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Game: Where Would You Expand MLB?


Spy Fox

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San Juan, Puerto Rico

And

Mexico City, Mexico

All of the immediate economics aside, I think expanding MLB to include these two cities would have some really cool ripple effects for the league.

Hell, a team in Seoul or Tokyo would be cool too, but that's a lot of travel time.

San Juan is actually a plausible location, easier than Mexico City or Havanna anyway, because Puerto Rico is still a US Territory. Congress however will need to grant bankruptcy to the island first, which is something the Treasury is pushing for. Frankly, I think Puerto Rico should be the 51st state, but it would be such a chore to change all the flags ...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/301838998439?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82

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San Juan is actually a plausible location, easier than Mexico City or Havanna anyway, because Puerto Rico is still a US Territory. Congress however will need to grant bankruptcy to the island first, which is something the Treasury is pushing for. Frankly I think Puerto Rico should be the 51st state, but it would be such a chore to change all the flags...

I think what's glossed over in some of these discussions about putting a team in San Juan or Mexico or Cuba is that team would have an average fan income half or less of any other team in baseball. Heck, in Havana the per capita income is probably 1/3 of the US poverty line. Even if you could work out a business model it would probably be very, very different from the other teams. I'd imagine it would be based on huge attendance at much lower prices (needs huge new ballpark), and a wide swath of regional cable or other TV.

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Brooklyn and Charlotte.

My Dad was 11 when the Dodgers and Giants moved west, he's 70 now. I think the time to put a team to Brooklyn is now, while there are still old guys left who have childhood memories of Ebbets Field. Are there any Brooklyn Dodgers left? There have to be a few, right? I mean, Boileryard Clarke was still around for the return of the Orioles 50-some years after they left.

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My Dad was 11 when the Dodgers and Giants moved west, he's 70 now. I think the time to put a team to Brooklyn is now, while there are still old guys left who have childhood memories of Ebbets Field. Are there any Brooklyn Dodgers left? There have to be a few, right? I mean, Boileryard Clarke was still around for the return of the Orioles 50-some years after they left.

I definitely think so.

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My Dad was 11 when the Dodgers and Giants moved west, he's 70 now. I think the time to put a team to Brooklyn is now, while there are still old guys left who have childhood memories of Ebbets Field. Are there any Brooklyn Dodgers left? There have to be a few, right? I mean, Boileryard Clarke was still around for the return of the Orioles 50-some years after they left.

Found this thru google. As of 4 years ago, Jan. 2012, there were 44 Brooklyn Dodgers still living. I was surprised by that number. Hopefully, a good number of them remain alive.

http://crzblue.mlblogs.com/2012/01/12/honoring-the-brooklyn-dodger-players-alive-as-of-january-12-2012/

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I had an interesting experience with Jim Gentile. My friend Freddie and I were chosen from our Little League to attend a clinic at Memorial Stadium, along with two kids each from other Baltimore area little leagues. Milt Pappas was there to talk to us about pitching, and Jim Gentile talked to us about hitting. I happened to be the tallest kid there, so Gentile selected me as his guinea pig to work with. He had a huge bat. He was on one knee behind me and was adjusting where I had my feet, elbows, etc. in my stance and said, "OK, when I say OK, go ahead and give it a rip." Well, he continued having me make slight adjustments and at one point he said, "OK, that ought to do it." Well, when I heard "OK" I went ahead and swung as hard as I could. He was still on one knee behind me and barely managed to get out of the way of the bat. Everybody laughed and one man there said, "That would have been on the front page of the paper in the morning!" I was petrified, but Mr. Gentile wasn't mad at me. He smiled at said that it was his fault and that I had done exactly what he told me to do. Nice man.

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I found a list from 2012 or 2013 that still had about two dozen still living Brooklyn Dodgers, including Koufax. I thought Rod Miller might outlive them all (he struck out in his only MLB at bat for the Dodgers as a 17-year-old in '57) but he passed in 2013.

It would be a nightmare for traffic, and tough to get to outside of public transportation, but as a former resident I'd love the idea of a team in Hoboken/Jersey City, too.

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My Dad was 11 when the Dodgers and Giants moved west, he's 70 now. I think the time to put a team to Brooklyn is now, while there are still old guys left who have childhood memories of Ebbets Field. Are there any Brooklyn Dodgers left? There have to be a few, right? I mean, Boileryard Clarke was still around for the return of the Orioles 50-some years after they left.

My father-in-law is in the same boat. He'll be 70 this season.

Is there room in Brooklyn though? I don't know too much about the geography, but I do recall residents not supporting the limited land use for the Nets.

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My father-in-law is in the same boat. He'll be 70 this season.

Is there room in Brooklyn though? I don't know too much about the geography, but I do recall residents not supporting the limited land use for the Nets.

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Coney Island and get rid of the Cyclones!

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My father-in-law is in the same boat. He'll be 70 this season.

Is there room in Brooklyn though? I don't know too much about the geography, but I do recall residents not supporting the limited land use for the Nets.

Coney Island, and get rid of the Cyclones!

That would be too close to Mets territory, who can ill afford a threat to their attendance and/or their fan base.

Demolish the Polo Grounds apartment buildings, give all of the current residents free season tickets for their troubles, and build Polo Grounds V.

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The question should be viewed as "If I had to spend MY money to build/sustain a team, where would I put it?" To answer that question from a purely free-market perspective I would have to do away with the existing concept of territory (like the Giants claiming San Jose and not permitting the A's to move -or - having to pay a fee if you are to have now team in an existing teams 'territory'). Drungo make this point frequently when discussing the EPL (although it is how all European soccer leagues operate). With those assumptions in place I would put the team in Brooklyn; large die-hard fan base that still feels like a team was taken from them. If the assumptions don't allow me Brooklyn then Charlotte is as good a place as any and has a growing population (or maybe Montreal might be ready for a return).

I don't think that anywhere outside of the US and Canada (P.R., Mexico City, Havana) would work. The fans could not afford to buy the tickets that would support the current salary structure and (warning, big assumption alert) it may be hard to get US born players to spend half (or more) of the year living in these cities/countries.

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