By age 12, just about everyone in America has played some form of baseball. Simply playing catch counts, though most have swung a stick at a ball somewhere along the line. The rising popularity of fantasy baseball over the past 20-plus years has brought another level of game-playing into the equation. Because so many of us have played on some level, more of us consider ourselves worthy of expert commentary.
It?s why they invented talk radio, and more recently, message boards on the Internet.
Seriously, I never cease to be amazed at the fervor displayed by baseball fans, and Oriole fans are no better or worse. There is one particularly loud group who believes that money solves everything, and that failure to land a key free agent is based purely on a club?s owner being cheap ? never mind that the team that landed that player will likely regret adding those additional seasons/millions well before the contract is over.
The fantasy GM?s base everything on stats, which frequently creates inner turmoil: a guy on your fantasy team homers to win a game against your favorite real team. It?s why so many fantasy players are well versed in which antacid tastes best.
Another group tends to soft-pedal free agency in favor of player development, the slow-but-sure method of building a competitive team. These fans will cut the home team some slack for a few years, as long as some improvement is evident. They will also be the first fans to demand a change in upper management when it doesn?t happen.
The Orioles have spent a lot of money this offseason. They addressed the bullpen issue ? it was imperative after they lost 18 games last year when they had the lead after six innings ? and added some outfield depth, and some power to the lineup. The stage is set for some real improvement, bothin the standings and at the gate. Yet, for many armchair experts, simple improvement to a winning record will not be sufficient.
Nine straight losing seasons have soured some fans on the home team. As one online poster put it, some fans feel it?s their “birthright” as Baltimoreans to have a contender. After all, didn?t the Orioles win more games than anyone for the quarter-century between 1960 and 1984? Nothing less than postseason play will satisfy those folks.
When I was growing up, just going to the ballpark was fun. If the home team happened to win, it was a bonus ? something I was frequently deprived of as a Senators? fan. Today, the ballpark experience alone doesn?t cut it for a lot of people, fans who have determined that only winning baseball is worthy of their time and money.
What a shame, that fun should have such an inexact qualifier attached to it. Never mind that many fans are essentially clueless to how the game really works on the inside. It?s more than stats, more than money, and as we?ve seen, gobs of money don?t always produce the stats that get it done. Barring injuries ? the great unknown ? the Orioles should return to .500 status in 2007. An 11-game swing, or better, from last year should be fun to watch. And shouldn?t fun be priority one as a fan?
Phil Wood has covered baseball in the Washington/Baltimore market for more than 30 years. You can reach him at [email protected].
