Winning the Day: Saving Baseball
Winning the Day: Saving Baseball
Baseball’s Decline
Major League Baseball has a problem. Over the past couple of decades, how the game is being approached and ultimately played continues to drag the sport down. Poorly trending statistics only tell half the story. Soaring costs and skyrocketing salaries are accompanied by widespread cheating, 1 and 2 tool players, elongated game times, and the emergence of an exclusive baseball “club” that has fans collectively dismayed.
‘All or Nothing’ Mentality
Baseball scholars offer up a number of reasons for batting averages dropping 10%, strikeouts nearly doubling, and OBP falling from a stout .345 all the way down to .312 over recent years. However, my personal observations and research suggest there’s one underlying commonality that’s gone all but unnoticed, or worse yet…..ignored. Instead of focusing on what the game of baseball was originally intended to be…..a grand meshing of teamwork through diverse, all-encompassing ability…..the MLB now promotes an ill-fated “all or nothing” mentality, one in which the HR may be king but ultimately works to further diminish the true beauty of the game.
Lack of Accountability
All told, the story remains a factual account of the ongoing watering down of the level of talent that may otherwise be taking today’s professional fields if it weren’t for the current system that’s firmly rooted in place. Furthermore, this ongoing distortion of what should be natural progression based on diverse skill-sets is much more common than one might expect…..something the book’s primary theme proves over and over in a multitude of incontestable ways throughout every level the game is being played.
True Player Value
On the one hand, many teams have adopted and succeeded primarily using a statistical-based approach to identify ‘true player value’. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball has done nothing to ensure that the talent pool they draft from year after year is stocked with the kind of diversely skilled and statistically superior players fans relish…..athletes whose numbers tell the real story regarding results-oriented ability. The proof, as they say, ‘is in the pudding’ as one doesn’t have to look any further than at what’s statistically happening out on today’s baseball fields.
Baseball ‘Club’
And therein lies the conundrum. Why? When it’s been proven that statistics reflect true ability, why hasn’t the MLB ensured that output is what counts and that player stats should be leading the way to the ‘promised land’? Although there are signs that Major League Baseball seems to be coming around, albeit slowly…..the real fear is that generations of talent are and will continue to miss out in the meantime.
The data is all there waiting to be peeled back and examined. The good news is that you don’t have to take my word for it. Anyone can do similar research on their own, it’s easier to find than you think!
”Winning the Day – Saving Baseball”
Ultimately, “Winning the Day - Saving Baseball” is the true story of one kid’s 17-year journey to continue playing the game he loves. Supplemented throughout with actual events, the narrative chronicles both his improbable rise through the ranks and the alarmingly disingenuous nature of the obstacles encountered along the way. A mix of enlightening, exhilarating, and heartfelt storytelling laced with well-documented facts and first-hand testimonials ensure the reader is compelled to acknowledge the underlying reasons behind the current demise of ‘America’s favorite pastime’.
Praise for ‘Winning the Day: Saving Baseball’
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“Through detailed first-hand experiences and well-documented statistics, the contents of this true account are both entertaining and enlightening. The end result is an awakening as to the origins of what’s gone so drastically wrong with America’s favorite past-time.”
– WebWire
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“Excellent and informative. ‘Winning the Day – Saving Baseball’ is wonderfully written. It is an entertaining and heartfelt true story with facts and stats to back up the author’s points. Highly recommend to all! Enjoy!”
– SD, Amazon
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“Critics have lauded Durland’s book. (He) claims – and backs up with facts and statistics – the assertion that the evolution of the game has gotten completely away from the true beauty of what the game of baseball is supposed to be all about.”
– Gordon Kegan / Sterling Media, Inc.