I’ve always been a big fan of baseball. Ever since I could throw a ball, I’ve followed teams and players in the Major Leagues.

My favorite team was, and still is, the New York Mets. My earliest memory of that team was how bad they were in their first seven years in the league. No team lost more games. No team seemed as hopeless against some of the better pitchers in the league.

My team wasn’t that good, but I still appreciated many of the players on the other teams.

I think about all the players I watched on TV over the years. Many are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Players like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente, Lou Brock, Rod Carew, Tom Seaver and Johnny Bench were just a few of the players that fans got to see almost every day of the season.

A few weeks ago, my sister and brother-in-law stopped by to visit us during their cross-country trip. Before they came to the farm, they had stopped at my other sister’s house in New Jersey and picked up some things I had stored there years ago when I emptied my old home in Jersey City.

One of the boxes was filled with hundreds of baseball cards I had collected over 50 years ago. That sure brought back lots of memories of the days I spent playing stickball in the street, going to the corner candy store and spending a nickel for a pack of baseball cards.

My, how things have changed - and I don’t just mean the cost of a pack of cards. I’m talking about the game of baseball.

After my sister and her husband left to continue their road trip, I started looking through stacks of old cards. One of my favorite things about the old cards was the list of yearly statistics on the back.

Some of the cards were compilations of league leaders in home runs, runs batted in and batting average for hitters, and wins, strikeouts and earned run average for pitchers.

What I noticed after reading some of the statistics was how much the game of baseball has changed over the years. And in my opinion, not for the better.

Back in the 60s and 70s, teams didn’t rely on relief pitchers like they do today. It wasn’t uncommon for a starting pitcher to throw all nine innings of a game back then. In 1968, Juan Marichal of the Giants had 30 complete games. The following year, Bob Gibson of the Cardinals had 28. Gaylord Perry of the Cleveland Indians had 29 in both 1972 and 1973. More than a dozen other pitchers had 15 or more during those years

Compare those numbers to the 2022 statistics: Sandy Alcantara led the National League with six. Framber Valdez of the Houston Astros had the most in the American League with three.

There’s been a big change for hitters, too. It seems like everyone today is interested in hitting home runs to boost their salaries. There are more homers than ever. But along with increase in home runs is a big jump in strikeouts.

Back in the 60s and 70s most players struck out less and put the ball in play a lot more. Even the biggest power hitters didn’t strike out as much as average players do today. Hank Aaron was one of the greatest home run hitters of all time. In 1971 he smacked 47 homers, but struck out just 58 times.

I never saw Ted Williams play, but he was also one of the best home run hitters of all time. He finished his career with 521 homers and never struck out more than 64 times in a season.

In 2022, Aaron Judge of the Yankees led the majors with 62 homers. He struck out 131 times. A year earlier, Salvador Perez led the majors with 48 homers. He struck out 170 times. And that wasn’t even the most in 2021. Eight players struck out more. Joey Gallo of the Twins led the majors with 213.

That’s a lot of trips to the plate without accomplishing anything. Even a ground ball to the infield can advance a runner - or at least have an outside  chance of an error by a fielder.

But that’s not the way the game works anymore. Players get a lot more money for doing a lot less - designated hitters who never play the field, starting pitchers who throw 100 pitches then head for the showers, and relief pitchers who face three batters than take the next day off.

It’s not the game I remember.