Thursday, April 15, 2004

I think Bonds is more motivated to pass Ruth than Aaron because (1) Ruth is white and (2) Ruth is generally considered the best player ever. Hitting more homers than Ruth is another check in Bonds' column when debating best player ever. I don't think the righty/lefty thing matters because there's no serious argument that a righty is the greatest hitter ever. Ruth, Bonds, Williams - all lefty. The best righty hitter would probably come down to Hornsby, Foxx, Mays, Aaron, maybe even McGwire or Thomas. Gammons recently called Aaron one of the 3 greatest players ever, which is just plain wrong. Aaron had tremednous longevity, but he was never quite on the highest level of greatness. Using OPS+ as a rough guide, Aaron ranks 22nd all time. And his best season ever ranks 70th all-time. Bonds and Williams have both had 6 better seasons and Ruth had 11 better and 2 tied with Aaron's best.


On an unrelated note, I just read an article in the Christian Science Monitor complaining that the cost of going to a baseball game is preventing a large portion of the population from being able to attend. According to TMR's Fan Cost Index, it costs $155.52 to take a family of four to a ballgame. The FCI includes 4 average priced tickets, parking, 4 soft drinks, 2 beers, 4 hot dogs, 2 programs, and 2 adult-size caps.
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU NEED 2 PROGRAMS FOR? AND DO YOU NEED TO BUY 2 HATS EVERY TIME YOU GO TO A GAME?

Actually my argument isn't so much with the Index, it's with the premise of the article. The Index is calculating the average cost of a game, maybe on average people buy all that crap. But if the complaint is that people can't afford to go to a game, the average cost isn't relevant, the lowest reasonable cost is.
There are a bunch of Mets game that have $5 tickets available. I'll be conservative and assume that you'd want to take your kids to a weekend game, which probably has few $5 options. Let's say a "bronze" game for $12. That's $48 for 4. Parking, I believe is $10, or you can generally find free parking on the street and walk a little bit. If you take the train, a Metrocard would probably cost a little under $14, assuming your kids aren't young enough to ride free and the parents don't have unlimited cards for work.
Food? You can bring your own. I made a tasty sandwich for myself on Opening Day. And you'd probably be feeding your kids if you were just sitting at home all day, so that's really not an additional costs.
If you want to splurge, get your kids an ice cream and a program. Let's say one program and one snack per kid to keep them quiet. That's probably another $10-12 bucks.
So, I think you can do it as cheaply as $48, or as much as $74.
That's not really all that expensive for an afternoon of fun for your family.
We live in a city where movie tickets cost $10.25 and if you want to see a popular movie, you have to buy in advance online for another $1.50. That's $11.75 for something on a screen. $12 for a live major league baseball game is pretty reasonable.
Compare that to any other major sport or a big-name concert or a Broadway show. Heck, it costs at least $10 to go to a damn museum.

Oh, and Winston, I believe your body can go wherever it wants as long as your feet are in the batters box. If the ball hits you while you're in the strikezone, I'm pretty sure it's still a strike. And it would be damn hard to hit the ball if you were hanging over the strike zone.

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