Yeah, you missed two things.

1- No lame DH Rule.

2- No lame DH Rule.

Thank you, that's all.

Oh yeah, and I get to warm the bench at any given game for minimum wage.

btw - I know you didn't miss the DH but I really really really hate it and thought it needed to be restated a few times.

1. Cities wishing to bid on teams must not have skyboxes at their stadiums.

2. Players, coaches, and officials may request burial underneath the position on the field where they once worked.

3. The team that wins the World Series is forced into Exhibition Mode, performing ala the All-Stars or Harmlem Globetrotters among minor-league teams, traveling worldwide as ambassadors to baseball, etc.

4. Enforcement of the Kruk rule: you must be able to bat your weight.

5. Minimum distances for right and left field lines. Astros/Enron/Minutemai'd left field with the Crawford Boxes is a freaking joke.

6. If an ex-President is sitting in the seats behind home plate, a hole in the screen must be opened and if the pitcher pegs the Prez, batter's out.

7. Abolish drug bans. In fact, require that players take drugs. At the seventh-inning stretch, opposing coach can select player on opponent's teach and they must do a bong hit, shoot up, or pop a few Q's.

8. TV directors who punch up shots of player's wives will be shot.

NO INTERLEAGUE PLAY. The great thing about the World Serise is that neither team can have played the other all year. To hell with the Mets playing the Yankies (or the Giants and the A's) each year...thats what makes a subway serise so great.

Bring back the leauge offices. The leagues shouldn't have the DL, but the subtle differences between the two should remain. Playing in a FL park should be different than playing in a NAL park if only for different strike zones or how the catchers box is enforced.

Enforcement of the hit by a pitch rules is required. If you wear body armor and take one on the arm because you crowd the plate...its a strike dammit.

Six Divisions: Northeast, Southeast and West for each league.

The league that wins the Allstar game has homefield advantage for the World Serise (which will need a new name I'm sure Bud won't let us have it).

Ban any sort of instant replay. Ever. Bitching the kid creating out the winning home run is part of the game!

The teams are owned by the fans, modeled after the Green Bay Packers. Shareholders can vote on issues with their team. No shareholder can hold more than 10% of the voting on issues such as contraction or relocation.

Also we will need a farm system. The farm teams should be NEAR their PLB counterparts geographically, to improve fan support of the whole team. All farm teams in the West will belong to teams in the FLW and the NALW. This would solve the whole problem in Tampa Bay's fan loyalty lying more with thier Yankies AAA team than with their team in the big show.

I've got an even dumber idea than my earlier ones. Set aisde a few weeks in the season where there's no homefield advantage... all teams go on an extended-away rotation where they play at a third team's stadium. That way the local fans get to see all the teams (and best players?) before the All-Star break or after it.

I realize this was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but you do realize that you can't have this:

"There will be no antitrust exemption for the new PBA."

and still have these:

"The office of Commissioner will have absolute veto power on team sales, movements, and rules changes."

"Current MLB owners will be forbidden from holding controlling interests in new teams for a period of not less than ten years."

The creation of (a) new major league(s) is a quite possible, if unlikey, outcome of a strike. You won't get your wish on the stadiums, though, since the governments that built/are building the recent ones are likely to be a driving force behind creating new leagues (that is, if the municipality has retained ownership). Something about wanting some kind of return on their investment..

My only request is that the Selig v. Steinbrenner gore-fest and the following execution be broadcast live.

Not to dump on Niall Gaffney, and I agree with the idea of public ownership, but the Packers model isn't the "Ideal" situation. The stock is basically worthless, non-voting memorabilia for the super-fans up here. If the Packers were sold, the proceeds would go to the local VFW, or was it some other local organization...can't recall.

Nah, the Selig v. Steinbrenner gore fest needs to be on Pay-Per-View with the proceeds going to a group to teach kids the fundamentals of the game where they get to play against the new pros in an exhibition game and I get to warm the bench yet again, for minimum wage.

I love the game enough, why not? ha.

salary is capped at upper middle-class level by city with bonuses for home runs, no hitters, etc. (if you're playing for the money and not the love, fuck you)

bonus for seniority to encourage staying with *your* team.

local fans own shares of the team, vote on minor stuff and are polled on some major stuff.

all new blood comes from the minors (let the rookies work their way up)

charging a kid money for one autograph is punishable by evisceration.

My list of demands

1) No wildcards. You have to finish first to go to the playoffs

2) You play more games with division rivals than with other teams - lots more

3) August-September you play only in your division and play all teams in the division

These are required to make pennant races happen again and to make divisional rivals matter. The Dodgers/Reds games in the 70s mattered becuase you had to beat them to win the pennant. Now nobody plays enough to make a difference and they stop playing in July or something.

No team mascots named after fish or geological formations.

Agree with everythng except the "selected by the same fine sportswriters who vote players into the Hall of Fame" There are way too many voters who are way past relevant.
Oh and get rid of the DH! Did you say that, has anyone mentioned that?

While you're at it can we either eliminate the travelling rule in the NBA or start calling it, and let's make a dunk worth only one point....

Get rid of offsides in soccer... hockey too while we're at it.

And Yes, the ground CAN cause a fumble.

If I remember correctly, George Will is in favor of the DH. He lays out the case for in _Men At Work_

And that's why Bob Costas will be there to counteract his insanity.

Why have two leagues? Of the other major sports, only football has this feature, for the same reason.

If a team moves to a different city it has to leave behind its name, colors, and such for reassignment someday to a new team.

But Bill...thats one of the things I find that makes the current sports so great. Its more than just our town against yours. I may be an O's and Rangers fan (and an obvious glutton for punishment), but I am also an AL fan. So as long as its not the Yankees at the end of the year, I have a team to pull for.

Same goes for NHL, NFL, and even if I gave a damn about it, the NBA.

And one last thing I forgot in my rant...Baseball is a game to be played outdoors on real grass! If you don't believe me, ask our current commander and chief.

Has anyone here seen a frontier league game,
http://www.frontierleague.com ? It might be a good
supplement to the exclusive diet of highschool and college
ball we're all apparently considering.

Though I'm mad enough to, if I made a pledge to boycott major league baseball if the players go on strike, I'd be as big a hypocrite as my lefty acquaintances who vow every presidential election to move to Canada if the wrong candidate wins. They're still here, and I'd be back. I'd still live and die (well, OK, die) with the Red Sox.

That said, if there's a strike, no more trips to the MLB ballpark. No more forty dollar tickets or six dollar hot dogs. I'll watch the games I have to on TV and those commercials I don't avoid I'll swear never to buy their products again.

When I feel the need to see a game in person, I've got two excellent college teams in town to watch.

I'm all in favor of a new league. There's lots of talented players out there who don't think they're entitled to two mil a year to hit .230 and they're fun to watch. I think the new league should snap up players released from the minors and talented walk-ons and let them play the game on real grass under the open sky.

I'll be there to watch them.

For conversation sake, I think I forgot to mention that we need to take care of one more thing in this league we're talking about;

No Lame DH Rule.

Ok, I'm good now.

What about the DH? Yea or nay?

"No Lame DH Rule."

This is probably a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

And, of course, no artificial turf. The new leagues should be guided by the wisdom of the noted philosopher, Richie Allen: "If a horse can't eat it they shouldn't play baseball on it."

On the other hand, watching pitchers hit is like watching nuns strip. They don't know how to do it and it ain't pretty. I'm for the DH.

Here's another rule: They all have to play cricket instead.

Any walk issued with less than two strikes on the batter is good for two bases. I want to see the batter get his cuts, NOT have the bat taken from his hands by safe-playing, gutless, no-skills sob's.

And on the subject of cricket, why not? I'm thinkin espn's missing a good bet. How 'bout ESPNGlobal, featuring Cricket, rugby (both flavors), soccer, field hockey. Heck some form of partnership agreement with Star Sports outa Mumbai'd give em content. And the one day international form of cricket is actually pretty interesting.

i can't believe i forgot: grass and no domes.

i love cricket. i'd love to watch us get killed at cricket.

Players start at 60K annual salary, maximum of 125K. Bonuses for home runs, bases stolen RBIs and longevity.

Best seats in the stadium; $10. Teams adopt a local charity or school system to name their stadium after and proceeds go to the chosen charity.