I can't say that I necessarily agree with your reasoning.
Of any of the major sports, and I still consider baseball one of them, baseball is often determined by a single play over the course of a dreadfully boring 3-4 hour game. A single swing of the bat, a single fielding error, a single wild pitch. Just look at the Cubs last year(??) with the foul ball to left field that was caught by the fan. They would have been out of the inning, with the momentum in their favor possibly heading to the world series. Instead, the fan catches the ball, the inning continues for several more runs and the Cubs get routed. All because of a single fan interference. Not much different than Pierrzinski stealing first on a bad call by the ump that changed the course of the game. There are plenty of other examples. In a low scoring sport like baseball, it happens all the time.
I do agree with what you said about tradition. There are still enough purists out there (ie. Peter Gammons) that want to preserve the integrity of the game. Sometime they need to realize that the game has changed and will continue to change, so long as there are new metabolic aides which are available, and yet undectable. As far as I'm concerned, the single season and career home run record are no longer a measure of the greatness of the player as it is the greatness of the "juice" and the trainer. And don't try to tell me that steroids don't make a round bat hit a round ball. There are plenty of home runs now which would have been long fly balls back before the "cream" and the "clear".
Sorry about the long, boring baseball blog. It was more tiring for me to write it than it was for you to read it.
