The Big Ten Should Take Its Baseball And Go Home

Can you all guess the one team in the conference that would have the least incentive to go along with this proposal?

The irony, given Anderson's comments, is that it's the team that plays most of its schedule in the Metrodome.

The Gophers only have 3 road games this year before going to East Lansing in mid-April. Plus, they get a couple games each year at Target Field (which is AWESOME BTW - I saw them play Iowa there in 2010).

If the Big Ten is talking about departing from NCAA standards to improve the quality of the sport for themselves, they might as well also allow beer to be served at games.  I can't imagine going to a baseball game without beer.  And that is why I never go to college baseball games.

That's an awesome idea Brian. They could even schedule games against teams in the midwest league (low single-A ball). It would be a boon for both the Big Ten and minor league baseball.

Heck, if they're not part of the NCAA, they could even give these guys a larger stipend, and become a semi-pro league.

Interesting ideas!

Big Ten really doesn't compete for titles anway- so why not be radical?

It'd be like the MAC saying screw the BCS- we have no shot anyway.

The wrench in this is Nebraska, which has gone to the CWS far more recently (2001, 2002, 2005) and, of course, sees the thing hosted 50 miles from their campus. 

Summer Leagues are some of the best exposure players can get. Change the league and we eliminate any Cape Cod experience. Furthermore, the % of players in the Big Ten that have high aspirations outside of baseball is large. Taking away the ability to have a summer internship in their field can severely hurt them come job search time with little to no experience

The NCAA is too rigid for the midwest teams for baseball.  Let's do this.

Also, they could look at something similar for football.  I'm sure that top football commissioners could create a better system than the current NCAA model.

I'd also like to mention that playing fall games is dumb. The weather is more questionable, kids are in school, and everyone is focused on football. What Big Ten baseball needs is games in the summer. A mid-April to August schedule would be ideal.

I thought the 11.7 scholies was a title 9 limitation? Does title 9 only apply to NCAA sports?

At first, I was pretty meh towards the idea of doing the summer thing, what with losing any chance of going to the CWS.  But...our last really good shot at it, in '06, saw a team that had to face a murderer's row to even get out of the regional...which we didn't.  We're the poor conference in all this, and the South ain't going to help us out.  I don't expect the West or Southwest teams either.

The second idea I really like.  Pairing up with some major summer league teams would be a huge way for us to recruit and incentivize players to come in.

Stephen M. Ross needs to sell his share of the Dolphins and build us a domed baseball stadium. Then we could host nonconference games early in the season.

But it's a good idea. And might be the first step to programs breaking away from the NCAA, where others will follow, and either ending it or make them start to be reasonable and responsible. The only way that happens is if people leave.  Baseball would be a nice start.

It would be awesome to have a RATIONAL baseball season.  Seeing baseball games at U-M is fun and cheap, but half the time you're watching in a freaking parka. 

Call me crazy but I actually like your radical idea. I think it would be a great move.

With the increased exposure - it could be a like a minor league system with wood bats where   players actually have the opportunity to earn a degree. It's a big risk for some players to just jump straight in the minors - if they don't make it, they end up 23, 24 and have to go back to college and that's if they have the motivation to do that. I like this idea.

Wonder how it would effect Softball, Title IX scholarship restrictions, etc.

As mentioned above, Nebraska might disagree, but I can't recall many MLB players who came from the Big Ten.  The last one I remember is Jim Abbott, our 1 handed Wolverine, but I don't pay that much attention to B10 baseball.

I wholeheartedly support exploring this idea. I think there would need to be some tinkering with the length of the season. For instance, I don't know how much sense it makes to play through July. But a pre-season in March, with games in April, May, and June would be great. Also, not being held hostage by the NCAA makes a ton of sense.

It seems to me that if another conference was agitating to do the same thing in a sport the Big Ten had an advantage in, we'd be all over that conference and calling them lots of unfriendly names and saying how dare they attack the system.  I'm not sure the precedent of taking the ball and going home is a healthy thing for the rest of the NCAA sports especially when there's enough pressure over the whole "hypocritical system and we should pay athlete's" angle.  

I think the idea is interesting and I like that the threat of it could make the NCAA actually be reasonable and stop bending over for the sake of the SEC's various competitive advantages, but on the whole I think the systemic negatives outweigh the baseball positives.

When I played college ball, I loved my trips to Florida and such.  The better talent will end up going to the South more times than not, but that is where most of the baseball talent resides anyway.

Either way, B1G teams will not be competing for CWS very often.

As a former college baseball player who played on the east coast, against many Big 10 teams, and grew up in California, I can speak in a very educated manner on this topic.  Even if Michigan played in a fully domed stadium or played during another season where weather did not play a role, it would not do anything to get the Big 10 even close to the southern and western powerhouses.  Sure, baseball is a sport where anybody can beat anybody on a given day, especially when that once every 10 year phenom pitcher from the midwest takes the hill against Stanford, Florida, Fullerton, etc.  Therefore, individual games can be won, but in regards to having the quality program that can consistently make a legitimate Omaha run and stand up to the big boys, it will never happen again unless the stars allign perfectly.

Problem: The major problem that sets Big 10 / east coast baseball apart is that youth and high school baseball in these other regions is on an entirely different wavelength.  This wasn't necessarily the case 30-50 years ago before the wealth/population/baseball craze boom hit the west coast.  Cal State Fullerton gets 90% of its players from within  a 30 mile radius, all while splitting recruits with UCLA, Stanford, USC, etc., and still puts up national contenders almost every year.  While Michigan may get most of the All State Michigan players, I can guarantee you from experience that all but maybe a 2-3 would struggle making so much as all league in certain parts of this country.  Sorry to say, but with the major boom of competitive travel baseball in the south and west, this disparity is growing even wider.  Moreover, there is no way that a west coast / southeast baseball player will turn down UCLA and Stanford, or Vanderbilt/UVa to come up to Ann Arbor to play baseball.  They will with football so they can play in front of 115,000, but they sure aren't going to leave behind better coaching and better weather for imrpoving their game, to come out to these frozen winters.

Solution:  Be content with the fact that Big 10 baseball will never be a consistent competitor with these baseball powers much in the same way that these other areas will never be able to compete in a sport like hockey.  Nevertheless, since baseball is a sport where short runs can be made when the stars allign, enjoy that one run every 5-10 years that Michigan may make in a regional.  Maybe one day, lightning will strike, and they will get to Omaha.  But to think that tweaks can be made to college baseball to level the playing field is just foolish.  The playing field will not be level until the day that a generation of kids all decide to play baseball over football and basketball.  Given the weather issues and lack of coaching out here, I wouldn't recommend that.