SI.com's "Things We Miss in Baseball."

I miss stats that are all CAPs and no longer than three letters, HR, RBI, K, BB, ERA, E and the Red Sox always coming up just short.
I don't miss fat umpires who acted like they were in the WWE, Candlestick Park, and the Wave.

 

True that, although that happened probably 27 times (max) a year (notwithstanding the odd West Coast day game) for you guys.

Myself, I enjoyed the two WC roadies per year for the East Division Redbirds.

 

I miss the novelty of seeing the AL v. NL in the All-Star game, Hunter v. Billy Williams, Palmer v. Mays, Fernando v. Reggie, Gooden v. Bo. It meant something.

 

Easy. Baseball Tonight or SportsCenter being the only place to catch highlights.

 

Fairweather Braves fans - and that's NOT a shot at you, TigerVols.

But it was amazing to discover how many people claimed to be Braves fans in the early '90s. And by amazing, I mean overbearing and nauseating.

 

I do miss the mystique that came with the World Series. Until I could drive and actually head down to Cincinnati the only time I could see the National League was either the All-Star Game, the NL Playoffs or on Monday Night Baseball. By the way, I really miss Monday Night Baseball. Used to have to barter with my sister, she could watch whatever she wanted Tuesday through Sunday, Monday I got to watch Monday Night Baseball. Now you can pretty much watch any game wherever you are in the country. This is a great thing but I kind of miss how special it was to watch a National League team living in an American League city.

 

Have to say, I've never understood the nostalgia for one-game-a-week viewing. Yeah, that made each game more "special" -- but we also missed out on a TON of stuff.

Other than a few playoff games in the mid-80s, when I was too young to appreciate it, I never once got to hear Vin Scully call a game until I was 23 years old. What a treat. Hate that I missed out on guys like him for my entire childhood.

Today's options are so much better, I think. It would be a grand time to grow up and be able to listen to any game you wanted. Is the lost "mystique" worth missing out on so much? Not to me.

 

I think it's like when you are a kid, when the ice cream man came through the neighborhood it was special. One of those orange push-up things never tasted so good. Now, as an adult, you can go to the store and buy a box of them. Yes, having as many of them as you want at your disposal is better, but that one from the ice cream guy tasted better for some reason.

 

There used to be Thursday Night Baseball in the summer, right? Because I always correlated Monday Night Baseball with Expos minor league lifer Razor Shines having a big game...until I channeled Bucky and looked up Shines' game logs. He finished with five RBI and--remarkably--no runs scored in 81 at-bats, which means his only moment in the sun had to have occurred when he drove in the Expos' only run in a 1-0 win on Thursday, July 25, 1985.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MON/MON198507250.shtml

Oh well Razor. We'll always have your ubiquitous 1986 Topps card!

 

Razor is now the third base coach for the offenisve juggernaut that is the New York fucking pathetic Mets.

 

Having the Braves in the West worked out for me when I lived on the East Coast. I got to see my Dodgers way more often than I otherwise would.

 

Razor Shines and Nelson Simmons...I thought they, along with Eric Anthony a few years later, were going to be the next big things.