Who is the greatest team???

[Kirkendall]

Best baseball team ever?

First, I hope nobody says any team from the 50s or before, because none of those great teams would fare well in the least in the modern game.

I'll give the title to any of these three (that come to mind immediately)... '75/'76 Reds, '98 Yankees, '70 Orioles.

This conversation comes up every so often .... not only in baseball, but all sports. Ali couldn't have beaten Joe Louis etc etc etc ad nauseum.

Rather than debate the point, try looking at a few alternatives. ( for baseball only of course )

Take away the DH. Put 3 inches back on the pitching mound .... and make the pitchers pitch 9 innings ... yep No relievers or closers. Make the distance to the wall in all ballparks that which is called for in the rules books. ( No 3' walls either ). Get rid of those " golf ball " baseballs that go an extra 50 or 60 feet. Go back to " standard ' lenght and weight for bats too. Shorten the season and post season to original. No wildcards. Make all the teams take trains for their out of towners. and last but not least get all the players off steroids.

Don't forget there were a lot more scheduled double-headers, mostly day games, no workout facilities, fewer trainining options, surgery? Forget about it...

The only thing that's the same in baseball from "when it was a game" is the color of the baseball and bubble gum.

[redsfan2]

Best baseball team ever?

First, I hope nobody says any team from the 50s or before, because none of those great teams would fare well in the least in the modern game.

I'll give the title to any of these three (that come to mind immediately)... '75/'76 Reds, '98 Yankees, '70 Orioles.

This conversation comes up every so often .... not only in baseball, but all sports. Ali couldn't have beaten Joe Louis etc etc etc ad nauseum.

Rather than debate the point, try looking at a few alternatives. ( for baseball only of course )

Take away the DH. Put 3 inches back on the pitching mound .... and make the pitchers pitch 9 innings ... yep No relievers or closers. Make the distance to the wall in all ballparks that which is called for in the rules books. ( No 3' walls either ). Get rid of those " golf ball " baseballs that go an extra 50 or 60 feet. Go back to " standard ' lenght and weight for bats too. Shorten the season and post season to original. No wildcards. Make all the teams take trains for their out of towners. and last but not least get all the players off steroids.

Don't forget there were a lot more scheduled double-headers, mostly day games, no workout facilities, fewer trainining options, surgery? Forget about it...

The only thing that's the same in baseball from "when it was a game" is the color of the baseball and bubble gum.

Actually, I'm all for most of the improvements to the game.

Double headers aren't nearly as important as they used to be thanks to the nights games ........ the first of which was in Cincinnati by the way. The training regimens and the medical advances have lengthened and in some cases saved careers.

Things that aren't improvements .......... the DH. I know ... there's more than one opinion on this, but taking the pitcher out of the lineup dillutes the game. It doesn't add to it. Second would be ignoring the rules set down for required distances ...... measurements. Walls too close ....pitchers mound too low. All of these were done to enhance scoring because people supposedly didn't like low scoring games.

Worst " advancement " ever ..... steroids.

I like the return to traditional style baseball parks. I also like the crack down on steroids. One by one, I think / hope that this is a return to the way the game was supposed to be. Hopefully some of the things ..... like astro - turf will be distant, unpleasent memories. Others I think .... the DH to name one ..... like herpes will be with us forever.

[bengalboomer7]

You could argue it the other way too.

No black players in those old era's

Try flying across the country twice in two days and play off jet lag.

[redsfan2]

You could argue it the other way too.

No black players in those old era's

Try flying across the country twice in two days and play off jet lag.

Excellent point about the jet lag. The counter to my comment about the trains that I was expecting .. but didn't see was distance involved. During the train days baseballs domain was the east coast and midwest. St. Louis and KC were about the farthest west of the pro teams.

Black players ( for the most part *) not being included in the majors while a travesty, did spawn the Negro Leagues ... which if you read the history of them will give you a whole new perspective on the game. Hitting averages .... home run records ...... pitching ....... the list just goes on.

* The for the most part comment refers to that fact that there were black guys who played at the major league level years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. They were listed as " Cuban " .. or Hispanic, but they were in fact African American.

Also " lost " for the most part is the fact that Frank Grant ( a black man ) played for the Buffalo Bisons in the Intrnational League in 1887. Amazing what you find when you go digging into the history of the game.

Just for kicks .... look up the answer to the trivia question .. Name the oldest " rookie " to start a major league game.

[BengalszoneBilly]

The only thing that's the same in baseball from "when it was a game" is the color of the baseball and bubble gum.

NOT TRUE! I've seen no change from the games early days to it's modern incarnation now, in terms of the players overall levels of spitting and inappropriate scratching of genitals while at the plate. Oh, and the umps are still equally as blind too.