Here's Some Proof

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about how the new Yankee Stadium would not have the same appeal to baseball fans, because it lacks the history that the old Yankee Stadium had. I was looking at some videos online today and found this one. Despite the fact that I am not a Yankee's fan, some of these clips brought a tear to my eye.

I could not embed the video on this site so here is the link to NY Yankees Greatest Moments.

One Grand Year

I was doing my daily check of my favorite websites today and came across this article. It is the type of information that I would write about, but it looks like MLB.com beat me to it. It is a good article and has some good historic information in it.

One Thing That Bugs Me

If there is one thing that bugs me about Major League Baseball, it is the All-Star Game. The fact that there is an All-Star Game is not what bugs me, but rather when voting starts for players to go the All-Star Game. I don't personally have a problem with fans voting for players they want to see in the game, but I do not like that fan voting begins about the third week of baseball season.

Is three weeks enough to determine if a player is deserving of an All-Star vote. I don't think so. I realize that voting is open until the end of June, but do we really need over two months of voting to figure out who the best players are.

I think a solution to this would be to have a week of voting towards the end of June. If Major League Baseball would do this, I believe that interest in voting and the All-Star Game would increase. Going with this method has several advantages to it.

First, it gives more time to see which players are deserving of an All-Star vote. The currents system makes the All-Star Game more of a long-term popularity contest. If the voting time was shortened and moved to a later time in the season, it would likely make voting much closer and realistic as to who gets to start in the game.

Secondly I think this approach would increase interest in the game itself. Currently the reason why the All-Star game is a "must-watch" is because home-field advantage in the World Series is determined by the winner (For the record, I do not like home-field advantage to be determined by an exhibition game. It should go to the team with the better record.). If the voting was condensed into a shorter amount of time, I think that people would be more interested in who is going to be playing and therefore more interested in watching the game.

I don't think that Major League Baseball will ever change to this type of system, because they really have no reason to change it. Regardless of how voting is done, there will still be plenty of good players in the game that make the game well worth watching, which I will still do.

New Yankee Stadium

Today was the Yankees home opener at their bran new field, Yankee Stadium. While it is the same name and from the pictures that I have seen looks very similar to the old Yankee Stadium, it is still in fact a new ballpark.

When I first heard of the Yankees building a new stadium, I was upset. In my opinion there were three baseball stadiums that should never be replaced - Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Yankee Stadium. All three of these ballparks are very historic and nee to have baseball played in them no matter how old they may be. The Cubs and the Red Sox have done the right thing with there stadiums, which is trying to keep the ballparks in running order and expanding seating capacity.

The Yankees, however, did what they should not have done, build a new stadium. Sure it is high-tech and top of the line, but there is no history in the stadium. What made the old Yankee Stadium special was knowing what happened there and who played there. Future generations can no longer say, I was in the stadium where Babe Ruth set records, or where Aaron Boone hit a walk-off home run in Game 7 of the League Championship Series, or where the Red Sox came from behind in a 7 game series to beat the Yankees before winning the World Series.

Might there be some great historic moments at the new stadium? Maybe, but I am upset as a basaball fan that I will never set foot in the "House that Ruth Built." So on this day that the Yankees open a new park, a good portion of me is happy that they are getting blown out.

Career Cut Short

Just hours after his fourth Major League Start Angels' pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a car accident.

I find this the most difficult post I have ever done. Although I had never heard of him until I saw the story posted on ESPN, stories like this still hit close to home. About a year and a half ago I had an uncle die in a motorcycle accident, and any time I hear of anything similar I am reminded of the feelings that I felt on that day.

Stories like this remind us that baseball players are normal people like you and I. We as fans tend to elevate them to "Superman" status and think that nothing bad can happen to them only to be hit with reality that they face the same dangers that we do.

Nick's father had flown from Baltimore to watch his son pitch last night. His performance was stellar, throwing for six scoreless innings in his fourth and final start of his career.

Let us all remember to be praying for Nick's family, friends, and teammates as they mourn the loss of a friend.

IT’S ALMOST HERE!!!

After a long off-season, it is nearly the first day of baseball season. This is the best time of year for any baseball fan. On opening day every fan can still be optimistic about his teams chances. Other than the All-Star Game and World Series, opening day is probably the most hyped event in baseball all year.

Throughout the years there have been interesting events that have happened on opening day and I would like to share some of them with you here.

1. The only no-hitter in opening day history was thrown by Bob Feller in 1940.

2. In 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 714th career home run which tied him with Babe Ruth.

3. Greg Maddux is 6-0 in seven career opening day starts.

4. Frank Robinson and Ken Griffey, Jr. each have hit eight career opening day home runs

5. The longest opening day game in history was a 15 inning game between the Tigers and Indians in 1960.

6. Several times games have been delayed or cancelled due to snow on opening day. One of the most famous happened occurrences of this was in 1907.

What to Do When You Can't Watch the Game