Manfred & More

Baseball Thoughts while wondering why Rob Manfred hates baseball so much …

Manfred will retire in January of 2029 and officially head to the golf course. If he golfs like he commissions: “Fore!”

Manfred released his latest diabolical plan to ESPN during the Little League Classic the other night and it is another step in destroying the traditions of the game that once were so sacred.

Hello Nashville.

Hello Salt Lake City.

Hello eight divisions with four teams in each division.

Goodbye American League, which has only been around since 1901. Goodbye National League, which has been around even longer since 1876. It was nice knowing you and so glad I once had the Glory Years to be a fan of baseball.

The Glory of Their Times has been replaced by Manfred’s continuing assault on the game, The Gory of Their Times.

Goodbye to the World Series as we knew it in all its glory.

Manfred does not care. He has been doing his best at destroying the differences between the leagues, and the game, and this latest trial balloon will be the final nail in the coffin for what once made baseball so special.

The man who gave baseball the permanent Fake Runner, after more than 100 years of having to earn your way on base – especially second base – is now going to give baseball Fake Divisions and Fake Leagues.

Everything Manfred touches he waters down, that is why I call him The Waterboy. Expansion is an easy money way for the owners to set expansion fees above $2 billion per team. 

Tradition is out the window once again. Everything Manfred touches he waters down, that is why I call him The Waterboy. Expansion is an easy money way for the owners to set expansion fees above $2 billion per team.

“It all continues to go downhill,’’ one lifetime baseball man told BallNine on Wednesday. It sure does.

Remember, Manfred is the commissioner who once referred to the World Series trophy as “a piece of metal.”

Manfred also gave us two MLB teams now playing in minor league ballparks. He presided over the regional broadcasts debacle. The pizza-size boxes as bases, the gift stolen bases with limited disengagements from pitchers, the pitch clock, even though there was a time when umpires, before they were neutered, had the authority to move a game along at a good pace. There are the diluted playoffs, the DH in both leagues, non-stop replays, a coming ABS system which will make baseball even more of a video game (and I’m predicting hitters will not like it), 13-man pitching staffs that still can’t make it through the week and wind up with position players lobbing the ball over the plate way too often, the death of the .300 hitter because the emphasis on contact is a no-no for the Nerds; the absolute total Nerdation of the game, which continues to wreak havoc on how baseball is played, it is home run, walk or strikeout, not much baseball anymore. And, of course, gambling – and gambling partners – are the way of the game now.

Perhaps there will be the Golden At-Bat someday too.

The Red Sox lost a game on Tuesday because the pinch runner at third elected not to run on a high fly hit to center with one out and the throw was way offline; the catcher had to go about 20 steps to his left to catch the ball near the dugout. But it wasn’t the runner or the coach’s fault. Before the game the Red Sox were under orders not to run on balls hit to center because the centerfielder has an “impact’’ arm. So instead of reading the play, they read the Nerd report and lost. The human element continues to disappear.

Baseball is different than the NFL and the NBA. It is a game built on history and tradition. It is a game that celebrates its past, a game where the ghosts never really leave the field. They are with the game every day.

Field of Dreams has been replaced by Field of Schemes under Manfred’s watch.

Noted Manfred: “If we expand it provides us with an opportunity to geographically re-align, I think you can save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel and I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN because you would be playing out of the East, out the West, and that 10 o’clock time slot where we sometimes get Boston-Anaheim, would be two West Coast teams – and that 10 o’clock slot that is a problem for us sometimes becomes a real opportunity for our West Coast audience.”

I’d rather see baseball fix teams that stink before adding two more stinky teams. October competition was at its best when two teams who each won the marathon in their respective leagues played in the World Series. I get it, times and attention spans have changed. If baseball wanted to save the wear and tear on its players, they could shorten the season – but that would mean less games to make money for the owners. If baseball truly wanted to save wear and tear on pitchers, they would have pitching coaches who teach mechanics like they once did before Tommy John surgeries became so commonplace.

Notice there was no mention of the fans by Manfred. Fans don’t matter. Also, as for wear and tear, this is not 1927 and jumping on a train. Players get to fly in the lap of luxury, much like politicians.

I love that Manfred trucked out once again the guise of saving wear and tear for the players. Isn’t that the same line used to “temporarily’’ install the Fake Runner?

The proposed realignment and changes were immediately bashed by many former MLB players and baseball traditionalists, but really words do not matter at this point. Manfred and the owners will do what they are going to do all for the big bucks.

I’m just going to grab another cup of coffee and watch the demise of Major League Baseball and think back to the glory days of 1960, 65 short years ago, when it was a true World Series between the Yankees and Pirates and how much fun it was to race home from school and watch my baseball heroes play in October, the true American League vs. the true National League.

Ratings Bonanza: The Yankees have their eyes on the prize of getting back to the World Series and considering the eroding competition in the American League, they have a great shot. The eyes of the fans also are on the Bronx Bombers, who bashed nine home runs in their Tampa playpen against the dreadful Rays on Tuesday. Consider these fascinating numbers from YES.

• Nielsen total viewership for Yankees games on the YES Network is up 5% year-over-year (291,628 vs. 277,299).
• Nielsen total viewership of YES’ Yankees games is 12% greater than that of SNY’s Mets game telecasts (291,628 vs. 259,392).
• This season, 49% of the games on YES have averaged more than 300,000 Total Viewers, up from 33% of YES’ Yankees games reaching that benchmark season-to-date last year.
• Nielsen viewership of Yankees games on YES in The Gotham Sports App is up 84% year-over-year.

Yikes! The Marlins official attendance was 7,612 in their 7-4 loss to the Cardinals Tuesday night at loanDepot Park. Things are not so hot in St. Louis either, it was shocking to see the number of empty seats at Busch Stadium even with the Yankees in town over the weekend.

Nerds, Explain: The Brewers, who actually play baseball, trail only the Dodgers in runs scored, yet the Brewers are dead last in barrel rate. I know your answer: It’s all luck. It couldn’t be playing baseball and putting the ball in play and running the bases well.

By the way, Brewers manager Pat Murphy says this about home runs. “Home runs are thrown, not hit.’’ Location, location, location. Check out the Yankees’ back-to-back-to-back home runs from Tuesday night against the Rays’ Shane Baz in the first inning. All pitches were set on a tee on a night Baz surrendered five home runs at the Yankees spring training launching pad.

Slidin’ Fools: Have you looked at some of the terrible slides by Major League players lately? It’s like they don’t practice sliding anymore. Hint: They don’t. They wouldn’t know the difference between a sliding pit or a mosh pit. But they all have such pretty color coordinated oven mitts in place when they get on base. And will someone from the Mets please tell Francisco Alvarez to learn to slide feet first? He may be out the rest of the year after spraining his right thumb sliding headfirst into second base at the Little League Classic. He will try to avoid surgery for now and will eventually try to play through the injury, but is destined for surgery. Also, players all too often slide past the bag and are tagged out. One former coach told BallNine, “Sliding used to be a skill. Sliding has gone to sh—. They literally don’t practice fundamentals anymore.’’

Happy Birthday, Bobby: In that 1960 World Series, Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, who turned 90 on Tuesday, was named MVP, the only player from the losing team ever to be named MVP in World Series history. He hit .367 with 12 RBIs, one home run, a grand slam in the first inning of Game 3 at Yankee Stadium before 70,001 fans. It was the other second baseman Bill Mazeroski who homered into history with the Game 7 walkoff home run at Forbes Field that lifted the Pirates to an improbable World Series victory. From that loss the Mantle & Maris Yankees built resolve, Richardson told me back on the 60th anniversary of that most memorable World Series.

“We came back in ’61 and ’62 and won World Championships,’’ he said. In 1961 Richardson hit .391 in the World Series against the Reds. The next year Richardson led the AL in hits with 209. The Game 7, 1-0 win over the Giants at Candlestick Park ended with Richardson catching (with two hands) a bullet by big Willie McCovey with Matty Alou on third base and Willie Mays on second. If Richardson doesn’t snag that rocket, the Giants win the World Series, and it would have been another Game 7 heartbreaking loss for the Yankees on the road.

Ballplayers never forget. Richardson and McCovey would not meet again for 45 years when the Giants invited the two players to speak at a banquet in San Francisco and throw out the ceremonial first pitch. When they met, Richardson told me, McCovey smiled, turned to him, and said, “I bet your hand is still hurting.’’