You may not know the name David Chalk, but many of us who have been in this here Blog Game for several years are quite familiar. He’s been a fine baseball writer over at Bugs & Cranks for about three years, among other places. He’s a loyal Rays fan, so we give him kudos for that, too. And as of today, he’s retired from writing about MLB. Just up and quittin’ the Game. And why, you ask? Because he’s fed up with the current state of baseball:

Back in the early 80’s, Howard Cosell decided to stop calling profesional boxing. A deeply moral person like me, Cosell based his decision on seeing one too many gross mismatches, and the corruption of the sport’s governing bodies, its meaningless titles and the people who profited from the obscenely unlevel playing field. The analogy with baseball today is all too clear. […]

As I wrote about the 2oo7 New York Giants, the ‘09 Yankees, the ‘08 Phillies and ‘06 Cardinals have only succeeded in further cheapening the word "Championship." Championships should be about Greatness. Championships should be about Excellence. Championships should not be about Opportunistic Mediocrity. As my stepfather is fond of saying even a blind squirrel with more than twice the revenue and nearly twice the payroll of all the other squirrels will occasionally find a nut. Really with the advantages the Yankees have, to have only won one title in 9 years and to lose more games in the World Series than any "champion" since 2003 is a disgrace. A sound argument could be made that they’re STILL the worst team of the millenium.

But as of today, I’m leaving it to others to make those sound arguments about this deeply flawed game that is so desperately in need of big and major reform.