by Abner Doubleday IX

November 25, 2011: Cooperstown, NY – Though Alexander Cartwright didn’t invent baseball, he deserves credit for championing “townball” over the Massachusetts game (imagine Nolan Ryan hitting Reggie Jackson with the ball to tag him out on the basepaths!) and helping establish the New York Knickerbockers, the first organized baseball club.  Since today is his birthday, the PEBA community should do something to honor the man who made all our fantasies possible.

Cartwright was a great believer in the democratic nature of baseball.  Obviously, the old MLB had no such democratic values, which may explain its sudden demise in 2006.

But the PEBA can learn from the mistakes of MLB and, on this day in particular, honor the notions of democracy and baseball.  Here’s how:

At midnight tonight, nearly 200 years after Alexander Cartwright was born, the PEBA should institutionalize The Great Democratic Talent Grab.

Those baseball clubs with below .500 records for the previous season are invited to draft one player of their choice from the rosters of those clubs with above .500 records.  No club may draft more than one player, and no club may have more than one player drafted from their rosters.

Cartwright would smile at this experiment in democracy in action.  As he never said, “What baseball needs is a Great Democratic Talent Grab!”