal between 50-100 bases a season. You could go further into the late 1990's with the New York Yankees of 1998. Not one player on that team hit 30 or more home runs yet they had a great combination of speed and power, not to mention, patience.
I know it'll never happen, but I'd like to see the Kansas City Royals bring back AstroTurf to their ballpark and build that team on speed like they did during the late 1970s/early 1980s. Have a bunch of rabbits in the lineup who could steal 50 bases a season and a couple of bashers in the middle of the order. Other teams like Tampa Bay and Toronto could apply the same strategy, but I really like the Kansas City idea.