why are there so many homeruns in the major leagues?
354665
The baseball is knit tighter and the players are stronger. The harder the ball, the further it will go.  A softball could never be hit as hard.
85605
Most starters with a fastball in their arsenal can exceed 90mph consistantly.  If their fastballs aren't breaking that, they are going to see a lot of homeruns flying over their heads.
614909
I would think this "accomplishment" has been achieved many, many times. I suspect most pitchers have struck out in both their first and final at-bats, and I'd have to believe that many other players have flailed in both at-bats as well.\n\nIn fact, given a few minutes, I suspect I could find several players whose only major league at-bats were all strikeouts.
404496
Because there is no such thing as a player who is so good that he should be walked every time up.\n\nIn 2005, Pujols batted 591 times with an additional 97 walks, for 688 plate appearances (not counting sacrifices, just at bats plus walks here to simplify).\n\nWith 114 singles, 38 doubles, 2 triples and 41 HR, that's 360 total bases, plus another 97 for the walks for a total of 457 bases.\n\nHe made 396 outs, so his bases/outs ratio is 457/396 = 1.15, which is excellent.\n\nBut if you walk him every time, you get 688 bases, with no outs...that's far worse (for the defense).\n\nBasically, you can't take the 396 outs that Pujols made and give those extra 396 outs to his teammates. You'll get killed in the long run.\n\nBill James has shown that not even Babe Ruth was good enough that it would have made sense to walk him every time he came to bat. The bases/outs ratio is the reason. \n\n(steaksammich had the right idea about the OBP).\n\nIf you walked Pujols every time out, one or two of his teammates would end up driving in 150 runs apiece.
691647
Maybe because they are one of the top teams in the country.  Behind the Yankees, they are also the highest paid so they should be getting their moneys worth out of them. They also have been kicking butt in the pennant race the last few years.
613479
I think that Barry Bonds should be up there with his godfather, Willie Mays, but not with the babe and hank arron. Without the steriods he still would have hit a ton, even if what the book Game of Shadows says is true, and he started in 1998, the pace that he was going on, he still probably would have reached 600. And even 600 is enough to be put in the same category as the babe and aaron, but not worthy of being on the exact same level as the two greatest homerun hitters of all time.
309878
Depending on the side of the ball you come from... Based on the way things are going?  Payroll  Because you can buy a great team and build a winning tradition.  The team may not win the World Series every year but they will always be in contention.\n\nIf you want real stats from a analitical point on players:\n\nTraditionally, statistics like batting average for batters (the number of hits divided by the number of at bats) and earned run average (approximately the number of runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings) have governed the statistical world of baseball. However, the advent of sabermetrics brought an onslaught of new statistics that better gauge a player's performance and contributions to his team from year to year.\n\nSome sabermetric statistics have entered the mainstream baseball world. Among statistics that do an excellent job of measuring a batter's performance, On-base plus slugging (OPS) is the easiest to calculate. It adds the hitter's on base percentage ([hits + walks + number of times hit by pitches] divided by [number of times at bat + walks + number of times hit by a pitch + number of sacrifice flies]) to his or her slugging percentage (total bases divided by at bats). Some argue that the OPS formula is flawed and that more weight should be shifted towards OBP (on base percentage). Regardless, OPS still stands as the most direct means of evaluating a hitter's performance using readily available statistics.
597280
Overall, I'm not sure, but:\n\n73% of players who make it to AAA ball make the majors\n33% of AA players\n15% of A players\n9% of short-season A players
134148
True because shot-outs are awesome; and it is a faster moving game.\n\nFalse more goalies are getting hurt (Goalie Here)
903817
not everything is about money. these are players who have more than likely accumulated a lot of money over their playing careers. unless they squandered it all on gambling, i'm sure there is no need for more money. sure, the value of their baseball cards go up, but that's a different story. and being inducted into the hall of fame isn't necissarily completely for the player either. a lot of fans are very happy to see their favorite players being inducted into one of sport's most prestigious resting places so to speak. while i don't know if there are any financial benefits to the players, i can say that is the last thing on their minds the day they are inducted.
241541
I read somewhere that between 4 and 5 dozen balls are used in a Major League Game.  ie 48 - 60 balls
1185572
You're right....IW's are a copout...pitch to players like Bonds, Ortiz, and Ramirez....Let the pitcher prove his worth.  If they are that good, then face them and pitch.  That's what makes baseball so exciting and unpredictable (to a certain degree).
631092
its VERY rare that a team calls up a player from A ball to the majors, although from time to time players in AA get the call....dontrelle willis from the marlins is a great example of a player who went from AA to the majors with great success.\n\nGenerally, yes, the talent level at AAA is greater than at other levels, although sometimes AAA rosters are filled with several players who are "career" minor leaguers...ones that just dont have the "stuff" to play in the majors.   Often times AA has players with more sheer "talent", but those players just dont yet have enough experience to be able to succeed at the major league level.\n\nteams assign players to the different levels of the minor league system first by experience.  nearly every player starts out in a rookie league or low level A team.  the very best players however will quickly advance thru levels, opften times being promoted twice or more in their first couple of seasons.  promotions after that are based on the players production and talent and the immediate needs of the major league club.\n\nin addtion to teams using the minor leagues to eventually fill their own mlb roster, minor leaguers are very often used in trades.  if you check out the mlb transactions, you will see that a large percentage of teams when trading players will include minor leaguers.  teams often will trade high level mlb talent for another teams "top" minor league prospects.  its always a guessing game as to which team got the better deal...sometimes it takes years to actually and accurately gauge it.\n\nalmost all teams have "good" affialtes.  there are literally hundreds of minor league teams......chances are you are within 30-60 miles of one(not a guarantee, but a good chance)......check it out and go see a game soon......even if you dont like or root for the "parent" team, its fun to watch guys who play the game for next to no money and most oten are more available to the fan base for autographs and such, as compared to their mlb counterparts.....and just think how cool it would be to have watched a youngster in the minors perhaps become a well known major leaguer after a few years.\n\ni hope this cleared up some of your questions.
350673
baseball is the only sport where you can fail 3 out of 10 times and still be considered successful,  besides what is there not to like about baseball. Trying to hit a round ball with a round bat, an inch is the difference between a homerun and a pop up. A sport where strength has nothing to do with your success. Baseball is a real life chess game between teams. I guess if youre into football and all the hitting then youlle be dissapointed by attempting to watch 9 innings of baseball. But baseball is just one of the sports you cant pick up right away and just be good, even if you are a natural athlete, and a players strongest attribute is his head, the real game of numbers. A pitcher can throw a no hitter and still lose, i can just sit here all day and think about what really makes me love baseball. and the guys like pujols, smoltz, clemens is what really make people love the game.
872562
Because it's a thinking persons game.  Every pitch is an adventure.  It's the greatest game on earth!!
100500
There are a lot, baseball players mover around quite a bit.  Most notably, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Johnny Damon
1073151
I think it is kind of a popularity contest. There are people who vote for the really good people and then there are people who just vote for their team. I think your example was a good one. Jason Varitek did nothing last year, while Joe Mauer was a good hitter. Also, players who are veterans are voted in. Roger Clemens, of course, still has it, but sometimes they vote in people who had a good year last year and didn't make it. Take Johan Santana. The year he won the Cy Young he did not make the all-star game. Last year he did, and he was not having a good year.