response 1 of 38:

Aug 13 05:32 UTC 1994

I pretty much agree, Jim. Baseball? - phooey!
The only quibble is that I think the players are greedier than the owners.
Football season is almost upon us.

response 3 of 38:

Aug 17 03:27 UTC 1994

        Do you care if the top players are making 6 million dollars per year?
It doesn't bother me at all.  I don't much like the strike, but it isn't
going to interfere with my love of the game of baseball.
        When I look at what a young man has to go through in order to make it
to a professional baseball team, I'm glad the rewards are exhorbitant if
he makes it.  There are plenty of guys, most all of them, really, playing
minor league baseball and making less than I am, with a career that might
last 10-15 years assuming he's good enough to stay in the game that long,
and doesn't get injured and end his career early.  No retirement plan, no
training for another career when his term as an athlete finally ends,
unless he finds a part-time job or seasonal employment or continues his
education.
        The "average" major league player makes about $1 million per year,
but then, the "average" professional baseball player never makes it to
that level.  The "average" human being never gets a chance to play pro
baseball at all.  The gifts of the "average" major league baseball player
are almost incomprehensible.  You ever try to pitch?  I can just about get
the ball over the plate at about 50 mph 20 times in a hundred, never mind
it's altitude.  Any major league pitcher can throw 80 mph (and many can
throw 90 mph or even harder!), while picking the part of the plate he
wants to throw at, and the height above the plate, or throw a curve ball
that breaks several inches, still hitting at about the part of the plate
he wants.
        You ever see a decent curve ball, or a 90 mph pitch?  I've seen both;
the curve ball was from a guy who was good at tennis, but couldn't have
made the high school varsity team of the small school I went to.  I
thought it was going to hit me in the head.  It dropped over the plate.
I've seen Eric Plunk, a not wonderful major league player, warming up; a
brand new baseball *buzzed* so that it was audible at 40 feet to me in a
crowd.  That must have been about 80 mph.  That ball was a weapon.  Guys
stand there 20 times and swing at balls like that, and they hit them,
too.  They hit them hard enough they go 300, 400, 500 feet.  You can't do
that, I can't do that, I've never *met* anyone who can do that, probably.
These guys are supermen.  The best are supermen who train *all* the time,
and like it.
        Baseball players aren't overpaid.  They're entertainers, who bring in
a lot of money to their employers and their cities.  600 guys average $1
million per year (at least this year), and the whole nation watches, and
pays, and loves it.  $2.50 each for these wonder men.  (Only it's us rabid
addicts who pay most of it, voluntarily, each and every buck.)  Baseball
is the greatest game in the world -- or it wouldn't be worth paying for.
Lesser games, such as hockey and basketball and football, earn their
players lesser amounts of money.

response 5 of 38:

Aug 20 14:01 UTC 1994

        It bugs me when people moan about how much baseball players make.
"It's just a game."  Yeah, it's a game to a fan, but it's their whole
life.  That's how you get so good people pay to watch you play a game; you
start with enormous talent, then you work at it all the time, then if
you're very, very lucky, you can make a living at it.  A few guys get
rich.  What's wrong with that?

response 7 of 38:

Aug 21 17:21 UTC 1994

I'm not in any way angry at the players. I understand that a great deal of them
still play for the love of the game. I'm simply upset that the owners and
players' representatives can't cease their seemingly endless bickering and let
these guys play the game. Hey, I love baseball. To me, Alan  Trammell is a god.
But all I was saying before is that if there's no  baseball to be watched,
there's always football or hockey.

response 9 of 38:

Sep 15 20:16 UTC 1994

 to revive a dead/dying item---


   It is official. No mo baseball for the rest of '94. I can't say that
I'm going to miss it, because I don't watch baseball, but the underlying
question is: Will the strike ever be settled, and when it is, will there
anyone whocares? 

  Now that I understand a salary cap, I believe that the owners are
wrong. Football is a good example. Players who have little skill, will
get the the least, or risk being cut so that a big name like Fielder
can get his 5 million per y

 I don't think there is an easy answer.

response 11 of 38:

Sep 18 16:58 UTC 1994

No wait! I'm interested to hear the rest of that. Don't leave me hanging!

response 13 of 38:

Sep 18 21:51 UTC 1994

OK, I'll give it a try. Thanks!

response 15 of 38:

Dec 19 01:55 UTC 1994

        Your chances may be better than you think, Edward.  I see no signs
the strike is going to be settled.  The owners have said they'll go to the
minor leagues for replacement players.  Most of the top prospects have no
need to play strike breaker; they're going to make it anyway, and when
they do, a strong union is in their best interests.  So, the marginal
players will get their chance.  Maybe it'll get down to you!
        I'm your general rabid baseball fan, but I'm not going to pay to
watch marginal players play.  I enjoy pro baseball because I like watching
the best athletes in the world play the hardest game there is.  I never
watch minor league baseball games, and won't watch even if they're played
in major league ballparks.  
        I'm one of the guys the teams really shouldn't like to snub; I'll go 
to watch 8-10 games no matter whether the local team is doing well or not.  
I just like the game.  Will I like it if neither the owners or players 
like it?  I'm not at all sure I'll follow the season this year, even if
the strike gets settled by the first of the year.  I'm not sure I would if
it had been settled earlier.  Call off the World Series?  Boy, that ticked
me.

response 17 of 38:

Jan 23 03:07 UTC 1995

If I "could" care less then I probably would---I think the correct thing to say
is couldn't care less and I couldn't!  With football, basketball, and NASCAR,
who needs baseball?  To me the players are inconsiderate whiners.  Just think
of the other people associated with this sport who lost their jobs.  The
custodians, ushers, vendors, etc. who worked there didn't make millions of d
you don't hear them crying about their wages.  If baseball players did more
work maybe they would be more appreciative of their salaries.

response 19 of 38:

Jan 24 02:18 UTC 1995

        I missed baseball the day after the strike, and expect to be in woe
until 1996, when there will be a full, real season, with major league
players playing after a full spring training; the finest athletes in the
world playing the best game there is at it's highest level.  I do not know
how I am going to get through what ought to be, but won't be, the 1995
baseball season.

response 21 of 38:

Feb 18 02:24 UTC 1995

 Well, Sparky has balked at the idea of coaching the replacements, but
I can't help thinking that this will lead to others like LaSorda, and
the other "oldermanagers following siut.

response 23 of 38:

Feb 21 22:43 UTC 1995

is that opinion or fact, Steve? I'm wondering if there's something
I haven't heard yet. The buzz in the Free Press was that Sparky was
trying to be fired.