Category: Uncategorized

So Bud Selig wants to discuss some radical new realignment ideas.  I’m ok with that – in fact I think it’s about time that baseball did something serious, rather than the half-way attempts of the past.  The days of the AL and NL being really different (other than DH – a discussion for another time) are long gone.  So if they are going to do it, they should do something truly radical.

Shannon offered up his suggestion the other day – here’s mine.

Baseball should adopt the English Premier League rule that the worst teams are demoted and the best teams from the lower league are promoted. Under the current system though, that is not possible since AAA teams are not independent of the majors. What needs to happen is a radical realignment. This is my proposal (see below for more)

MAJOR LEAGUE (Premier equiv)

Eastern League

Ruth Division	Robinson Division
Boston Red Sox	Atlanta Braves
Cleveland Indians	Cincinnati Reds
Detroit Tigers	Florida Marlins
New York Yankees	Milwaukee Brewers
Tampa Bay Rays	New York Mets
Toronto Blue Jays	Philadelphia Phillies

Western League

Aaron Division	Clemente Division
Anaheim Angels	Chicago Cubs
Arizona Diamonbacks	Colorado Rockies
Chicago White Sox	Houston Astros
Minnesota Twins	Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland Athletics	San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners	St. Louis Cardinals

FEDERAL LEAGUE (Lower League)

Paige Division	Williams Division
Baltimore Orioles	Kansas City Royals
Buffalo Bisons	Las Vegas Gamblers
Indianapolis Hoosiers	Portland (OR) Beavers
Nashville Sounds	San Antonio Missions
Pittsburgh Pirates	San Diego Padres
Washington Nationals	Texas Rangers

So 24 teams in the Premier League and 12 in the Lower League. The top 2 teams in the Paige Division over the course of say 4 years will replace the worst 2 teams over 4 years in the Eastern League (1 from each division). And the same for the Williams Division and Western League.

In the Major League, each team plays 152 games – 80 games within their division (16 games against each team), 54 games against teams in the other division within their league (9 games against each team), and 18 out of league games (3 games against each team in one of the other league’s divisions – alternating each year).

Playoffs – Division winners and then top 2 teams in each league get wild card slots. The 2 league Wild Cards play a 1 game playoff the day after the season ends to see who advances. The WC winner then plays the Division winner that had the poorer record in a 5 game series – the team with the best record gets a bye into the Championship Series.

The Federal League will have a 144 game schedule – 90 games in division and 54 out of division

Baseball would increase interest with more playoff races and teams.  And every 4th year, in addition to the regular playoff races, there would be the added Premier race – which teams will be demoted and which will be promoted.

Thoughts?

I laugh at this story.

Yesterday it was pouring rain in Florida but the Twins were annoying and waited to rain the game out.  So the Mets traveled 2+ hours to get to the stadium, and then the game was called.

Now they know what it’s like to be a fan of a major league team.

The Mets do this sort of fan-torture several times every summer.

Take today in NYC as an example.  If there were a 1:10 game scheduled, and it’s about 9am as I write this – I’d be wondering if I should make the long hike out to Flushing.    Do I “eat” my tickets?  Do I potentially waste time?  Why not just tell everyone at 10am so we can all get on with our lives?

Typically the Mets would announce that they were trying to get the game in, so I’d drive and pay tolls and waste time.  Maybe even buy two hot dogs while waiting in the dry stands.  At best it would be a crappy day to sit in the ballpark, and worst it’s a waste of time and money.

I regularly call for MLB to treat fans with respect and to call games earlier.  Even if you could squeeze in a game today, who wants to sit there?

Do I feel bad that the Mets wasted several hours commuting?  Not at all.  Remember that mid-summer when it rains all day and they wait until 7:42 to decide to call the game.

I wonder if they paid $19 to park?

Or I suppose the better question is, what made you a Mets fan?

I was thinking about this recently, trying to quantify exactly what were the root causes that made me want to wear blue and orange.

In most areas of the country this is an easy question.  You grow up in Boston, you are a Red Sox fan, no question. Same with Philly, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Louis, etc.  Sure, you could point to Chicago, and to a lesser extent LA, but neither of those cities has the unique situation we have.  On one side of town is the most successful franchise in all of sports; on the other are the Mets.  Really, the odds are stacked against you.

So, what confluence of factors led me here today?  It comes down to 3:

1. Timing:  I was 2 1/2 when the Mets won the World Series in 1969 and 6 1/2 when they went back in 1973.  Now of course I don’t remember the 69 series.  However, the Mets were the hot team and so when relatives would buy me baseball things, they would be Mets related.  I have pictures of me at 2 wearing a blue Mets helmet.  By the time 73 rolled around, while I don’t remember the series per se, I do remember cheering on the Mets and I remember the excitement of going to see Willie Mays and Ya Gotta Believe.  The point is these were very formative years and I naturally gravitated towards the tam that was winning.
2. Geography: I was born in Brooklyn – Flatbush to be exact -  in 1967,  just 12 years after the last Dodger season.  The memories of the Dodgers were still very fresh in the minds of just about every adult in my neighborhood.  That in and of itself would have been enough to influence my fandom.  Link that though with the period.  The Mets played in Queens, the next borough over and an easy ride on the special Shea Stadium bus that left from “the junction” (the intersection of Flatbush and Nostrand Aves).  meanwhile the Yankees played in the Bronx – a long subway ride through Manhattan and into the bowels of a crumbling neighborhood and city.  The subways in the 70’s were your worst nightmare.  Given the choice between taking a clean bus to a stadium nearby vs. taking the dirty, graffiti covered, crime ridden subway to an old and decaying stadium further away, my parents made the easy choice.  So we went to Mets games.  As it was I didn’t set foot in Yankee Stadium til 1984.
3. Family:  Obviously your family history and the influence of your parents will have some influence on who you root for – but the reasons behind that influence may be different.  For me, I got the Mets bug from both parents but for very different reasons.  My Dad gre up in Brooklyn a die hard Dodger fan, and growing up we heard all the stories of Ebbets Field, the Knothole Gang, you name it.  However, unlike many Dodger fans, my Dad did not transfer his allegiance to the Mets.  He never rooted for them.  But as children he didn’t dissuade us from that path, or in his words “I don’t care who you root for, as long as you don’t root for the Yankees.” Well, that left us with ether the Mets or rooting for an out of town team – which in the days before cable and the internet was just not going to happen. (Inexplicably later in life my Dad started rooting for the Yankees).  My mother on the other hand was a Mets fan.  She was raised in Ireland and knew nothing about baseball – but in 1966 when her boss at a Wall St. investment firm started giving her tickets to the Mets, who was she to turn them down.  Turns out the seats were next to the Payson family.  Even though she may not have understood the game, she understood good manners and started rooting for the mets.  She eventually came to love the team as longtime MetsPolice readers know.  So my Dad steered us clear of the Yankees, and my Mom steered us towards the mets.

So there you have it – timing, geography, and family.  If any of these had been different (say my formative years were in the mid-70’s for example), I might be writing for the Yankees police right now instead of here.

What made you a Mets fan?  Any of these reasons?  Something else?