Although the world proved not yet ready for the brotherhood of baseball, that would be only a matter of time, baseball magnates believed.

Distant replay morphs into instant replay, and future replay cannot be far off.

Do we settle on a regional team because we can go to its ballpark and see its games on television? Or do we choose a team as our favorite because it has an especially appealing player, a Barry Bonds or an Ichiro?

We play because we are wired for joy; it is imperative as human beings.

The heroes of our youth grow old - 'the boys of summer in their ruin,' in Dylan Thomas's verse - yet we seem the same.

Yes, we've seen it all before. And yes, those who do not study history are condemned to repeat it. But no, the sky is not falling - baseball is such a great game that neither the owners nor the players can kill it. After some necessary carnage, market forces will prevail.

The caliber of play suffered and attendance declined year by year. Interest in college football was exploding, and there was this new game called basketball.