Baseball’s Past and Future, a Contest

This has been a rough few months for baseball fans, to say the least. We can all agree that the COVID-19 pandemic seems like the worst thing that has even happened in the entire history of the sport, except for maybe the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, or the 2019 Sign Stealing Scandal, or all the PED Scandals, or the Strike of 1994, but that’s beside the point. We as fans must remain positive that this season will still happen, and that is beginning to look like a real possibility.

For those who live under a rock, the MLB is considering a revised 82-game regular season with a 14-game postseason that would see all 30 teams returning to the diamond as soon as July. The new plan outlines how divisions will be split, with interleague play now the norm, with new divisions redrawn regionally to ensure that teams will not be traveling cross country and minimizing any potential threat of spreading the virus. Some of the new rules include the Designated Hitter rule becoming universal. In lieu of using dugouts, players would instead sit in the stands, maintaining the 6-foot minimum social distancing protocols.

Sounds like a dream for the fans, right? Wrong, nightmare! The new plan stipulates that absolutely no fans would be allowed to enter the stadiums during games, and the only way to view the game is on broadcast or, I guess maybe a hot air balloon if you have one. While government officials from the Center for Disease Control and the National Institute of heath are supportive of the plan, there are still some major hang-ups with the finer details of the proposal.

As discussed, with no fans in attendance, team owners are majorly concerned with the financial turmoil this situation poses for their bottom line. Many players have come out in the last week speaking out against a number of issues in the proposal that is still awaiting MLBPA approval. Some of the major issues that have been called out includes the proposed reduction of income for players due to the loss of concession revenue and the halved season, as well as the perceived lack of concern for the players and staff’s health and safety in utilizing the new measurements. MLB stated that the health and safety of all those involved remaining the paramount issue.

In the meantime, what can we do as fans do to assure we all get our dopamine fix that baseball would have provided us? Maybe a good ole fashion wang-measuring contest about our favorite players from the earliest days of the game to the modern age. Will the young stars of today have a more rings on their fingers and records under their belts than these historical icons? Cast your vote on each matchup below and continue to pray to the Baseball Gods that we will see Opening Day 2020 in the coming weeks.