What the World Baseball Classic Can Teach Major League Baseball

I've been to the first two WBC finials in 2006 and 2009 and I've seen first hand the international players and the fan base and the exciting contrast in how they play and cheer respectively.

I'm of the old school, with not much regard for bat flips and fingers pointing to the sky.

But the sport baseball is asphyxiating in its own commercial enterprise. Letting the players play and be themselves may be the answer in connecting to the next generation fan base. Seems a much effective idea in shaving a few seconds between innings or altering the intentional walk. If the fans are engaged they won't care if it's a 4 hour day at the park.

If there are any conflicts, they have a way of settling themselves on the field.

Instead of the WBC as a kink in the natural flow of a baseball season. WBC just may save the MLB in the long run.

I think we might miss the point collectively on what baseball is. I am not sure a baseball game is supposed to be an over caffeinated affair with colored hair, posing and posturing, and "look at me" masquerading as "exuberance." And you can attend a Major League Baseball game at a reasonable price if you don't mind distance between yourself and the field (and you can attend a minor league game at a very very reasonable price and sit real close). Perhaps baseball is meant to slow us down. To watch the nature of the game and the gamesmanship within it. Perhaps it is a craft. With a long tradition, a certain rhythm, and certain rules both written and unwritten. And our eyes are drawn to little aspects of the game, not to jumping and pointing and over hyped gesturing. In another sport, when the Knicks recently decided to have the first part of a recent game be without music and pomp, the sound of the ball hitting the floor and the squeaking of sneakers was the sound you heard. The focus was on the beauty of movement and action and precision and craft. That is baseball.

Its not really fair to compare the energy to a regular season MLB game. There isn't as much at stake for a single game during a 162 game season. Compare it to September or post season, where everything is on the line. Last years post season had incredible energy in multiple series.

It's really fun to watch athletes having fun instead of thumping their chests and pointing up.
A cousin and his wife invited me and my wife to see the K.C. Royals a couple of seasons ago. They buy season tickets with other couples every year. Big fans. We bought a round of beer and had a sandwich dinner on the way in. Before we got to our seats I had spent $120! That didn't include the tickets.
The game: That endless stepping out of the box to refasten batting gloves drives me to the garage. And the pitchers, jees. Must you hike around the mound, adjust your cap and your cup after every pitch? And the spitting. Really?
Damn, major league baseball is boring. Loved Gibson ... snatch the throw from the catcher, get the sign and fire!
Major League baseball isn't dying, it's killing itself (plus, it's BORING). NFL and college sports are on the same track. It costs way too much to get fans from their couches, where they can watch for free or not watch at all, into the stadium.

I have read by now dozens of articles and everyone gets it wrong about our team's golden hair. They made a promise to win the gold, and that is what they represent. When a big hit is made they rub their hair as a sign of their ultimate goal: gold.

This seems like circular logic. The excitement in the crowd is what makes the game exciting for the fans?

Yeah, I was raised to "play the game the right way!" And, I'm sure at some point in the past 60 years I would have found the flair and fun described in this column over the line. But not now. Baseball, the game I lived and breathed for quite a while is dying. It needs a rebirth. Things change.

Just, for the record, if Javier Baez had no-look tagged the runner while saluting his catcher, on my father's little league team, dad would have pulled him off the field. But, we players would have gone nuts.

Cool article.

I never missed a game in the 60s through to beginning of the 80s. Prices went up and new fan base came in - now at the games I go to it's like being in a business meeting. No one is even interested in the game - they are just there in a $75 dollar seat. Bring back the "brush back" - Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson locked up in a lot of 2 hour games because they went out there to pitch. Step out of the box and chances were something was coming your way.

One could also look to Japan's enthusiasm. There, there are fans with drums, with chants for players, and more noise than we Americans make. I went to a couple games last year and it was more like a college football game in atmosphere and much more fun than I have here. We aren't to make noise until told to by the scoreboard or piped in music. Bleah. If it isn't from the heart, I'm not going to do it.

Thoughts:

First, and foremost, "if you can do it, it ain't braggin'"( to borrow from Dizzy Dean).

Second, baseball is fun. See also the NFL (No Fun League).

Realistically, the uncontrived exuberance seen in the WBC can and will not be carried over to a 162 game season, but when the occasion arises, why not?, rather than the ubiquitous "NOISE" on the score board or "CHARGE" from the organ? As for haircuts, beards and color, one NY Yankees team is quite enough...

I totally agree with tenor of your column...I grew up in the Bronx in the 1950s-60s, six blocks from the Stadium. I played LL at MaCombs Dam Field (site of the "new" Stadium) and we'd usually walk over to the Stadium after our Saturday game and take in the 2 pm (games started at 2 pm on the weekends, except for the Sunday doubleheader that began at 1, and weeknights actually started at 8 pm and were still over by 10;20 or so most nights) game. Bleachers were 50 cents, hotdogs 15 cents, etc. The games were played crisply, and while I realize nowadays there must be vast amounts of commercials in order to recoup exorbitant rights fees, the fans absorbed the game, cheered when called for, and were passionate without all the contrived nonsense. The games take way too long with all the conferences, the stepping in and out of the batters' box and the mound, and the constant shifting of defenses. No wonder the paying fans must constantly be entertained.