Monday, January 9, 2012

Did the Strike of '94 and the mass influx of the internet kill Major League Baseball?

Listen, i will be the first to admit that i am an old, bitter man. That being said, give this some real thought.

Did the Strike of '94 and the mass influx/popularity of the internet kill Major League Baseball?

we all know that the internet both helped and killed the baseball card market. Deny it all you like, collectors know that it's true.

But taking it a bit further, did the strike of 1994 followed by AOL offering "unlimited" internet access for a flat monthly fee allowing anyone the ability to over analyze baseball statistics?

Barry Larkin was elected to The Hall Of Fame today, and there seem to be a lot of people that are not happy. there are people all over the internet saying to the effect "Well, i looked at his statistics, and can't see why he would get in"

Of course statistics are an important part of Baseball, im not saying otherwise. But i think baseball is MORE then just the back of someones baseball card. There are plenty of guys in the Hall of Fame that if you just looked at their stats, you'd wonder wtf they are doing there. There are also some players that have "a lot of numbers" that probably do not belong there. That does work both ways.

Remember when you could challenge someone to some trivia? Now? ha, google it! instant answer. It really sucks that the youth of today and future generations will have no clue what it was like to be a baseball fan before the internet came along.

Well, i guess we should feel lucky that they care about the sport at all anymore.

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad my oldest son likes baseball. I didn't push it, he came to it on his own. I have fully supported it though. And your're not really all that old. Not judging from your picture.

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  2. Nope, parents killed baseball. Dads not having time to play catch in the evenings and parents not letting their kids run around throughout the neighborhood where they can play pick up games killed baseball. Any book you read about baseball has an excert in it about the authors youth and playing pickup baseball. When was the lset time you heard of a bunch of kids playing pickup baseball? Yes there is organized leagues now but it isn't the same, there has to be both.

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