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Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date	Function
#18279	04/26/2015 11:54:27 pm
admin Joined: 01/27/2010 Posts: 5023 Administrator	The Ten Most Influential People in Baseball History For those of you who like lists. Steve
#18280	04/27/2015 12:02:46 am
admin Joined: 01/27/2010 Posts: 5023 Administrator	Kind of interesting that there aren't any managers on the list. Most of these people's contributions aren't even on-the-field. Steve
#18283	04/27/2015 1:14:20 am		Ignore
MukilteoMike Joined: 08/09/2014 Posts: 3294 Inactive	Babe Ruth at number four? Seriously? That's absurd. Jackie Robinson at seven? Give me a break. Rickey, Johnson, Landis, Miller, all those guys need to be on the list, so there's no reason to argue exactly where they should be. Even James; sorry, sabermetric haters. Selig? SELIG?!?! I guess maybe if you want to consider him for his negative aspects as much as his positive. He did make MLB a ton of money, but he screwed many things up in a huge way. What about Curt Flood? He'd make my list. At least Abner Doubleday isn't on there.
#19264	05/21/2015 6:46:46 pm		Ignore
slugfest2015 Joined: 12/21/2014 Posts: 168 Inactive	Why is Ruth ahead of 42? Robinson is more important to baseball than Rickey... and that one guy, (forgot his name) was just an architect! Someone hit the joint before making this.
#19272	05/21/2015 9:46:22 pm
admin Joined: 01/27/2010 Posts: 5023 Administrator	It's hard to compare Jackie Robinson's affect on the baseball and society as a whole...but in terms of on the field, Bath Ruth ends the Dead Ball era with his whopping home runs and really elevates the economics of baseball. So much so that the Yankees build this giant stadium in the Bronx. I don't think any other player had such a profound effect on changing how the game was played and it's overall popularity. In terms of Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson...their biggest contribution was obviously integrating baseball (although Rickey was a innovative GM and Robinson was a All-Star caliber player). I guess the question is, what if Rickey had chosen a different player to break the color barrier? I think they have Landis at #5. Selig at #6 is a joke. He was a terrible commissioner. I really think his legacy is burying his head in the sand (or wallet) while steroids so altered the game -- but owners profited from the excitement it created. Steve
#19299	05/22/2015 9:50:57 am		Ignore
PrivateSnowflake Joined: 01/06/2015 Posts: 1224 Bloomington Thunder II.2	I'm not going to argue with any of the author's choices. Influential, perceived as either good or bad. For instance (and I don't like him), Selig did influence a number of monumental changes (good and bad). Shifting the commissioner's to represent the owners (a la, NFL), holding cities hostage to build ballparks to increase revenue, TV deals (revenue), all prime-time WS game starts (advertising revenue), interleague play, et al. We can debate the long term effects of Selig's reign has hurt the game (avg age of fan grows older, prices rise, late games kills young interest and support, scandals galore) but I could argue he should be #1. On the other hand, you could argue Robinson could have been left off, as his impact was more social than game changing (not to diminish his on field contributions), which one could argue integration should fall under Rickey's heading. I think these are broader social breakthroughs and American society has always been reflected in baseball. Like Robbie, Curt Flood was the first, but it took Marvin Miller to make it happen. Actually surprised Comiskey is left off the list. I felt he should have been mentioned with Ban Johnson.
#19300	05/22/2015 9:58:20 am
admin Joined: 01/27/2010 Posts: 5023 Administrator	Yeah...I think a lot of those things that happened under Selig might have happened under almost any commissioner. Look at the affect that TV has had on college football -- realignment, mega TV deals, crazy start times to satisfy broadcasters, mid-week games, 24 hour coverage etc. I think Ban Johnson's contributions was really the creation of the American League. Without his leadership, cash and connection to other investors, I'm not sure the AL ever gets off the ground. Steve

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