Daniel R. Epstein – FanGraphs: I’d like to think that every single person who reads this website loves baseball in one way or another. We wouldn’t be here if not for that love. It’s that same love that leads us to write about baseball, agonize over it, scrutinize its warts, and keep playing even when we probably shouldn’t. Women love baseball just as much as men do, if not more so, and it’s a shame that their love is often maligned or dismissed by male fans.
Matthew Trueblood – Baseball Prospectus ($): The warts we see in baseball and scrutinize are many. It’s possible that none looms larger than the inherent racism still present in the game. It’s not just limited to Major League Baseball and affiliated clubs. All of baseball is tainted by racism in some way, and in that fashion, racism has caused baseball to become a game of shame. The love is still present, but it’s hard to see it through all the mascots and ill-chosen nicknames.
Rob Arthur – Baseball Prospectus ($): It’s odd to think that the person who loves baseball the least may just happen to be the man charged with overseeing it’s largest organization. Yet, here we are once again talking about another way in which Rob Manfred has let baseball down. Even if there is no conspiracy and the playoff balls weren’t de-juiced intentionally Manfred has put the game in a position where a conspiracy is far too easy to buy into. There’s no honest way to deny that Manfred is not a fan of the game, just as there’s no honest way to deny that he continues to hurt the game with his mismanagement and craven practices.
Lead photo courtesy of Unknown – CNN.com
