What is right and wrong with baseball

Wrong:

• Extortionist tactics that convince a handful of lawmakers to approve millions of dollars of public spending for a ballpark with questionable (at best) economic benefit.
• Commenters who argue that the existing media are too slavishly devoted to traditional measures of value, then simply turn around and promote a different measure of value to be slavishly devoted to. Bonus points when the conclusion of the alternative measure is exactly the same as that of the original 'traditional' position.
• The ever-increasing influx of commercialism on the presentation of the game, not just on TV and radio (the Snapper Mow-'Em-Down Inning was OK when introduced, but now that there's a similar sponsored contest for every other inning in the game, it's far less interesting), but in person: commercials and sponsored announcements starting half-an-hour before game time, filling two to three minutes between innings, and continuing as the crowd files out of the stadium and heads home; advertising on the infield walls, the outfield walls, the outfield grass, the bases...
• The increasing tendency of media to want to show 'insider baseball', down to close-ups on what brand of sock a player wears, while at the same time such scrutiny drives players to become more and more distant from the fans in the name of privacy; this could also be called, 'confusing good media relations with good fan relations'.
• The increasing boorishness of fans; for example, the ones who expect players to stick around and sign autographs both before and after the game, not because kids actually want the autographs, but because adults are sending the kids in so that the resulting autographed gear can be sold on eBay; the ones who feel entitled to scream about a player's salary every time he hits into a ground out with the team trailing or a runner on base; the ones who loudly bitch about how bad the game is and how bad the team is to their friend on the other end of the cell phone, yet still smile and wave when the TV camera finds them...
• Players who think they're bigger than the game.
• Managers who think they're bigger than the players.
• Owners who think they're bigger than everybody.
• Releasing a popular local player because he's 'past his prime', then immediately signing a player released by another team because he's 'past his prime' for the same salary.
• Analysts who think their vision of how the game should be is the only valid vision, and that anyone who disagrees is an idiot.
• People who've never owned or run a business talking about how the economics of baseball are screwed up (even if I happen to agree).
• People who've never played baseball above Little League level talking about 'what it takes to be a champion'.
• The nauseating overuse of the word 'dominant'.
• The disappearance of the scheduled double-header.
• High-handed arguments about how steroid use in the 1990s should disqualify a player from the Hall of Fame, when known cocaine users from the 1970s are enshrined.
• High-handed arguments about the Hall of Fame in general.
• Obnoxious hyperbole; for example, "The average team in the National League today would probably lose a seven-game series to an average AAA team." (Even the AAA teams with NL affiliates?)
• Talk about the 'affordability' of an MLB game, when its cheaper to get a steak sandwich and a beer after the game rather than a hot dog and small Coke at it.

- 9 innings, 9 men in the lineup, 90 feet between bases.

By April, it'll be enough to have me paying attention again, I'm sure.

Wrong: the rivalry between Yankees (Evil Empire) and Red Sox (Evil Empire Too) that doesn't take place on the field (the actual baseball rivalry is cool)

Right: humble, workhorse, low-profile pitchers who pitch through pain and stay with the same team their whole career

Wrong: milk-the-media pitchers who wait until mid-season to decide which team to pitch for

Right: naked batting practice

Wrong: naked batting practice