Letters: How many errors can these guys make?

June 19, 2020 1:55 PM PT

When does a 100% chance of something happening not mean it’s absolutely certain? When it involves Major League Baseball.

Mark Kaenel
Highland

Here’s a thought. All players agree to play this year for the MLB minimum of $564,000. The number of games, including playoffs, is easily negotiated insofar as they finish before Nov 1. Playoff and World Series shares are split equally between owners and players. The balance of total season profit to be shared with 30% to the owners and 70% split equally between COVID-19 research and salvaging minor league baseball.

Everyone shares the pain this year and baseball survives a thumbs-down grade from its fans.

Gary Engstrom
Laguna Woods

Rob Manfred’s lack of leadership is further proof that there hasn’t been a commissioner who has acted “in the best interests of baseball” since Fay Vincent.

Evan Puziss
Mar Vista

MLB should just do like Maris and make it 61* games, since this season is going to have an asterisk regardless.

Steve Ross
Beverly Hills

Hey, baseball. Stay out. Staying out is the best thing that could ever happen for the fans. Your popularity will drop below hockey, ticket prices will go down and with any luck maybe some teams will even go bankrupt. Who needs the Diamondbacks? We certainly don’t need the Astros. So please, all you millionaire players and billionaire owners, cancel the 2020 season over money. You will be doing all us fans a huge favor.

Ken Rayzor
Moorpark

I’m confident that all the letter writers that think the players are whiners and complainers and that it’s all about money would be more than happy, and thankful even, to accept whatever is offered. I’m sure they would trust their employer, who has tied their compensation to the income of the company, but refuses to divulge just what that income amounted to.

Yes, I’m sure from their letters that they would accept whatever they were told and happily, without a thought that they were being used and ripped off, return to work.

Martin Wauson
Anaheim

What the NBA, NHL, MLS, NASCAR, IndyCar and international soccer are showing us all is they care about their sport, the fans and the times we are living in. Pandemic allowing, all will be back by next month providing us all with daily respites of normalcy. Yet, MLB owners and players have proven they could care less about anything other than themselves. I am a baseball fan. I am a Dodgers season-ticket holder. If baseball doesn’t return, I am done.

Geno Apicella
Placentia

Oh, and the DH?

Leave baseball alone and bring back the traditional rules of the game.

It all started back in 1973 with the designated hitter, which took away a good deal of managerial strategy. Recently they have taken away pitching four balls to award an intentional walk and requiring a relief pitcher to face at least three batters. The most recent suggestion is to eliminate extra innings and have a home run derby instead. Really? All these changes, among others, have been initiated to add excitement and to speed up the action of the game. All it’s really done is created asterisks in the record books.

If you really want to speed up baseball I suggest eliminating the replay review process currently being used. It is my opinion that in all of the major sports, major league umpires are the most accurate of all officials. Of course human error is possible but it was always a part of the game and you just lived with it. I would much rather see an irate manager kicking dirt on an umpires shoes than watch as umpires wearing headsets, stand around for several minutes waiting for someone else to make a final decision on a play. Talk about ho-hum!

Kent M. Paul
Costa Mesa

Taking a knee

A reminder to those who got their shorts in a wad when Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem: My father (and all of us who served in later conflicts) fought in World War II precisely to protect Kaepernick’s constitutional right to peacefully protest. The oath that all service personnel take is to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” — it is not an oath to protect with their lives “The Star Spangled Banner.”

If you believe in American exceptionalism, it is this concept that sets the United States apart. Perhaps one NFL owner can show a modicum of the bravery that each member of the armed services exhibits daily and hire Colin Kaepernick.

Dave Sanderson
La Cañada

The sacrifices made by Muhammad Ali’s quest for equality, equal justice and his determination to fight institutional racism cannot be compared to Colin Kaepernick’s taking a knee protesting racism or fighting for a backup QB job in the NFL.

Donald Peppars
Pomona

Not just racing

Fox Sports promised a frank interview with Bubba Wallace, the African American NASCAR driver whose protest led to the banning of the Confederate flag. Broadcaster Shannon Spake began by describing Wallace as “the face of change,” outspoken, honest, and an 11th-place finisher at Martinsville.

Words never uttered in the 69 seconds devoted to the controversy: controversy, Confederate flag. Her two Caucasian colleagues steered the conversation to racing and a future at Fox News.

Mario Valvo
Ventura

Hole truth

What a pleasure it was watching the Charles Schwab Challenge over the weekend without the usual loudmouths in the gallery shouting “It’s in the hole!” on every shot! I love “Caddyshack” as much as anyone, but seriously ... it’s 40 years ago!

Jimmy Reed
Lake Arrowhead

Initial response

When and if fans will be allowed back into sporting events, here are some common sports abbreviations and terms that will garner some new meanings.

DH: Disinfectant Hitter

FG: Fighting Germs

TD: Touching Disallowed

ESPN: Encompassing Safety Precautionary Needs

NHL: No Hands Locking

NFL, No Fiving League

Facemasking and cleanup man will now have different meanings as well.

And when an usher asks to see your ticket, will he also ask to see your ID from Kaiser or Blue Cross.

Welcome to our new world.

Craig London
Encino

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