Baseball Purists and Longing for Bill Veeck

jimmyg

I have a friend who considers himself a purist. He's too young to remember anything but a designated hitter in the American League, but he hates interleague play and the limited instant replay rules. He doesn't like the guys that come out in-between innings to shoot t-shirts to the fans and he abhors the hide the ball game on the big screen.

I, however, long for Eddie Gaedel. I like the billboards announcing the newest shaving cream product in the outfield. I want to watch the kids run out at the beginning of a game and get a ball signed by the position players.

AA baseball is just right for me. It reminds me of Cheap Seats by Alabama, of the days of Garvey and Lopes and Russell and Cey. And I like interleague play. The Dodgers and the Angels. And throwback Petco type stadiums. Bring on the ads and the gimmicks. The sport can't survive with the purists alone. It needs the kids looking for the cotton candy guy, the women waiting for the kiss cam, and the men crying out, "balk," when the pitcher fakes to third and throws to first.

So, pray tell, are you a purist or not?

PowderedH2O

I like purity in the game, but it can never be, so I just deal with it. Whatever they need to do to get more fans. I would love a salary cap, but in the pure sense, there was no salary cap in the days of Ruth, Mantle, Williams, or Cobb, so I guess that wouldn't be pure now either. I go to a lot of Class A games. There are a lot of silly gimmicks. But the kids love them and it keeps them coming to baseball games. That is a good thing.

Saberman

There is no such thing as a baseball purist, otheriwse these so called purists would be longing for underhanded throwing pitchers who are not allowed to break their wrist, or whatever rules were in place at the onset of baseball's existence or ascent into our culture.


What a purist really is or is saying, is that he simply wishes the game is more like the game was when he was first immersed in it as a kid. Or it can be a yearning for the game more like when an eloquently spoken elder chap relays to him how 'pure' the game was when he was a kid!