Very true Butler Bulldog. We just watched Howie Roseman build a championship team in Philly. We are watching the current Phillies management, including Klentak and his stats people, field a team that is winning more games than anyone predicted and may very well participate in the post-season this year. TPTB of baseball write the rules. It's then up to teams and players to figure out how to prosper under those rules. The commentators may not like the look of today's game, but the team's emphasizing stats seem to be benefitting from that emphasis where it counts most: W-L percentage. I remember the era of great pitching, in which Bob Gibson was just about invincible. TPTB responded by changing the rules to benefit hitters. They didn't think low-scoring games, in which the emphasis was on hitters playing the game the right way and making productive outs to scrounge out a run or two were appealing enough to fans. They wanted more HRs. When pitchers again did too well, TPTB gave us the live ball and tolerated steroid-consuming power hitters. It seems the guys who actually understand baseball finances have decided multiple times that the fans like HRs and are not entertained by bunts and other productive outs. If they thought these things sold tickets, we wouldn't have seen the changes to the game, which we have.
This is the player version of the nostalgia express the right way to play the game is the way it was played when I was in my prime, the essential skills for a player to have are the exact things that I did well, nobody ever again will be as good as my peers and I were and we played the right way for a lot less money -- it is criminal how much a hitter earns these days, without even knowing how to bunt or advance the runner or defeat the shift.
It's the age-old tale: the young are always lazier, less dedicated, greedier, less willing to play their dues, lacking in essential skills, more entitled, of lower morals, and just plain soft compared to me and my peers. The world is going to hell in a handbasket and it's all the fault of this younger generation. Just listen to their music! See how they dress and where their hair! No respect for their occupation! It's why old men are referred to as grumpy.
