Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Lessons from Wiffle Ball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esw4fhoBySs

Check out the strike zone. No stealing. No catcher. No plate ump. Cool.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Make all infields the same: entirely dirt.

That eliminates one of the differences among ball parks.

Friday, July 16, 2010

George Steinbrenner did NOT ruin MLB competitive balance!

My research on this was finished June 2, 2010:

Team Competitive Analysis Based on Runs: 1903 - 2009

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcqxf6mr_99cbft6bgk

It contains supporting data and graphs.

For those of you not inclined to read such a document, here is the final conclusion:

"In EVERY case, the records are closer in the last ten seasons than in the five most disparate seasons."

So why do baseball people like Bob Costas continue to repeat incorrect and unsupportable positions? I guess it's a baseball heritage: never let facts interfere with bias, superstition, legend and general purpose stupidity.

George Steinbrenner died three days ago, the morning of the MLB All Star game. All day there was commentary about George Steinbrenner, much of it lame attempts to not state criticisms that some had long repeated. They wanted to find something nice to say about George Steinbrenner, usually retreating to some sappy story of George's philanthropy.

George was called a patriot, leader, innovator, blah, blah, blah. What a bunch of junk. However, the one thing that they could not resist dredging up was the incorrect idea that Steinbrenner had ruined MLB competitive balance. He did not.

Steinbrenner was a buffoon. His only positive attribute was that he would spend, almost unconditionally, to improve the team. The other owners would not. Steinbrenner spent more and for a longer time than any owner. That is why Steinbrenner is the best owner of all time: MLB, NFL, NBA.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

MLB finals home field advantage

That feeble minded commissioner Bud Selig must change MLB finals to give home field advantage to the team with the better regular season record, like a modern professional league would do it.

Having the result of the all star game determine MLB finals home field advantage is a stupid travesty.