Reply #25: Don't take this wrong, but who cares?

[gratuitous]

After all, Major League Baseball is not put on for the fans. Hall of Famers are voted in by the Baseball Writers of America, and no one else. They might bend to popular demand, as in the case with some players from the old Negro League. The records and statistics are kept not so much for fan edification as they are for proof that someone deserves or doesn’t deserve to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Outside of the cloister of Major League Baseball, the records mean nothing.

Major League Baseball is a closed environment for the enrichment and enjoyment of a select few, and the fans are encouraged to care solely to bring in outside revenue that the game itself can’t generate. If it makes you feel good that your team won a game, or a series, or qualified for the playoffs or whatever, well, that’s okay. But it won’t really make a dime’s worth of difference in your life, and if it does, MLB will try to take that away from you because you’re infringing on their proprietary product – which isn’t for you. Remember the All-Star Game tie from a couple of years ago? And even a casual fan can predict who’s going to go to the playoffs this year. If you’re fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Kansas City Royals, the next six months are not being staged for your benefit.

So if Barry Bonds hangs around, pumps himself up with 42 different chemicals, and smacks 756 dingers, who really cares? What possible difference could it make in your life, your children’s lives, or the price of a cup of coffee if Barry Bonds becomes Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king? The only concern MLB has is whether it will cause you to plunk down another ten bucks for an officially-licensed key ring.