In “If I Were Commissioner”, I pretend that I am in charge of all of baseball…

For years, back when ballplayers needed some extra money to hold them over during the off-season and the owners also were looking for ways to leverage some more money, there was barnstorming. Teams of ballplayers would travel the country (sometimes even the world!), playing local teams and each other, spreading the gospel of major league baseball to the cities that didn’t have it- and making a good buck while doing it (usually).

But, alas, as time went on, salaries got higher and baseball expanded west, the barnstorming traditionally slowly disappeared. Nowadays, it is almost non-existent. Beyond the occasional trip to Asia (such as the one in Taiwan in 2011), ballplayers don’t go on tours anymore.

But if I was commissioner, that would change. Because, you see, baseball is a game best seen in person (as opposed to football, which is a sport that is better on television). It would thus make sense to let as many people as possible in as many areas as possible see it in person. Since obviously it wouldn’t make sense to require, say, every MLB team to play one regular-season series in their AAA stadium, the answer is barnstorming.

It could work like this: every November, there could be a team formed from any interested players who’s teams either missed the playoffs or who were eliminated early on. They would then play a series of five to ten games in various cities, the location of which would differ by year. One year it could be in Japan or Korea playing against local teams there, the next it could be in areas of the warmer-weather part of the USA that don’t have MLB teams (New Orleans, San Antonio,  Albuquerque, etc.) against a “Washington Generals” team made up of C-list free agents, minor leaguers that need more seasoning, and interested retired players.

So you are probably wondering: what about colder cities? Well, maybe that could be done during the season, using a team of old-timers and free-agents similar to the one mentioned above. They could play a few games against minor league teams, or something. Not a perfect solution, but, hey, what can you do?