Like Bill Maher said "If baseball were any slower it would be farming".

 

Jeffrick wrote:

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:

Like Bill Maher said "If baseball were any slower it would be farming".

 

 

 

                         Baseball is "Americas Pastime"  NOT Americas speed merchants!!  You want speed; go to  the Indy 500, you want time limits;  try footbal  or basketball: except in the last 2 minutes ---  they take FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!  

 

 

                         Baseball is made for lazy summer afternoons in small town cow pastures,  it was never ment to be fast,  it was ment for those who didn't bother with church-goin' but needed 'sumthin '  to do on Sunday.  The other 6 days in the week they worked; sun rise to sun set.

 

 

                         The town ball games in those cow pastures still carry those long ago small town cow pasture names.  The bull pen is where the bulls had to wait untill the cows were ready for  "relief"  from 'dry cow' problems.  Rodeos still pen up the bulls in a small "off pasture" pen untill they are ready to 'bronco bust'.   Dry cows are the ones in 'full menses' cycle   before being impregnated by the bulls.

                          The 'dugouts' are the pits dug near the cow pastures for cow dipping  --  still used today  --  for disinfecting cattle before slaughtering.

                          The 'pitchers mound' is the buildt up area in the center of the cow pasture,  where the auctioneer stood  --  to be well seen  --  during cow auctions.  The buyers - and audience - would  "STAND" beyond the fence and "cheer"  on the bidders or 'players' .  In order for the audience to get a "grand" view of the excitment of the auction , one stood  out beyond the bullpens or as later people called it The "Grandstands".

 

                           Serious buyers could rent a 'boxed area' near the auctioneer's stand but beyond the corral. The cow-for-auction was held by a handler at a 'home'  area between the auctioneer and the 'box area' .   The auctioneer was also called a [pre-1840] pitcher. He was pitching verious prices on the same barter after all wasn't he.

 

                            After appearing at the 'home' area for a bit the cow was slowly walked up about 90 feet to the bidders right so that the  --  less then serious bidders --   could see the cow.   When did a cow 'walk' ?  After  4 bids did not make a connection "SALE" .   In case  you are wondering if a certain cow was much saught after [that was the word used in the 1840's] it was commen for only three [over priced] bids to be shouted  or 'struck' before a winner was declaired and the cow was taken out of the auction. Also known as "3 strikes and you are OUT!".

 

 

                            The walked cow,  on the right was quickly hussled over to the  --  not so serious bidders  -- on the left side of the serious bidders, then slowly walked down to the 'home area' [after a long wait].   btw  there was a cowhand on the short area between the right side and the left side of the bidders in order to stop the cows from wondering off into the outer field;  he was called  [since the 1810's] a shortstop.

 

 

                           The bulls were auctioned also,  useually on a Saturday,  but NOT to ownership.  They were auctioned for the slaughter house or for breeding purposes.  Let me put it this way, there were three stages to Saturday's in small town rural America in the very early 1800's. The steers and old cows [headed for the slaughter house] were sold off early in the morning,  the PRIZE cows were auctioned off in mid afternoon [12:00 to 2:00PM] .  In the late afternoon the young'un's were let out of the bull pen, to show thier stuff.  Bids would be made on thier time!!!   Prized bulls were 'rented' to service dairy cows [give them relief] on a per day consideration.

 

                            When the cows were in the field, there were a Few 'starter bulls' let loose among the 'bid' cows; if they were seen to consumate by the 'serious bidders' before the auction,  they where highly prized by the bidders. There were men hired to chase the bulls back into thier pens before the auction began,  and since they worked mostly in the outter field away from the elevated 'pitchers mound' they were called 'outfielders', [now isn't that a big surprise]  The auctioneers may not have known which cows had been 'serviced' , meny auctioneers made it a point "NOT" to enter the pitchers mound, untill the actual auction was ready to go.

 

                             It is where the "fair and impartial judgement" ideal comes from.  Auctions were on Saturdays  Town ball:  later Baseball: happened on Sundays in the same field;  with the same 'catch phrases'.

 

 

                              In short the great American pastime IS an evolutionary result of "English rounders" "Cricket" and "Small town cow auctions"

                            

 

Ok, I get it that you like baseball and that's fine. But it is no longer America's pastime.  The NFL and even college football have blasted by MLB in popularity decades ago!

You've got to notice how far baseball has fallen from where it was.  Even if you weren't alive in the 50s, 60s, or 70s you can just ask anyone who was and they'll tell you how big it was.  Did you know there used to be Monday Night Baseball like Monday Night Football? 

ABC dumped it since no one watched anymore.  In the 70s you got 35 to 40 million if not more to watch the "world" series yet now you may get around 10 million.  The overall baseball ratings also have a much lower market share than what they used to.

I just don't get the appeal of it.  A bunch of guys standing around hitting a ball with a stick and then you have to wait forever for something to actually happen. Even when it does it's just a guy running 90 feet to a base!

Ball........strike..........foul...........ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz