Dominant Pitchers?
maybe not dominant like Koufax, Ryan or Young, but there are still many great pitchers; try Randy Johnson (2.60 ERA), Roger Clemons (18-4, 2.98 ERA), Johan Santana (20-6, 2.61 ERA), Curt Shilling (21-6, 3.26 ERA), Carl Pavano (18-8, 3.00 ERA)...wasn't the most 20 game winners ever, not the lowest ERA's ever, but there still are very great pichers and very consistent pitchers playing in the Majors.
Umpiring?
okay, so i'll give you that one, although...
strike zone?
most consistent calling ever (?) according to ESPN thanks to K-Zone (MLB uses a version in 9 parks right now to judge umpiring calls) and the new MLB rule for fair calls, last year.
Athletes?
probably never played baseball did ya? I'd say it's the hardest sport to play, yes there's more players than any other professional league, but that's b/c it's a "global" sport. there are more two-sport (hs and college) athletes in MLB than any other major league sport. ever tried chasing down a fly ball covering 120 ft. of grass? not easy. ever tried hitting a baseball, something that every single sport "expert" and "professional" say may be the single hardest activity in sports to do? not a cake walk. why didn't Bo or Deion continue baseball? b/c the 162 game schedule was too grueling and it consisted of more than just being fast or having "good" hands, those were two of the greatest athletes of all-time.
.300 hitting?
Ty Cobb only hit .367 lifetime, Ted Williams hit .344, Babe hit .342 and these are some of the greatest players of all-time. There's only 130 players lifetime to hit an average of .300...and these are among the greatest to ever play. It's not easy, that's like throwing an 80% pass completion lifetime, or shooting 70% from the field lifetime...it's not easy, it's considered the hardest single activity in sports to accomplish. Even an 85 mph fastball is faster than it sounds, a knuckleball dumbfounds the best baseballers in the world and a slider, curve, sinker or some of the most wicked creations for ever throwing a ball. There are currently 10 players that have hit for lifetime .300 or better and I would say all of them play better baseball and are better athletes than anyone on this board or anyone any of us know personally.
Not really jumping on your case bossman, but don't come on a baseball thread and just bash America's pastime, especially when others get thrashed for coming onto other threads and just flaunting negative comments around. Baseball may be boring to you and that's fine, it's your opinion and thank God it's a free world (well, at least country). Sure baseball could benefit from a salary cap. Yes the Yanks do spend a lot of money, but have only won 2 of their 26 as baseball's top payrollers (3 more under George without being that either)...free agency and boom of baseball popularity is what has exploded player pay, not the Yanks.
More people watch baseball than any other American sport, no American sport is older than baseball, baseball has withstood the test of time and is still around and being played basically the same way it's always been...not football, hockey or basketball can claim that. outside of the soccer boom, no sport is played by more Americans than baseball. Baseball will be and still is America's pastime...it's were we turn in history to rekindle old memories, it's like America's historical note card.
Needless to say, don't knock it, especially if you've never played it (and maybe you had and weren't good, or didn't like it, whatever) and just hate the sport. I hate hockey, cricket, bowling, pool, poker (the last three astonishes me that they're played on ESPN), but I don't go around bashing them on people's threads to just get my two cents in! I'm not really attacking you, just pointing out some misguided or misconceived notions.
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Surprise Team [from 2005]
