So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Touchofevil]

I gotta wonder if all the sound and visual effects at MLB parks are in part a response to a changing audience -- one that on balance doesn't understand the game as well as the fans of previous generations understood it. So the breaks in the on-field action get filled with all these spectacles, so that the attendees don't get bored and not come back.

I am old enough to remember when baseball truly was the national pastime. Every household had bats and balls and gloves and every kid played the game, one way or another, or so it seemed. I can't recall when I last saw a kid walking down the road with a bat resting on his shoulder, his glove hanging over the knob.

Most of the kids I know (high school teacher) played baseball (male and female, but moreso male) as young'uns, but left it once they reached high school. Organized baseball has become expensive with all of the traveling and many cannot afford it. Sadly, many do not watch it as it is too slow paced for them. MLB and its players do not appeal to this generation like the NFL and NBA leagues and players do. Too many of this generation sadly enjoy the messages from these sports.

 

[2jakes]

I can't recall when I last saw a kid walking down the road with a bat resting on his shoulder, his glove hanging over the knob.

That’s because the kids are no longer in the sand lots anymore.

Today the kids can be found in city baseball fields, all decked out in complete uniform with coach, mom & dad
telling them how much fun they are having.

 

[Touchofevil]

I have always attempted to get the best seats possible within my budget and that is a nice penny as I (sadly) do not attend that often. I cannot understand why someone would get so blitzed they will not remember/see the the game. The same applies to concerts although I tend to go these much moreso as they are much cheaper and closer.

 

[Touchofevil]

That’s because the kids are no longer in the vacant lots anymore.

Today the kids can be found in city baseball fields, all decked out in complete uniform with coach, mom & dad
telling them how much fun they are having.

In my day, parents were much quieter on the sidelines and more supportive of us having fun.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^
In my day, a stick & whatever resembled something close to a baseball & the
empty back lots was home to my baseball playing.
No adults, period.
That was the best part.

 

[Touchofevil]

^^^^^
In my day, a stick & whatever resembled something close to a baseball & the
empty back lots was home to my baseball playing.
No adults, period.
That was the best part.

We played both, for ourselves as well as little league for our parents (to keep us busy?).

 

[2jakes]

We played both, for ourselves as well as little league for our parents (to keep us busy?).

Playing for parents????
That ranks up there with having to do a recital or some lame thing in front of adults wearing your Sunday’s best. Yuck !
No good, No good, No good.

 

[Touchofevil]

Playing for parents????
That ranks up there with having to do a recital or some lame thing in front of adults wearing your Sunday’s best.

Did that as well. It was kinda fun. I don't know if the parents realized it, but we were all having fun playing. Good times and memories. They knew what was best for us because they were actual parents.

 

[2jakes]

 

[MisterCairo]

The Jays just lost 2-1 to Cleveland on Canada Day.

In the 19th inning.

An infielder was pitching for the Jays.

 

[Touchofevil]

The Jays just lost 2-1 to Cleveland on Canada Day.

In the 19th inning.

An infielder was pitching for the Jays.

The Jays were a lot of fun back in the days with Barfield, Bell, and Moseby. The rest of the team was pretty good as well.

Sorry about the loss, Cleveland is on a really hot streak.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most of the kids I know (high school teacher) played baseball (male and female, but moreso male) as young'uns, but left it once they reached high school. Organized baseball has become expensive with all of the traveling and many cannot afford it. Sadly, many do not watch it as it is too slow paced for them. MLB and its players do not appeal to this generation like the NFL and NBA leagues and players do. Too many of this generation sadly enjoy the messages from these sports.

We played in the street, but there weren't enough kids to play proper baseball, so we improvised. We couldn't use a hard ball because the houses were too close together, so we used a large rubber playground ball like you'd use for kickball, but we threw it and hit it with a bat. The noise the ball made when it hit the ball gave the game its name -- "Ding Bat."

As few as two kids could play Ding Bat, using "invisible man" rules for base runners. We'd lay the field out in the street using whatever junk we could find for bases -- a pizza box for home plate, a crushed beer can for first base, a hubcap for second base, and a wet newspaper for third base, whatever trash we could find in the ditch. You'd get a hit, run to first, and if the pitcher didn't hit you with the thrown ball to put you out, you'd call "invisible man on first," and go back to bat. Invisible men could advance only as many bases as you were able to gain on a hit - a single one base, a double two-base, etc. We had no catcher or umpire, so there were no called strikes and if the batter swung and missed they were responsible for running down the ball. Four fouls, either hit or ticked, were an out. If you hit a house or a parked car, that also was an out. Ding Bat produced ground-ball place hitters who never ever pulled the ball. Because of these specialized skills, no Ding Bat player I ever knew ever succeeded in any way at conventional baseball or softball.

 

[BobHufford]

Our street game was similar, but with a giant (16" circumference) softball my Dad had. I don't know how many cars were dented, but since we were a half-block from the local university they almost all belonged to college students (as the neighbors parked in the driveways with the garages at the back of the lots). We sometimes had a catcher, but often not and if a ball got past us we had to try and run it down before it went into the storm sewer at the end of the "T" intersection. I could squeeze in there, but preferred to send my younger sister down for the ball. I only got away with that for so long.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sometimes, if we had enough kids around we'd go up to the gas station lot at the end of the street and play the closest we got to "real baseball." We'd usually use a pinky for the ball, which was pretty harmless when it hit something unless it hit a window, but once somebody got hold of a super ball, and we tried that. Somebody ended up hitting it thru -- not off, but thru -- a garage roof on the other side of the street behind the edge of the lot. And that was the end of that.

 

[tonyb]

I'm certain they're pandering to the Sensory Overload generation, i.e. those people who can't simply sit for five seconds without having some form of nonsense to entertain them.

Yeah, that seems likely. I took in a couple of games at the Denver NL team's home grounds (Taxpayer Park) last season and was a bit taken aback by all the distractions. The hoopla didn't seem quite so in-one's-face back in Seattle, although it was impossible to ignore there as well.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Last thought: teams (in general, but not always) pander to their fans, hence, if there was enough pushback, I'd bet it would stop. And, to that point, it seems even within one city - NYC - different teams handle it differently. To me, that sounds very American, let the people decide or at least impact the decision and let different regions follow the prevailing sentiment for their region. My guess is Texas and Massachusetts will arrive at a different outcome.

Don't know about the Rangers, but the Astros don't play God Bless America except on special occasions. It cuts into the playing of Deep In The Heart of Texas.

I don't mind the playing of God Bless America, but I don't like the insistence that I should honor it, as if it were our national anthem. I don't stand and salute show tunes, no matter how much they may stir ones emotions.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I played both organized Little League and "sandlot" all the time. Though we didn't have a vacant lot, we played in a cow pasture. I don't understand why people put down organized leagues with teams and uniforms as somehow being less pure. Those times brought endless amounts of fun and joy of the game, as much as playing with a handful of friends in the pasture. I'll never forget getting my first real uniform, complete with stirrups, when I was 9 years old. It's one of my most cherished childhood memories.

What bugs me about organized leagues today is the parents' sense of self importance and lack of self awareness. They all think their kid will be their retirement plan, and while thinking your kid is better than he really is is not a new phenomenon, it seems worse today. I hear parents all the time talk about how great little Johnny's "select" (or whatever they're calling it to sound superior) team is and how they're all gonna be in the Major Leagues some day. Fact is, little Johnny and his buddies just ain't that good. Maybe three or four of the kids from those three or four teams is good enough to play in high school. Every couple of years, you'll have one who's good enough to play in college, and once in your lifetime you'll have one good enough to play in the Big Leagues. If you're lucky. I coached kids a few years, and I always told parents that I had two goals for the kids: have fun and improve basic skills. If your kid is better at the end of the season than when it started, the season was a success. I only had one or two who were really difficult.

 

[HudsonHawk]

One solution is minor league games. The play isn't as good, obviously, but the young guys really seem to love the game for the sake of the game itself. They all want that shot at the majors, most will never see it, and yet there is that burning desire to play their hearts out. And for the fans: a lot less expensive, with fan friendly players. They're still the good guys that you want to see succeed.

The minor leagues is very cut-throat business for players. Yeah, they're your teammates, but they're also your competition and what's standing in the way of your dreams, not mention generational wealth. Players care WAY more about individual performance than the team, and often actively sabotage teammates to make themselves look better. One of the funniest is pitchers who "chart" other pitchers. It's the job of Pitcher A to write down the pitch, velocity and ball/strike of his teammate Pitcher B. So Pitcher B throws a fastball clocked at 93 mph, and Pitcher A will write down "fastball: 89 mph". Or if Pitcher B is known for having a great slider, and throws a fastball that's called a ball, Pitcher A will write down "slider: ball" to make it look like he can't command his best pitch.

 

[GHT]

Mine for the day--I have this: https://res.cloudinary.com/keep/ima...l-images/fae101b90c88f263c5d731629c72d619.jpg Yes, that exact one, with all those bright colors. I can't tell you how many people walking behind me pass me and almost trip over it. In fact, as I was coming around a corner once someone did trip over it and me. People need to pay attention when walking in a public place with lots of people.

Wow, no wonder the shirt I once had, similar in colour(s) was so often referred to as my Joseph shirt.

 

[Trenchfriend]

The smell of onions, days after consumption.
I can smell it, like usual, still in or from my nose and maybe a little from my body. Evil stuff.

It's good, that I normally make fried potatoes without onions. Yesterday, I had leftover onions to consume.