Major League Baseball welcomed 73,364,441 fans into stadiums this season, the fifth-highest total in the history of the game. That sounds great, until you realize that the total attendance numbers dropped 6.65 percent for the year, the steepest drop since 1952. Before you start sounding the recession alarm, however, it's important to note that there wasn't much chance of baseball avoiding a decline this season.
The Mets and Yankees each moved into new, smaller ballparks this season, moves which cost baseball more than 20,000 seats in total. As Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseballpoints out, even if each team had sold out every seat this season there wasn't much chance of baseball not seeing a downturn in attendance. As it was, the two New York teams accounted for 30 percent of the total decline.
As the No. 1 overall pick in 1990, Chipper Jones signed with the Braves for $275,000.
Even in today's dollars, that's about $450,000 -- or about 3 percent of Stephen Strasburg was guaranteed as this year's No. 1 pick.
And Jones agreed to his deal the night before the draft, while Strasburg came within two minutes of missing last Monday's deadline to sign.
"I think the only way that you're going to get kids signed and get them into the various camps is to put some kind of cap on it," Jones said. "I was always of the belief that you make your money at the big-league level."
That's how the teams want it too. When the current collective bargaining agreement is up in two years, Major League Baseball may pursue an NBA-style slotting system -- with signing bonuses locked in depending on how high a player is picked, as opposed to the current non-binding slot recommendations.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
Bud Selig has been rightfully blamed for many of baseball's ills, like the notorious "juiced" era, the debacle during the 2009 World Series and a myriad of other issues. It's easy to paint him a scapegoat for everything -- and, make no mistake, I do it often. If for no other reason than for the purposes of symmetry, though, we should give him credit when it's due. So, Bud, I'd like to say thank you for the wild card.
ST. LOUIS -- Bud Selig said Tuesday he'd like players suspended for performance-enhancing drugs, such as Manny Ramirez, not to be able to go on minor-league assignments while their suspensions are in force.
During his annual All-Star break question-and-answer session with members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, the commissioner also touched on Pete Rose, the Nationals, collusion charges and the effect of the economy on baseball.
Of course, All-Star snubs are an annual ritual. All told, the rosters aren't bad. In today's Dugout, it's revealed that they could have been far, far worse. Read it after the jump.
This morning, things just seemed different. I could tell. I had a little more spring in my step. The air tasted just a little more sweet. Little did I know that we'd be finding out Sammy Sosa had tested positive for banned substances in 2003! It was closure. Like figuring out the ending to a movie in the first five minutes, then having it last for 15 years.
Stories this obvious need an esoteric approach, and until the Roto Rush starts contemplating Heaven as a series of interlocking plane terminals and hotel suites, that's our job.
The most inane drug-related rule in my sportswriting life? Back in the old, wacky Continental Basketball Association, naturally. Upon walking through a hallway of weed fumes at the Holiday Inn in Bangor, Maine, where I was doing a feature on a traveling minor-league team obviously participating in cannabis exploration, I checked out my trusty CBA handbook. It confirmed that players were forbidden to use recreational drugs, all right.
On the "day of a game."
Otherwise, smoke and snort away.
Now, years later, I've found a more absurd rule. According to baseball's drug agreement, "A player shall be deemed to have been eligible to play in the All-Star Game if he was elected or selected to play; the commissioner's office shall not exclude a player from eligibility for election or selection because he is suspended under the program." Meaning, Manny Ramirez -- villain of the Scammywood steroids suspension that continues to rock the sport -- is eligible to play in the All-Star Game next month if enough fans vote for his inclusion in the National League starting lineup.
Lackey's piece on Major League Baseball's blackout policy makes it even more difficult to understand the league's logic. I'm not sure exactly how the powers that be determined which areas should and should not be blacked out from a given broadcast, but I have a theory. Every time you attempt to watch a game, all the MLB executives gather together in a sequestered conclave. They take a vote amongst themselves and burn the ballot cards in a furnace. If white smoke plumes out of the smokestack outside, you can watch the game. If black smoke comes out, you are out of luck.
A conversation between you, the consumer, and commissioner Bud Selig is after the jump.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
When Willy Aybar's home run Thursday in Cleveland was upheld by a video review, it marked the sixth time in six days umpires made use of baseball's instant-replay rule.
So the natural question to ask Jimmie Lee Solomon, Major League Baseball's executive vice president of baseball operations, is why the flurry of trips to the secret chamber to watch replays? Are the umps more willing to consult the tape than in the past?
"These things come in bunches," Solomon told FanHouse.
Major League Baseball welcomed 73,364,441 fans into stadiums this season, the fifth-highest total in the history of the game. That sounds great, until you realize that the total attendance numbers dropped 6.65 percent for the year, the steepest drop since 1952. Before you start sounding the recession alarm, however, it's important to note that there wasn't much chance of baseball avoiding a decline this season. 
Every Sunday, 
ST. LOUIS -- 
The 
This morning, things just seemed different. I could tell. I had a little more spring in my step. The air tasted just a little more sweet. Little did I know that we'd be finding out 
SECAUCUS, N.J. - Mike Trout was the star of MLB Network's coverage of Tuesday's draft.
The most inane drug-related rule in my sportswriting life? Back in the old, wacky Continental Basketball Association, naturally. Upon walking through a hallway of weed fumes at the Holiday Inn in Bangor, Maine, where I was doing a feature on a traveling minor-league team obviously participating in cannabis exploration, I checked out my trusty CBA handbook. It confirmed that players were forbidden to use recreational drugs, all right.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in 
