MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred floated the possibility of a rule change to the game so bad that it might destroy the entire sport of baseball.
No, that isn’t hyperbole. I have personally spoken to many, many fans who have said they would legitimately stop watching baseball if the rule was implemented.
In case you haven’t heard yet, Manfred suggested there is a lot of “buzz” around team owners about implementing the “golden at-bat” rule. And it’s as dumb as it sounds.
The rule would allow each team to have whoever they want to come to the plate one time in the game. Take the Yankees for example. Let’s say they have the bases loaded, two outs in the bottom of the ninth, down three runs, and Oswaldo Cabrera is coming to the plate.
Bam – “golden at-bat” rule – they insert Juan Soto, walk-off grand slam. It sounds cartoonish and something you’d see out of a video game because it is.
“There are a variety of [rule change ideas] that are being talked about out there. One of them—there was a little buzz around it at an owners’ meeting—was the idea of a ‘Golden At-Bat.'” Manfred said on The Varsity podcast.
The Buzz For The Golden At-Bat Is Exclusively Negative
Any child could see that the “golden at-bat” rule would completely wreck the game. So the only “buzz” Manfred is hearing is of the negative variety.
In fact, I have yet to locate a social media post that says, ‘Ya know, I really love this idea. I think it’d be great for the game.’
To the contrary, all I hear is stuff like this.
“Whaaaaat? Is this an April Fool’s joke in December? Come on,” wrote New York Mets broadcaster Howie Rose.
Unfortunately, the only joke in baseball is the guy named Manfred.
“Has a pro sports league ever come up with a dumber idea than Rob Manfred’s idea of the Golden at bat?” a fan asked on X. “How about we just let the best player bat the whole game or have a golden runner if a slow player gets on base?”
“This can’t be real,” seven-time Cy Young Award winner and Vitamin B enthusiast Roger Clemens wrote on X.
Man, when you can’t even get the steroid rage monsters on board with a rule that’s essentially cheating, you know how far adrift you’ve gone.
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Even Manfred Used To Hat It
Want to know just how bad the “golden at-bat” rule is? The guy who’s claiming it is generating a lot of buzz didn’t even like it when he first heard about it.
Some rube on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” suggested an incredibly similar idea called the “Magic At-Bat” to Manfred on the show years ago.
“When you make those changes I think it’s always important to ask yourself the question as to whether you are interfering with the history and the traditions of the game,” Manfred replied at the time.
“And I think the suggestion that you just floated falls squarely in the category of would interfere with the history and traditions of the game.”
Now he’s gung ho about destroying all of that with a “golden at-bat” rule.
It shouldn’t be surprising. This is the same man who allowed the entire team of cheats known as the Houston Astros off without suspending a single player, but forced the greatest hitter of all time to go to his grave without being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Maybe MLB needs a ‘golden Commissioner’ rule for every time Manfred says or does something to ruin the game.
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