Peter Abraham summarizes the problem with unsafe, easily-splintered maple bats, and - sadly - why they are yet another thing that, as was so long true for steroids and the DH rule, (1) should be subject to immediate rulemaking by the Commissioner but instead (2) will likely be held hostage indefinitely by the players’ union in the hopes of getting the owners to make some concession in return for a ban. Which is not to suggest in either case that the owners are pillars of virtue, just that so long as the collective bargaining process is in the way, considerations of the best interests of the game take a back seat to the grim zero-sum logic of the bargaining table. You can see, by contrast, how the game’s control over umpiring has improved greatly since the umpires’ union was for all intents and purposes broken by the owners.
David Pinto suggests that Bill James has argued for requiring all players to use identical bats - I’m not sure if ...
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POLITICS: Can America Win The War? Yes, We Can!From: baseballcrank.com
Post Date: 2008-05-21 08:12:14
McCain, Obama and the Optimism Gap
One of Barack Obama’s greatest assets has been his appeal to the idealism of young voters and the frustration of grownups disenchanted with the dysfuctional ways of Washington - when prudence and experience says something can’t or shouldn’t be done, or would have awful unintended consequences, Obama’s the guy who says "Yes we can!" Can-do optimism is always popular, and people have come to identify Obama with the ability to eli...
more POLITICS: "I don’t know exactly what’s going on there."From: baseballcrank.com
Post Date: 2008-05-20 18:44:26
Obama stumped on the trail again, and on a question McCain had handled previously . Of course, nuclear power is one of McCain’s pet causes , whereas Obama has been unclear on the concept before .
I was complaining the other day to some friends that these days, Obama seems to be aiming to wear down conservative bloggers by producing more material to beat him up with than any one person could possibly keep up with. He’s beginning to rival Kerry in that regard.
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more BASEBALL: Piazza Hangs ’Em UpFrom: baseballcrank.com
Post Date: 2008-05-20 16:06:27
Mike Piazza, still unsigned, has decided to retire . Piazza could certainly still have been useful, if nothing else as a backup catcher, but obviously preferred not to end his career on that note. He’ll remember his years at Shea fondly:
"Within the eight years I spent in New York, I was able to take a different look at the game of baseball," Piazza said. "I wasn’t just a young kid that was wet behind the ears anymore - I was learning from other veteran guys like Johnny Franco,...
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