I agree with what you said(and Billfer as well), and I am also…

Still I think Libertarian or not MLB is much stronger than NPB and MLB can do what it wants

In my view I see them, leagues in Mexico/Central America/South America/Europe/elsewhere in Asia/Africa/Canada as stepping stones to MLB

They are like the replacement of semi-pro and amateur leagues that we had here before we instituted farm clubs for every organization

They had posting fees where teams sold players (like Japanese leagues do)

it’s not like the team is going to give the Tigers a break because they respected the agreement.

Other way around. They’ll blackball the ones that don’t respect the agreement. The Tigers are betting that they will have better access to talent if they work with the current power structure instead of trying to undermine it. I disagree, but that’s no surprise, because I’m very libertarian.

Unless there are other politics at play that I’m not aware of (highly likely), I don’t see how this helps anything.

Nope what do we have today?

Maggs, Bondo, Zoom Zoom, Grandy, Poly, Sheff, Inge Cringe, JV, the Gambler, Pudge

we’ve lost our personality =P most of those nicknames have to do with the player’s name except for Pudge and partly Zumaya

most of the dead ball/live ball names don’t – they deal with the persons characteristics – where they were born, their physical attributes etc.

The guys you named

Wahoo, Nebraska is where Crawford is from
Rabbit = fast
3 fingered Brown – had 3 fingers on a hand

Some others (including who I mentioned)
EEE YAH – what he’d yell when coaching
Dummy Hoy – he was deaf (I did a report on him in school a long time ago)

Cobb’s was

The Georgia Peach – from Georgia

Hans Wagner was the Flying Duchman – due to his speed and being German

Eddie Collins was called Cocky (because I assume he was)

Who can forget Shoeless Joe Jackson – played one game shoeless due to pain

Denton Young – nicknamed Cy(short for Cyclone) due to his fastball speed

Bob Feller being Rapid Robert and Walter Johnson being the Big Train for the same reason as Cy etc.

Still we have Zoom Zoom – so maybe we haven’t totally lost it

Oh yea and Nate – Gum Time – Robertson

As far as Dice K, his ERA was pretty darn good, and had a pretty darn good record, yes he should probably go longer in games, however not if it means he gets lit up… (BTW Matsui was healthy it seems in ’07, but that is neither here nor there)

Who knows how it’ll be though in 30 or 40 years.. MLB is certainly looking to become global is MY point…

As an organization, you have to look at all possibilites whether they be in Europe, Latin America, Asia or wherever. I tend to think that the wisest investments come out of the Latin countries, though. A greater chance at finding lasting talent there.

However no, I cannot trace my immediate ancestry back to Ty, considering from what my parents know my first ancestors came over here from Eastern and Central Europe probably right before/after he was becoming a big “hit”

I’ve been to Georgia/South Carolina quite a few times and Virginia many times, and I liked everything about it except the weather (wayyyy tooo muggy + wayyyy too many bugs mosquitoes horse flys and the like)

I find him and all other dead baseball ERA guys extremely interesting

I’m reading another book on him in some of my spare time as we speak.

Maybe when I have more time I’ll look back to some other guys before and after him much more in depth. Maybe Honus Wagner, Ed Delahanty, Joe Dimaggio, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Cap Anson, Sam Crawford Moses Fleetwood Walker, Hank Greenberg, Bob Feller, Charlie Gehringer, Joe Jackson, Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Walter Johnson are some names that come to my mind

I’ve looked these guys up a small bit on these here internets and know something about them with their dealings/or lack thereof with Ty, although I have yet to read a book devoted to them

A great book I read a few years ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....heir_Times
has some stuff about them (Sam Crawford is in it)

Plus Ichiro has been pretty darn good, Dice K might win a few Cys just based on what we saw from last year’s adjustment

What about Saito or Okajima

http://www.baseball-reference......ta01.shtml

you wouldn’t want someone to post up #s like that?

Plus with China(Korea, Taiwan etc.) getting into the act it seems, that is a lot of people and I would be surprised if that country could not produce a few HOF

Heck the first Indian players signed last week…

It seems like baseball is wanting and becoming “global” just like everything else

Seriously, though, I’m not all that upset that the Tigers haven’t pursued players from that area more fervently. Aside from Ichiro and (sort of) Dice-K, Asian players haven’t really made a huge impact in the States. Chan Ho Park, anyone? Fukudome tanked pretty badly for the Cubs. Nomo was so-so. et cetera. The problem, of course, is that most of the time you’re getting these guys on the tail end of their primes so you’re only likely to get a couple good years out of them (cf. Matsui, Hideki). Latin America is the place to invest your international scouting dollar IMHO.

However I highly doubt I’m going to stay around here (Michigan) for the rest of my life

Plus as we both know baseball is a business trying to make money and it has been that way forever

My “foresight” into the future tells me that sooner or later we’ll have more than just one foreign team… How long that takes I duno

Quite a few teams have moved around, most before I’ve been around but still

Philly A’s were in Philly from 1901 (a charter member of the AL) and then moved over 50 years later (1955 – not long after Connie Mack retired) to Kansas City then in 1968 to Oakland

The first Washington Senators played there for 60 years before moving to become the Twins

And the Senator team that replaced the ones that went to Minny became the Rangers

Plus you’ve got the Browns that became the Orioles (who ended up moving and being sold for totally financial reasons – their owner couldn’t compete with the Cards and the new Anheuser Bush owners)

And that is just the AL

In the NL you have quite a few but probably the two biggest ones in either league were

The Dodgers, and the Giants – when they moved across the country(to take advantage of the western market) from what I’ve read it was a pretty big (and seemed crazy at the time) deal.

The only thing I could compare is if the Yanks/BoSox were to move today

Heck I’ve read that the Tigers might not have been in Detroit if it wasn’t for Ty Cobb (they had terrible attendance and were thinking about relocating).

Plus you’ve got the Expos who gave the broadcasting rights in certain areas to the Blue Jays and ended up killing themselves.

It’s bound to happen again, just who knows when the next sudden wave will be…

Since we’ve got over 3 million fans and have a high payroll plus the new park I don’t think it’ll happen here anytime soon, but you never know…

However on the other hand, if they could pick out a diamond then by all means take him…

Players over there should have their choice and money talks… IF they want to come here to have a career they should

It probably is the best in the LONG LONG LONG RUN for MLB to become a global league – keep driving up the talent pool

Heck they go to leagues in South America, Latin America

Granderson just went to China and Africa

We’ve got guys in Canada, Australia, Europe, Israel

Pay to see the best of the best

PLUS as we’ve seen in CUBA a lot guys who want to play here get here anyways

LET THE PLAYER DECIDE, LESS RULES/RESTRICTIONS IS BETTER IMO

Heck I almost wonder if certain teams should move to other countries that have cities with high populations where their would be a big demand for tickets

Travel wouldn’t be fun, but I bet in the future it’ll happen, a few years back they were talking about having some teams in Mexico, maybe eventually they’d have 2 in Japan, a few in Central/South America etc.