Incoming!

Over the past couple of weeks I've actually had requests made for certain blogs. Both of these requests came from good friends of mine, and it means two very important things are happening. 1 - That there are people who actually read this, and 2 - that they care enough about it to have requests, questions, and comments. I'm just tickled pink that my dear friends, loved ones, and some people I barely know are taking an interest in my writing. So before I go ahead and do my best to answer these requests, I'd like to say thank you, to all of you who read this.
My first request came from one of my oldest friends, and boy was it a whopper. He asked, "What do you think was the best decade to be a fan of baseball?" Well, that is a huge question. Books have been written about such a subject, and quite honestly, it's more a matter of opinion than anything else. If you love homeruns, maybe the 1990s was the time for you. If you like your players high on coke, then perhaps you loved the 1980s version of baseball. If you are really a fan of the game and you like talking about old-timers, then the 1910s and 20s were fantastic for hitting and pitching, but not so much for fielding.
Even this decade has been pretty great for baseball. We've seen Sox of both varieties, Red and White, earn championships. There has been great parity throughout both leagues, despite lopsided payrolls. So how can you choose? Well, I took several issues that are important to me, and backtracked a little bit to decide when the best time was baseball was. But again, this is only my personal opinion.
First, let's start with free-agency. Free-agency technically started in 1974 when Catfish Hunter, then playing for the Oakland Athletics complained that a provision of his contract was not honored and therefore his entire contract was null and void. After some legal battles, Hunter was granted the rights of a free-agent, and signed for a little over $3 million with the NY Yankees. Two years later, in 1976, the first collective-bargaining agreement was struck, and the door to free-agency burst wide open. Why is this important you ask? Well before this ruling, baseball players were stuck with the Reserve Clause, which basically amounted to slave labor. Players were property that could be bought, sold or traded, and players were stuck year after year with the same team. Bad for players, but wonderful for fans. Dynasties, a rarity in today's game, were commonplace then. Owners could keep their franchise players on the team without having to dole out millions upon millions they way they would have to after free-agency came into to play. So from a purely fan-base perspective, anytime before 1976 would have been wonderful, because no fan had to worry about a favorite player leaving town for better money. Again, this wasn't fair to the player, but that isn't what the question was about.
Second, the DH-rule came into effect in 1973. DH stands for designated hitter and it is a player that does not play the field, but bats for any other player in the lineup, which just about 100% of the time is the pitcher. The first DH was Ron Blomberg of the Yankees and he walked with the bases loaded. The DH was brought in to help poor tickets sales during the slumping '70s. The theory was that the DH was another player who could hit, potentially providing more runs, and more exciting games. Well, the DH-rule has stuck in the American League, but was never picked up in the National League, and over the years, it has provided the AL with more run support. Unfortunately for me, I hate the DH. It basically amounts to cheating. It is part of the game that a player be able to both field his position and hit too. Now it doesn't matter if that position happens to be on the mound, the pitcher should still be able to hit. If he can't, then he is a liability. He can make up for it by being a great pitcher. But the AL decided that wasn't winning enough fans over, so they prostituted the game and said, it's ok to cheat just a little here, you pitchers don't have to hit anymore.
I may feel a little too passionately about this, but it infuriates me when morons like Yankee sub-owner, cry-baby Hank Steinbrenner state in 2008 that the NL needed to "grow up" and accept the DH, by force if needed. All because a Yankee player, Chien-Ming Wang was hurt running the bases. Maybe Wang should have stretched out. Maybe it was just a freak accident. But because a Yankee player was hurt, Hank thought baseball itself had to be adjusted. ESPN's Chris Singleton had the perfect response at the time, "Are you making the same statement if a Red Sox pitcher gets hurt?" The fact is, the NL is more strategic and more traditionally entertaining than the AL. Yes, the American League may hit more homeruns and score more runs, but give me a pinch hitter, a situational runner, and a double switch any day of the week. That's my DH tirade, sorry.
Third, 1967. That is the year of the first Super Bowl. It was a media event that baseball couldn't match. It was one game, if you missed it, you were out of the loop. The World Series, you could miss a game and still know what was happening. But the Super Bowl changed the way fans watched, and more importantly, the way the media followed sports. Two years later, when Joe Namath and the New York Jets guaranteed and delivered a win against the much-favored Indianapolis Colts, football had officially taken hold of the American fan. Baseball began to wain, and it wasn't until 1975 when Carlton Fisk hit a dramatic homerun, in perhaps one of the greatest World Series games ever, that baseball began to rebound in media attention. But to this day, football is thought of as the more exciting, and better media-driven game.
For all of these reasons listed, the 1960s is the decade for me. As a fan, you had players that were going to be with the team for a long time, the much-disputed DH-rule didn't exist yet, and there was no major competition from the NFL and the Super Bowl. What you did have, were dynamite players at the height of the game's popularity. Players like Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Harmon Hillebrew, Willie McCovey, Al Kaline, Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, and perhaps the greatest player the game has ever seen and the original five-tool player, Willie Mays. All at the peak of their careers. And that was just the hitters. There were tremendous picthers such as Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Jim Palmer, Don Drysdale, Denny McLain, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, and one of the greatest pitchers ever, Sandy Koufax. These aren't just great players, they are some of the best ever. Not since the early part of the century had such fantastic talents collided at the same point in time. But this time, integration had taken hold, and with dramatic effect. Players of all color and ethnicity were changing the game for the better. Fans saw some of the best hitting, pitching and fielding the game could ever produce. Every decade has All-Stars and Hall of Famers, but the 1960s seemed overwhelmed with them. For all of those reasons, the '60s is the decade I choose as the best ever for fans.
Now on to our other topic, and the answer won't take nearly as long. A female friend of mine asked, "Why do so many baseball players wear those rope necklaces?" Well it's not a fashion statement. They are actually the product of a Japanese company called Phiten. Each necklace is nylon-coated titanium, which is theoretically supposed to improve blood circulation while removing stress and relieving pain. The FDA does not support these claims, however, nor can they be proven by the company. Instead, it's more of a mental edge for players. Randy Johnson is credited with bringing the product to the United States while on an All-Star trip to Japan in 2001. After the Boston Red Sox won a championship in 2004, with most players on the team wearing a Phiten necklace, the trend caught on league wide. Baseball players are a superstious bunch and anything that appears to give a player an edge, he will wear, rub on, chew, or pray to until the cows come home, as long as success continues. So get used to seeing those hemp-like necklaces. For a little while longer at least.
I hope I've answered these questions successfully and completely. I appreciate the input from friends like these, and I hope that the questions, comments and requests keep coming. As long as your interested, I'll keep writing.