If I were commissioner of MLB

1. Revenue sharing. Without an NFL type agreement between the owners, the league will be reduced to major markets only.

2. A bat and a glove. Outlaw all other equiptment. Batting gloves. Elbow protectors. Ankle guards. All the crap that batters adjust for maddeningly long periods between pitches. Play baseball. If you want alot of protection, play football.

3. No stepping out of the batters box. Little League has such a rule, and it keeps the games from being 3 hours long. When it is your turn to hit, get in the friggin' batters box and stay there. If you step out for any reason other than a wasp has flown up your nose, it is an automatic strike.

4. The ten second rule. If no runners are on base, the pitcher has ten seconds to throw the ball once the catcher has thrown it back to him. And the catcher has three seconds once he has caught the pitch or been handed a new ball by the umpire.

If the pitcher takes longer than ten seconds, it is an automatic called ball. This will also prevent the over-managing now done by managers. Let the catcher and pitcher decide what to throw.

5. The ultimate umpire. Put an umpire in the press box. Give him all the video that we see on tv at home. If there is a wrong call, he can overrule. He is the chief of the crew. His call stands. This way, no player or manager can waste time arguing. They can't reach the press box.

6. Standardize baseball. Either there is a designated hitter or there is not. I would vote for not, but the owners would have to vote. Not having a standardized rule is like an NHL team playing an NBA team.

7. Calling timeout. Create a standard for calling timeout. For the batter, fielder, runner. Without it, it is total judgement of the umpire if someone has called timeout. Like last night's Dodgers-Rockies game. The Dodgers pitcher was at bat. He clearly signalled he wanted a timeout. But because he was still in the batters box, the umpire didn't recognize it. So the Rockies pitcher threw the ball in the midst of confusion, and the pitch was called a ball. What crap.

8. Field standardization. Every other sport has a standard field. MLB has short porches, stupid little ramps in center field in Houston, nooks and crannies.
What's to prevent an owner from signing left hand power hitters and having a 200 foot right field wall? Look at the stats of the "New Yankee Stadium". And while we are at it, clarify what the hell a home run is. No more yellow lines on trash bags. Every stadium would have a friggin' fence. If it is over the fence, it is a homerun. If it's not, it's not.

9. No new baseballs. The umpires control the baseballs. If the umpire throws a ball out to the pitcher, that ball is in play. No pitcher, batter or anybody else can ask for a new one. If the umpire says it is ok, it is ok. Play ball.

10. Standardized warm-up. If a pitcher has been warming up in the bullpen for plenty of time (as observed by the chief umpire in the press box), a relief pitcher gets five pitches off the real mound. That's it. If a pitcher geta called in due to injury or some other reason and has not warmed up, he gets all the warmup he feels needed.

With these simple rules, we could see MLB games played in 2 1/2 hours.

More people would attend. Viewers woulnd't have to be frustrated by more commerical breaks while someone is spending too much time warming up.

I'm sure there are more. But it's a start.

And I would gladly do it for one tenth of what MLB is paying Bud Selig. Ole Bud is getting paid over $18 million to be a toady for the major market owners.

Not bad for a guy that never played the game. Can't figure out how to play the game. Can't figure out how to test for PEDs. Can't figure out how to get the team he owns, although it is now in his daughter's name, how to win.