Fans want offense. Steve will watch a football game if the score is ridiculous and promises to get even crazier. It is something that the baseball rulers realized when scores and attendance were way, way down in the middle and late 1960s. They recognized that a correlation existed between attendance and offense, which meant that something had to be done because the pitching was well ahead of the hitting. Some radical changes, which were not viewed as radical, were made.
The height of the pitching mound was lowered after the 1968 season, the designated hitter was introduced in 1973, and the strike zone has evolved so that no pitch above the belt is called a strike. The game today is very different from what it used be, but it is a fallacy that defensive baseball isn't exciting. It is more than exciting.
Great pitching and defense often create excruciating tension which can be released with almost no warning at any time. In a 1-0 game in the eighth inning, every pitch and every play is important. A two run home run by the team with the lead puts the game out of reach while a two run home run by the trailing team turns the game around. In a 10-7 game, a two run home run has much less impact, scoring is easier, and there is less tension. Pennant races involving teams with great defense were among the most exciting in baseball history, which brings us to 1967.
The Baltimore Orioles swept the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series in one of the most one sided of all World Series. The Dodgers scored one run in the second inning and one run in the third inning of Game 1. That was it. They never scored again as they lost three straight shutouts. But each game was close and exciting.
Entering the 1967 season, the defending World Champion Orioles were expected to do well while the ninth place Red Sox were about 100-1 shot to win the pennant. Of course, the Red Sox became the first team in baseball history to go from ninth to first in consecutive seasons (The American League was a ten team league from 1961-1968 with no divisions) while the Orioles finished 15 ½ games out. The Red Sox, along with the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago White Sox went down to the last day of the season before the Red Sox won.
