8th Grade « Acorn Stories
Letter to Bud Selig
By Will
Mr. Bud Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball
New York, NY
Dear Mr. Selig:
My name is Will Creager, and I am an eighth grader at Live Oak School. I have been a baseball fan since second grade. I am, naturally, a Giants (and Bonds) fan, having lived in San Francisco all of my life. I have enjoyed many of the choices you have made for MLB, especially Inter-League games, which gives managers time to try a new strategy, and having the All-Star game decide World Series home-field advantage, which gives players more incentive to play hard and not joke. As much as I like your work, I do, however, have a problem, one that many other fans are mad about, too. Managers and pitchers have been walking Bonds in all innings.
I go to Giants games all the time, and lately, the opposing pitchers have been walking Bonds intentionally every single at-bat he gets. I think that there should be a rule that limits the amount of walks one player can receive. I feel strongly about this because fans all over the country come to Giants games to see Bonds, who is arguably the best player ever. You can't blame fans for coming to see him hit one out of the park, and you also cannot blame them for being disappointed when he never even gets a chance. But you can blame the other managers for walking him in all situations and the league officials for letting this happen. I can understand if the managers walk him in close situations late in the game, but walking him with nobody on in the first and second innings is not strategic at all.
Here is another reason why I think you should limit walks: if you think Bonds's numbers are great now, just imagine what they could be like. Rules (or lack thereof) should never hamper a player's potential. I talked to my friend's dad, Jules Tygiel, a baseball historian and writer, and he said, "I don't like it when they walk him. It takes away from the excitement of the game." He went on to say, "I feel worse for the other fans across the country. They come to games just to see him hit once, but he never gets a chance."
Nick Canepa, an author, said, "Bonds has walked more than Moses. So much that it has become stupid, an embarrassment to the game's traditions, its spirit of competition." When he asked Tony Gywn if he would be having fun if he were Barry Bonds, Gywn answered, "Heck, no. I loved to swing the bat. I bet Barry isn't having much fun."(Canepa, Nick. "Walking Bonds: Cowards Die 1,000 Deaths." San Diego Tribune, 29 Sept. 2004)
My proposed solution would be a fair one and would not only help Bonds. Every team should be able to choose a player who cannot be walked. If there are four balls thrown, the runners should move up and the count should start over, so that the opposing pitchers do not just try to hit corners. This rule should not apply in the ninth inning, because that is when walks actually get strategic and understandable. If this rule does not appeal to you, I also have another idea. Make a rule that a player can only be walked twice in one game. If four balls occur after the second walk, then the player chooses whether or not to take the walk. If he chooses not to, then the count restarts. If you do not want to start a new rule (which I understand perfectly), then you can just announce that if managers keep walking Bonds in non-strategic situations, a fine might be in order.
For my sake and for other fans hoping to get to watch the greatest player since Ruth hit, I hope you will consider my proposed solutions to this problem. I really look forward to getting a response soon.
Thank you for your time. 
7th Grade