More live games

[Tayster]

Notice: I haven't been around for a year, so bear with me.


There's just a few things I'd like to say about all this.

Scott, thank you for putting this all together in the first place. I miss playing baseball every sunday, it was my first time in my life that I had some place to go and play on a regular basis. Sorry that I wasn't able to contribute more financially, but at the time I was living very much from paycheck to paycheck. Even a 20 buck deviation to buy some extra balls would have meant cutting into something like food.

That having been said, Park Baseball has evolved. When I started it was a very rag-tag thing, sorta just people thrown together. Then, we started keeping boxscores, stats, and ended up with a website (hell, I remember making one of the first topics on these forums).
Sometime later, out of necessity (being forced out of Defermey by some football camp), we needed to find a new field to play on, and after a lenghty search (which included Ken and I going around to parks in Berkeley), eventually we settled on curt flood. It took a bit to get used to, but I think everyone eventually got around to loving it, and not wishing to play on the joke of a field defermey became to us.
At some point, the thought of live games came around. The skill level of players had risen greatly from the days of defermery, so hey, next logic step, right? Lemme tell ya, I thought it was a disaster. I think I've only played like, 3 live games or something, and I think I'm 0 for 3 with 10 walks and like 8 steals or something crazy like that. I did not look forward to live games.

Then, I left for school, and have only been around for like, 3 games in the last year. Every now and then I check back here, browse through the forums, talk to Ken on AIM about park baseball. In everything, what I've come to notice is that this league is constantly evolving into something better, making people push themselves to keep up with the changes. I think the bigger issue here was that there was talk of more live games, and it seemed like it just got shot down with a, No, this is my league, I make the decisions. I agree that you're the reason this league keeps on going on it's happy route, but changes will always happen, and to completely disregard them is not a sound option. Yes, I realize in your last long statment you said you'll keep your eye on live games and see how it progresses, and at this point, I think that was the most important thing.

Anyways, I hope ya guys will find some middle ground in this, I don't want the league to fall apart. I'm coming back in a month, and sunday baseball is something I'm very much looking forward to.

-Daniel T.

[Southpaw Slim]

With the group preferences being split the way they are, if those of us interested in live games only were to split off- neither of us would have enough people for a game.

Why do they have to be mutually exclusive? Why not play live games on Saturday?

[Baseball=Life]

With the group preferences being split the way they are, if those of us interested in live games only were to split off- neither of us would have enough people for a game.

Why do they have to be mutually exclusive? Why not play live games on Saturday?

I'm not worried about any "split off" effect.

[gohlkus]

Well, some interesting issues have come up.

I think in general it would be nice if people were more respectful of each other in this forum. Stuff that people say comes off differently on screen than it would in person. (If you're pissed off and posting something, this is my humble suggestion: hit "Preview," wait 15 minutes, read it over and see how it would sound if someone else wrote it, then hit "Submit".)

I would also encourage people in general to take things less personally -- from what I know of the people in this group (virtually all of whom I like a lot) my feeling is that the vast majority of these comments are not meant personally. There are issues that predate some of our recent participants' participation.

And it's probably good that more people understand what it takes to make this thing go forward -- both in terms of financial and time commitment. My contribution of hosting and administering this bulletin board is fairly modest, and since I usually get a ride with either Scott or Nick, I help lug things around. But I could do more, and would be glad to help defray the expenses a little bit.

That said, to the topic at hand: Live games. I like them. Enough to have them once a month.

[Joe shmoe]

tompos well put about the money, for those of you who dont know i dont currently have a stable job. scot once i did offer you some cash cause in 2 weeks i broke 2 bases and you said no thanks, so if i ever offer money to any of you, take it, I won't be able to offer money every week. also this is how poor i am i quit smoking cause i cant afford it any more, i dont want pity or any crap like that but WHEN I WAS ABLE TO OFFER MONEY I DID.

what i think ken meant was this is pretty much the core group- minus chris and i guess a few others who i cant think of right now. seriosly think who will probably be there next sunday or the sunday after that.

scot, the problem i have with you saying that we will play a live game every month is that that's the same thing you told me when i first started playing with you guys, and frankly, it just hasn't happened. i think we have played 2-3 live games since november. so unless this is january or febuary we are a little behind on them.

also what ken was saying about the issues you addressed ie too many walks and steals, just isnt true anymore. yes we are missing another quality starter right now but since we dont have live games on ANY REGULAR BASIS, its much harder for someone who is learning the trade to get better. yes daniel is still good after not playing in a live game for a month or more. the rest of us just arent

[gohlkus]

I hope it's obvious that anyone who can't afford to contribute financially shouldn't feel like they have to. I don't think that expectation has ever been there, and I don't think Scott's asked for that (though I'm not going to speak for Scott). And I don't think this discussion should make anyone feel guilty about not giving money. I'm not exactly rolling in dough either.

When I said "But I could do more, and would be glad to help defray the expenses a little bit" I was talking about helping set up and take down the equipment more often, in addition to a few bucks here and there.

Anyway, fuck, let's just play baseball.

[AntMoOAK]

Jason- I concur !!! In the words of the immortal Ernie Banks... "Let's Play 2" although I can only play one until next week when I start having free weekends. YEHHHHH !!!!

[Joe shmoe]

why are you guys responding to the least important part of my post???

i dont feel pressured to give money. im just saying why i dont give money to a baseball community i fully supportted!

oh and i forgot to mention in my last post 2 soon to be regulars which are daniel tompos and dorain. which to my knowledge havent said what they would prerfer, or vote. and i do think that both have offered some good input. and i do think that the best thing for the group and myself is to challenge us by playing more live games. just like the best thing for the group was to leave defermery and play the majority of our games at curt flood

and i understand that, the move was not wanted by everyone. ken was telling that he didnt want to play at defermery anymore and everyone else was indifferant

[dtrizzle]

oh and i forgot to mention in my last post 2 soon to be regulars which are daniel tompos and dorain. which to my knowledge havent said what they would prerfer, or vote.

If anyone's still confused, this league is not a democracy. These threads, posts, and polls merely guide me in my decision-making.

I haven't really said too much about the specific live vs. non-live debate because my opinion doesn’t matter. That was the whole point of this long discussion. But even if my opinion did matter, it would be worth less because I'm in TN. I'll save the words.

PS: Mr. Shmoe, your spelling is so bad it almost made my Microsoft Word crash! And at least get my name right.

[Baseball=Life]

... he didnt want to play at defermery anymore and everyone else was indifferant

I highly recommend the "search" function of this forum. Quite the contrary to being indifferent, the issue was discussed ad nauseum.

[gohlkus]

why are you guys responding to the least important part of my post???

Uh, you led with it and it was your longest paragraph.

[Southpaw Slim]

scot, the problem i have with you saying that we will play a live game every month is that that's the same thing you told me when i first started playing with you guys, and frankly, it just hasn't happened. i think we have played 2-3 live games since november. so unless this is january or febuary we are a little behind on them.

Richard, since there hasn't been stable turnout, I can see why live games haven't been scheduled. I agree it's been few and far between, but with the weather turning around we should get to see some more action on the field. I liked the old "second Sunday" setup, but I'm wondering if it would be easier for people to remember if it's the first Sunday of every month. I guess not, since there wasn't much of a problem before (when the weather was good.)