Is American League baseball the best?

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 5/7/2008

 

If you’re like me, you’re a big fan of Major League Baseball (MLB), the Boys of Summer as they are called. They play 162 games over six months.

 Watching the game of baseball, you are usually forced to decide if you’re an American League fan or a National League fan. MLB is the only professional sports league where half the league teams play a different game.

 Covering the Twins last week, I saw two games against the Chicago White Sox. Last weekend, while in Phoenix, Arizona, I covered the National League Arizona Diamondbacks’ series against Johan Santana and the New York Mets. The Diamondbacks are the hottest team in baseball with the best record, 21-10. 

 In the National League, the pitcher gets to bat for himself. In the American League, the pitcher does not hit — the league uses a designated hitter. Over the last few years, the American League teams have become more dominant. Is that the sole reason?

 Last year, the Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies 4-0 in the World Series; in fact, the American League Champion has swept the World Series three of the last four years. Growing up in Chicago as I did, where there are two baseball teams, the White Sox and the Cubs, I had options. I have always been an American League fan.

 I recently sat down with Hall-of-Famer Joe Morgan (JM) of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight to talk baseball.

The Twins, after sweeping a five-game home stand against Chicago and Detroit, have won five straight and are suddenly on top of the American League Central with a 16-14 record. Closer Joe Nathan has been sensational with 11 saves. Thus my first question to Morgan:

LF: Is the future for the Twins going to be good?

 JM: Obviously, you never know how good a player is going to be until he plays a few games in the Major Leagues. Carlos Gomez looks like he’s a keeper; he’s got great speed, so he can make things happen on the bases. Delmon Young is a very good hitter.

 They’ve got some guys. There are only three guys in the starting lineup that were here last year, and I guess Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer are the only ones that were in that lineup last year. So, you have to wait and see how these new players adjust.  

LF: President George Bush recently joined you and your partner John Miller in the booth. What is that like, to interview the president?

 JM: Well, you have to be careful. First, he is the president of the United States, and I always respect that position, so you have to be respectful of that. Yet, you want to talk to him and ask him things that most baseball people would want to hear about.

 Again, you don’t want to press him too often, at least I don’t, because he’s also a guy I’ve known for a long period of time. His father and I were friends before he ever got into politics. So I’ve known George and George Junior — I’ve known them for a long, long period of time, because I was playing in Houston and they were living in Houston.”

 LF: In Major League Baseball, the American League seems to be stronger. Is it more than just the designated hitter? Is there something else that we’re missing?

 JM: It appears to be stronger. I don’t know if it’s just that, but obviously that contributes to it, because you have pitchers making outs. It gives guys more chances to hit with runners in scoring position.

The American League averages scoring about one more run per game than National League teams, and part of that is the designated hitter. But, the American League has a lot of good teams; I think that’s the key.

 Overall, I think the American League is stronger. There are some teams in the National League that, if you put them up against the American League teams, they can hold their own, but overall I think the American League is a little stronger right now.

 LF: Black players in MLB are now less than eight percent. Is it too late for MLB and its programs to change that trend?

JM: Well, I think the MLB programs can make a dent in it. I don’t think it can change it. I think we’ve waited to long to try and change it.

 You’re going to be able to add some more percentages, one or two percentages up or something like that, but you’re not going to be able to change it to where it was, 27 percent when I played. You’re never going to get back to that, because there are more Latin players now, more players from Asia. So you’re never going to get back to 27 percent.

 You can raise the percentage, but the key is [that] you just have to get players in the inner cities interested in it. First of all, right now everybody wants to be Le Bron James and Kobe Bryant, and I don’t blame them. So, you’re going to have to give them that type of individual that they can look up to. MLB in the past has always made a mistake because they always pushed the team in marketing and they never pushed the individuals.

 NFL football and NBA basketball are just the opposite — they push the individual, and MLB is going to have to do more of that, in my opinion, to match the popularity with the young kids.

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.