Right, and people that age (and up) are probably the most adamant against it, so it makes even less sense. The one easy set of ideas I think could be easily implemented would be a series of proposals that speed-up the game, such as:
- A pitch clock that begins when the pitcher receives the ball from the catcher, the length of which is a little longer if a player is on base.
- Limits on how often a batter can step outside of the batters box, by my own admission some Red Sox players such as Dustin Pedroia are the worst about this.
- Limits on the number of managerial and catcher mound visits, particularly those that don't result in a pitching change.
I think all of these things could speed up the game without resulting in any noticeable performance dip if done properly. Some apologists might say baseball moves at its own pace or something like that, but I don't buy it. Games today (2014) are about 20 minutes than they were 10 years ago (2004), and that's despite a fairly pretty significant dip in offense (see: 60 point drop in league OPS) in that time period.
As far as the marketing aspect goes it's much easier said than done, largely due to the fact that baseball culture itself is against embracing superstardom. In the NFL it's considered cool to be in commercials, be active on social media, have a public life outside the sport, embrace up and coming stars, show some flash, etc. All of which seem to be fairly frowned and dealt with beaning (something else I think needs to end) in baseball; remember how 'controversial' Bryce Harper was coming up?
Besides it's harder in baseball than other sports to market stars, you watch the average NBA game and the Lebron James and Kevin Durants of the world market themselves with what they do on the court by dominating the action and producing a steady flow of highlight reel plays. Baseball doesn't have that, no matter how great or exciting a player might be, their impact on a game-to-game basis just isn't ever going to be as high as it is for superstars in other sports. There's also issues with the fact that many of MLB stars speak very little English, which while understandable given the conditions they grew up in, limits their ability to interact or reach out to the average fan.
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