Rob Manfred is taking over as the commissioner of Major League Baseball after Bud Selig held the post for more than 20 years. Selig often seemed reactionary in the moves that he made, as if he were doing everything that he could to keep baseball exactly as it was when players like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were the superstars.
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By contrast, Manfred seems intent on modernizing the game far beyond its current levels. In the eyes of many, baseball's insistence on adhering to tradition has made it seem stale, as if it were behind the times. That could be part of the reason for the surging popularity of the NFL and NBA (even the NHL is gaining steam in America, something that many said would never happen).
According to Fox Sports, Manfred wants to update baseball's image, and he is already working on ways to make it happen. He acknowledges - unlike many other MLB higher-ups - that younger generations have begun to view baseball as boring because of interminable game times, low-scoring affairs, and several other reasons.
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Manfred wants to keep the game's integrity, so he wants to start small. His first area of focus is improving the pace of play, as games approaching four hours or more (for nine innings!) are plaguing the sport.
Manfred has already said that he would "be aggressive about using the (pitch) clock over the long haul," and there is talk of shortening the break times between innings.
The new commissioner also wants to improve scoring, and he has several ideas for how to do that, including:
- Installing the designated hitter in the National League
- Instituting rules regarding the number of infielders that have to be on each side of second base (in other words, limiting the use of defensive shifts)
- Lowering the mound
- Adjusting the strike zone (umpires are calling more pitches wide of the plate strikes instead of balls in recent seasons)
- Moving fences in at ballparks
- Wrapping baseballs more tightly so that they fly farther
It is doubtful that all of these ideas will be incorporated into baseball at any point, and maybe none of them will ever come to fruition. However, for the sake of baseball's future, fans of the game should be excited that the new commissioner is willing to explore any idea that might improve the game.
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