MLB Baseball: Old School vs. all the Other Schools
What kind of baseball fan are you? Take a look at the categories ahead to see where you fit in.
Baseball is a sport that fans appreciate for many different reasons. With the World Series in full swing we ask, what kind of fan are you?
Old School
Are you Old School? Do you bring up stories like Steve Carlton using rice buckets as part of his off-season workout regimen to strengthen his hands? Have you been bitten by the “back in my day” bug? If you said yes to any of these questions, then you are most definitely Old School. Here’s what you believe:
- Pitchers today are soft and coddled
- The shift is ruining baseball
- Hitters today only care about hitting home runs
- Instant replay is slowing baseball down
- Baseball is more cerebral than it is about athleticism
- The stories about baseball are almost as important as the game itself
New School
Do you dig into the statistics? Do you understand the analytics behind the decisions that coaches make with their players? Is Bill James a personal hero? Are you open to other new ideas about baseball? If you said yes to any of these questions, then you are most definitely New School. Here’s what you believe:
- Sabermetrics started the Analytic Firestorm that is baseball today
- A clear understanding of infield and outfield shifts
- Changing launch angle increases extra-base hits, including home runs
- Pitchers should only pitch until they lose their effectiveness on the mound
- The numbers tell more of the story than you think
Casual Fan
Are you often confused by what is going on during a game? Do you long for a day at the ballpark where the game only takes an hour and forty-five minutes? Do you rank soccer ahead of baseball in the “Big 5 Sports?” If you said yes to any of these questions, how did you find this article? Here’s what you believe:
- MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is speaking directly to you when he starts talking about speeding up the game
- Games should take as long as a basketball game or a soccer match
- Why is everyone singing? It’s not even the end of the game yet.
- I do love mascots; who doesn’t love a good mascot?
- Why are there umpires? I hope that the guy in the first bullet point gets rid of them too.
Conspiracy Theorists
Is Jimmy Hoffa is buried under the Meadowlands in New Jersey? Did every major league hitter from 1994 through 2004 used steroids? Do you think that pitchers will soon be throwing 110 MPH? Do you believe in the three true outcomes in baseball, a walk, a home run, or a strikeout? If you answered yes to any of the first three questions, then you’re probably just delusional. If you answered yes to the last question, then you also believe:
- Baseball is heading for darker days
- Baseball needs to change now for the better, whatever that might be
- Players and teams try to get any edge possible whether or not it’s in the rule book.
- That no one hears you
Love Baseball Your Way
Ultimately, baseball is a great sport, with great stories, and part of those stories are based on achievements of great measure. Baseball is dramatic and controversial, and when both are happening simultaneously, baseball is at its best. Baseball is about the sum of the parts, rather than just the individuals.
Finally, baseball can represent the best and worst in all of us. Exceeding expectations, failing miserably, rebounding, and telling stories about it. There isn’t a wrong way to feel about baseball; there is room for all of us in this baseball world.
Thank you for believing. 2022 can’t come soon enough. #SeaUsRise pic.twitter.com/a9a57GQ1Hn
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) October 12, 2021
Joe Swenson is an author, award-winning playwright, director, and film producer for BrokenArtsEntertainment®.