Of the three American team sports, baseball is the oldest followed by football then basketball. Baseball has many rules that are dumb:
Pitcher:
Currently, pitchers have every advantage. Smaller Strike Zone from longer distance forces the pitcher to throw it right down Broadway and forget about Bugs Bunny pitches. Strike Outs are out of control. Baseball is a game of hitting, fielding and base running. Not a guy 6'7" launching himself downhill and firing at decreasing distances 100 miles per hour FASTballs.
No mound! What the heck?
Distance is starting point, not finishing like line of scrimmage in football.
Strike Zone (SZ) is imaginary. It should be a physical target like a bull's eye (maybe 17 inches like the size of home plate) on a tripod. Batter sets it between his knees and shoulders, allowing for high or low SZ per batter but same size for all.
Strike Zone exposed as much larger by the new challenge system; it's surrounded by the diameter of the baseball; who knew? Worse, I'm the only who noticed. Still worse, when informed, others are indifferent.
Move release point to the middle of the diamond, which is where the casual fan thinks it is. Currently: 60'6" to the BACK of home plate. Distance from Home to second: about 127 feet. So, let pitcher release no closer than about 127/2=63'6", only about three feet further.
Catcher:
Should not exist; takes terrible physical abuse for no reason. Called a backstop, which is a chain link fence behind the plate on small fields. Who wants to be a fence?
Can stand behind protective screen behind the bull's eye to cover plays at the plate.
No catcher, no signs, audible or visual, to the pitcher. Speeds up the game.
No base stealing. See below.
Hitter:
Best hitters bat at most one more time in a game than their worst #9 teammate.
Best hitters get walked away too much, further reducing their impact. Solutions that can be combined:
start each inning with top of the order.
six batters who play the field and three designated fielders who do not bat.
batting team can pinch run for any batter who walks (Base on Balls: BB) or Hit By Pitch (HBP) BUT neither's eligibility is changed. BB/HBP batter gets new Plate Appearance. This eliminates walking the best hitters!
Field:
Outfield fences: same distance, same height in all directions.
Extend foul territory 45 feet from back of home plate on curved line; who cares about dribblers?
No coaches on field.
Foul fly caught is not an out.
One batter's box. Lefty batters are a step and a half closer to all the bases: ridiculous. Most throw righty and are opportunist lefty batters.
Base runners: no leads. Stay on the base until the ball is hit like slow pitch softball. Eliminates pickoff throws. Pitchers can have one motion.
Safety:
Fly caught on the warning track is in play, not an out. Forces fielders to stop running before stepping on the the warning track, you know, like receivers do in football at the sidelines.
Hit By Pitch: increase penalty (number of bases) with each occurance in a game: 1, 2, 3, score.
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Oh, there should be no extra innings in the regular season. Let games end in ties. Force teams to try to win in 9. And extra innings in the tournament should not put a runner on second base. Eliminate that atrocity.
That's enough for now. Typical seat of the pants objection: what about the records, as if they haven't been distorted over the decades.
