There’s an old fashioned candy store near my house that has lots of the old candies and sodas. Wish I had my old metabolism! Remember the Charleston bar? When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes let me pick out a candy. Picked that once because it was so big. Big mistake… The best candies are as follows:
Here is my VII idea. Understand, Joe said these were supposed to be totally unrealistic but fun.
Once each game, each manager can reverse the base path direction for the rest of that half inning. So the players have to run around the bases the opposite direction. For example, bottom of the ninth lead off man walks. You would immediately reverse the base path direction so now you have essentially a man on third with no outs. And if the batter hits the ball, he has to run to third rather than first. The infielders are allowed to switch so the first baseman can go to third and vice versa. And I would make it so once one manager has reversed the direction, the other cannot reverse them for the rest of that half inning. And, you can reverse on offense or defense. So, leadoff triple in the seventh inning? Reverse!
Here’s another one. Forget about the ghost runner. When the game goes to extra innings, each inning, the number of fielders is reduced by one. Fielding team gets to choose who they pull off the field and how to reposition the remaining fielders. But the batting lineup stays the same, so when you get pulled off the field, you just become another DH.
My VII is based on an observation from my baseball-hating wife. I know this is not a good start, but I'll say that she loves me enough to show some interest in the playoffs whenever my Phillies are involved and I'm doing stuff like growing a playoff beard and eating a Philly-centric food (eg, cheesesteak, hoagie, soft pretzel, roast pork sandwich with broccoli rabe) before each playoff game.
When the Phillies and Rays had to wait out that suspended World Series game in 2008, before coming back to finish up the final innings, my loving wife watched the entire final innings with me - AND ACTUALLY GOT EXCITED for not just me but the Phillies themselves. When the game ended, she said, "I'd like baseball if all games only went a few innings!"
So, my VII, on Sondra's behalf, is that postseason games go only 5 innings (3 is too few). We get to see starting pitchers pitch "complete games." Maybe we avoid postseason bullpen games - or at least they don't feel as excruciating. All series go either 5 to 7 games. No more whining about 3-game series not favoring division winners. Oh, and maybe a few of us get in a little more time with our baseball-hating loved ones.
1. Any ground rule double that bounces over the fence in fair territory scores all base runners (except the batter), even someone on first base. The current rule is frustrating, as the runner on first would often score if the ball hadn’t bounced over the fence. If a ground rule double bounces over the fence in foul territory, then the current rule applies.
2. In the event a regular season game is tied after nine innings, then a showdown decides the winner. Here are the showdown rules: The home team can choose either to be on offense or on defense. The offense starts the inning with a runner on first base (of their own choosing) and no one out. The offense can set its batting order any way it wants. A maximum of five batters is needed. If the offense scores a run before making three outs, the team on offense wins. If the defense gets three outs without allowing a run, the team on defense wins. Either team can utilize any player on its active roster, even if that player was previously substituted out of the game. Once the lineups for the showdown are set, no substitutions are allowed, except in case of injury, and in such a case, the removed player must be placed on the IL.
3. In the event a pitcher throws four balls to a batter without throwing at least one strike, all baserunners move up one base. If that’s not enough of a disincentive for intentional walks (and unintentional, intentional walks), each team can designate one player per game to be it’s “star” hitter, and if that hitter is thrown four balls without at least one strike, all runners (including the batter), advance two bases. This encourages pitchers to throw strikes and incentivizes pitchers throwing at least one strike to a hitter before pitching around them. Baseball is the best game, but a flaw is a star hitter can be intentionally walked without penalty in key situations, which hurts the fans who pay to watch a game.
There are certain things that make me go "WHAT?!?!?!" and in this article it is that the Blue Jays have not retired Joe Carter's number. What in the living heck are they waiting for?
Reese's is indeed the greatest candy. You correctly call them "Reese's Cups," rather than "Reese's Peanut Butter Cups," as that stuff inside is amazingly delicious, but in no way resembles peanut butter.
You mention Dwight Gooden (16) as a non-HOF retired number for the Mets, but there are also Keith Hernandez (17), Darryl Strawberry (18) and Jerry Koosman (36). They are probably one of the only teams to have two numbers retired for managers, Casey Stengel (37) and Gil Hodges (14), although technically Hodges played for them for two seasons. Finally, the Mets only have 9 retired numbers. To get to 12, you need to count the team’s founder plus two broadcasters who are honored, but no numbers are involved.
Stieb is underrated for a couple of reasons I think. One is that he never won 20 games. A couple of 20 win seasons would have changed people’s perception of him. Second is that, unfortunately, his productive years ended when he was 32 and just before the Blue Jays won the 2 WS. If Stieb had still been an ace it would have helped his HOF chances (and number retirement). Third, and this is just speculation I could be wrong, I seem to recall that he was kind of a petulant personality and think of him as the kind of pitcher who would show up his teammates when they played poorly behind him. I may be wrong, that’s how I remember him, I was a fan of another team in that division when I was growing up. He was a great pitcher and is better than a lot of pitchers in the HOF. The last thing is that I don’t know if he stayed connected to Toronto after he retired, which can help a lot of guys who weren’t HOFers get their number retired. Was he *beloved* by the fan base?
I grew up in Western Canada, so don’t know the view of him in Toronto, but he was definitely one of my favorite players alongside Fernandez and McGriff. To me, he’s a borderline HoFer who spent nearly his whole career in Toronto. I don’t see anything about teammates disliking him and the team gave him a ring in ‘92 and he came back for a brief stint at age 40. They ran a bobblehead night for him in 2010 and he’s in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. His stats are better than Halladay’s in Toronto. He apparently lives in Reno now, so he’s not super connected to the city, but I still think he’s deserving.
So I happen to know someone who works at Reese’s (well, at Hershey, on the Reese’s line) and he gave me the mind blowing fact that they use DIFFERENT PEANUT BUTTER for the shapes. That’s why they taste different. It’s not just the ratio.
Was surprised by the fact that pixi foods and Reese’s peanut butter cups seemed to be number one in comments followed by retired jerseys, with crazy proposed rule changes a poor third.
My suggestion on rule changes- Savannah banana rules, especially the walk rule.
Hey Joe it might THRILL you to know there is an eating establishment in Cary NC that is indeed named for mookie Wilson. I am the guy with the orange Mets shirt in Raleigh. The next time you are in Raleigh it’s my treat at Mookies deli
I'll be back with more comments after I finish reading this piece, but first, YOU ARE 100% CORRECT ON THE PERFECTION OF THE STANDARD REESE'S PEANUT BUTGER CUP. It's not just the perfect ratio of peanut butter to chocolate but the crunchy ridges. You have to savor cracking that edge as you run your tongue along the ridges. Mmm! I'll stop there, as this is a family substack.
One more thing on Halloween: I'm a bit of a Halloween Scrooge, or agnostic, but I've got candy ready for kids. I don't need to be asked for I "celebrate" Halloween. It's not a religious holiday. Just because our yard isn't decorated with 20-ft skeletons does not mean we don't love giving trick-or-treaters candy.
The best retired number story I’m aware of is when the Bruins held a ceremony to retire Phil Esposito’s number 7. As it was being worn by future HOFer Ray Bourque at the time, the story was that Bourque would be grandfathered to continue to wear it. During the ceremony Bourque removed his number 7 jersey and gave it to Espo, revealing his new number 77, truly retiring number 7. Espo had no idea it would happen. Very moving.
There’s an old fashioned candy store near my house that has lots of the old candies and sodas. Wish I had my old metabolism! Remember the Charleston bar? When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes let me pick out a candy. Picked that once because it was so big. Big mistake… The best candies are as follows:
1. Twix
2. Kitcat
3. Smarties
4. Plain Hershey bar
5. 100 Grand
Reese’s not even in my top 10.
Here is my VII idea. Understand, Joe said these were supposed to be totally unrealistic but fun.
Once each game, each manager can reverse the base path direction for the rest of that half inning. So the players have to run around the bases the opposite direction. For example, bottom of the ninth lead off man walks. You would immediately reverse the base path direction so now you have essentially a man on third with no outs. And if the batter hits the ball, he has to run to third rather than first. The infielders are allowed to switch so the first baseman can go to third and vice versa. And I would make it so once one manager has reversed the direction, the other cannot reverse them for the rest of that half inning. And, you can reverse on offense or defense. So, leadoff triple in the seventh inning? Reverse!
Here’s another one. Forget about the ghost runner. When the game goes to extra innings, each inning, the number of fielders is reduced by one. Fielding team gets to choose who they pull off the field and how to reposition the remaining fielders. But the batting lineup stays the same, so when you get pulled off the field, you just become another DH.
My VII is based on an observation from my baseball-hating wife. I know this is not a good start, but I'll say that she loves me enough to show some interest in the playoffs whenever my Phillies are involved and I'm doing stuff like growing a playoff beard and eating a Philly-centric food (eg, cheesesteak, hoagie, soft pretzel, roast pork sandwich with broccoli rabe) before each playoff game.
When the Phillies and Rays had to wait out that suspended World Series game in 2008, before coming back to finish up the final innings, my loving wife watched the entire final innings with me - AND ACTUALLY GOT EXCITED for not just me but the Phillies themselves. When the game ended, she said, "I'd like baseball if all games only went a few innings!"
So, my VII, on Sondra's behalf, is that postseason games go only 5 innings (3 is too few). We get to see starting pitchers pitch "complete games." Maybe we avoid postseason bullpen games - or at least they don't feel as excruciating. All series go either 5 to 7 games. No more whining about 3-game series not favoring division winners. Oh, and maybe a few of us get in a little more time with our baseball-hating loved ones.
1. Any ground rule double that bounces over the fence in fair territory scores all base runners (except the batter), even someone on first base. The current rule is frustrating, as the runner on first would often score if the ball hadn’t bounced over the fence. If a ground rule double bounces over the fence in foul territory, then the current rule applies.
2. In the event a regular season game is tied after nine innings, then a showdown decides the winner. Here are the showdown rules: The home team can choose either to be on offense or on defense. The offense starts the inning with a runner on first base (of their own choosing) and no one out. The offense can set its batting order any way it wants. A maximum of five batters is needed. If the offense scores a run before making three outs, the team on offense wins. If the defense gets three outs without allowing a run, the team on defense wins. Either team can utilize any player on its active roster, even if that player was previously substituted out of the game. Once the lineups for the showdown are set, no substitutions are allowed, except in case of injury, and in such a case, the removed player must be placed on the IL.
3. In the event a pitcher throws four balls to a batter without throwing at least one strike, all baserunners move up one base. If that’s not enough of a disincentive for intentional walks (and unintentional, intentional walks), each team can designate one player per game to be it’s “star” hitter, and if that hitter is thrown four balls without at least one strike, all runners (including the batter), advance two bases. This encourages pitchers to throw strikes and incentivizes pitchers throwing at least one strike to a hitter before pitching around them. Baseball is the best game, but a flaw is a star hitter can be intentionally walked without penalty in key situations, which hurts the fans who pay to watch a game.
There are certain things that make me go "WHAT?!?!?!" and in this article it is that the Blue Jays have not retired Joe Carter's number. What in the living heck are they waiting for?
Reese's is indeed the greatest candy. You correctly call them "Reese's Cups," rather than "Reese's Peanut Butter Cups," as that stuff inside is amazingly delicious, but in no way resembles peanut butter.
You mention Dwight Gooden (16) as a non-HOF retired number for the Mets, but there are also Keith Hernandez (17), Darryl Strawberry (18) and Jerry Koosman (36). They are probably one of the only teams to have two numbers retired for managers, Casey Stengel (37) and Gil Hodges (14), although technically Hodges played for them for two seasons. Finally, the Mets only have 9 retired numbers. To get to 12, you need to count the team’s founder plus two broadcasters who are honored, but no numbers are involved.
How is Dave Stieb’s number not retired?
Stieb is underrated for a couple of reasons I think. One is that he never won 20 games. A couple of 20 win seasons would have changed people’s perception of him. Second is that, unfortunately, his productive years ended when he was 32 and just before the Blue Jays won the 2 WS. If Stieb had still been an ace it would have helped his HOF chances (and number retirement). Third, and this is just speculation I could be wrong, I seem to recall that he was kind of a petulant personality and think of him as the kind of pitcher who would show up his teammates when they played poorly behind him. I may be wrong, that’s how I remember him, I was a fan of another team in that division when I was growing up. He was a great pitcher and is better than a lot of pitchers in the HOF. The last thing is that I don’t know if he stayed connected to Toronto after he retired, which can help a lot of guys who weren’t HOFers get their number retired. Was he *beloved* by the fan base?
I grew up in Western Canada, so don’t know the view of him in Toronto, but he was definitely one of my favorite players alongside Fernandez and McGriff. To me, he’s a borderline HoFer who spent nearly his whole career in Toronto. I don’t see anything about teammates disliking him and the team gave him a ring in ‘92 and he came back for a brief stint at age 40. They ran a bobblehead night for him in 2010 and he’s in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. His stats are better than Halladay’s in Toronto. He apparently lives in Reno now, so he’s not super connected to the city, but I still think he’s deserving.
Where do we submit pur VII? The underlined text is not linked to anything.
So I happen to know someone who works at Reese’s (well, at Hershey, on the Reese’s line) and he gave me the mind blowing fact that they use DIFFERENT PEANUT BUTTER for the shapes. That’s why they taste different. It’s not just the ratio.
Was surprised by the fact that pixi foods and Reese’s peanut butter cups seemed to be number one in comments followed by retired jerseys, with crazy proposed rule changes a poor third.
My suggestion on rule changes- Savannah banana rules, especially the walk rule.
Pixifood: peeps 😂
Shorten the game to 7 innings to bring back the chance of starter pitcher prominence
Hey Joe it might THRILL you to know there is an eating establishment in Cary NC that is indeed named for mookie Wilson. I am the guy with the orange Mets shirt in Raleigh. The next time you are in Raleigh it’s my treat at Mookies deli
I'll be back with more comments after I finish reading this piece, but first, YOU ARE 100% CORRECT ON THE PERFECTION OF THE STANDARD REESE'S PEANUT BUTGER CUP. It's not just the perfect ratio of peanut butter to chocolate but the crunchy ridges. You have to savor cracking that edge as you run your tongue along the ridges. Mmm! I'll stop there, as this is a family substack.
One more thing on Halloween: I'm a bit of a Halloween Scrooge, or agnostic, but I've got candy ready for kids. I don't need to be asked for I "celebrate" Halloween. It's not a religious holiday. Just because our yard isn't decorated with 20-ft skeletons does not mean we don't love giving trick-or-treaters candy.
The best retired number story I’m aware of is when the Bruins held a ceremony to retire Phil Esposito’s number 7. As it was being worn by future HOFer Ray Bourque at the time, the story was that Bourque would be grandfathered to continue to wear it. During the ceremony Bourque removed his number 7 jersey and gave it to Espo, revealing his new number 77, truly retiring number 7. Espo had no idea it would happen. Very moving.