Bargain Bin Movie Review

You Bet Your Life—The Best of Groucho Marx

Price: One dollar, found at Wal-Mart

It’s hard to believe people thought this stuff was entertaining. Don’t misunderstand; I’m a huge fan of the Marx Brothers, Groucho in particular. But this show is nothing but awkward silences, slow moving conversations and missed one-liners. If you don’t know or remember, You Bet Your Life didn’t actually involve betting one’s life, but it was in fact just a trivia show.

The banter between Groucho and the contestants was the primary source of entertainment value of the show. Unfortunately, this isn’t the slick, fast talking Groucho from the movies. The pace is slow; a sleepy and aged Groucho Marx sits and chats with people who aren’t especially entertaining.

The highlight of the DVD is when a professional pickpocket appears on the show and proceeds to pick the pocket of another guest, then Groucho’s pocket, next he removes Groucho’s suspenders from his suit and while helping Groucho back into the suspenders he picks his pocket again. The guy said he was a legal pickpocket, someone who helped local police departments in stopping pickpocket rings. Well, maybe that’s how he ended up.

What I find funny is the fact contestants who were good at the game could win almost 3000 dollars. A generation later, contestants on “Win Ben Stein’s Money” (A personal favorite of mine) could earn a whopping five thousand dollars. So, the money wasn’t bad on the show.

This forces me to consider what people will think of reruns of “Deal or No Deal” (presently the only game show I watch) in 40 years. They’ll probably think the same thing I think, “Man are these people stupid.”

And just like that, two episodes and an appearance by Groucho’s daughter and it’s over. Well, that’s what I get for spending a buck for a DVD.

Why is the AL dominating the NL?

The American League is dominating interleague play this year, and has over the last few years. The AL also has, over the entire lifetime of interleague play, an advantage over the NL. Since the eighties the AL has won more World Series titles and they have also won more All Star games. Why has the AL dominated the NL over the last few decades? The simple answer is the designated hitter.

For a long time, the American League was slow in becoming fully racially integrated. The National League was able to dominate the All Star Game (one of only two meetings between the leagues) until the 1980’s. Even in the 70’s, the NL was still reaping the benefits of full racial integration by having veteran Black players in the All Star games despite the adoption by the AL of the DH rule in 1973.

So it took awhile before the DH rule was able to strengthen the AL to a position of dominance over the NL. But now it can’t be denied, the AL has consistently beaten the NL for an extended period of time in every avenue the two leagues compete. So what is it about the DH that makes the AL stronger?

The DH allows GMs in the AL to be more flexible in creating their lineup. With a DH, a GM can sacrifice some offense and put an extra glove into the lineup and know his DH can make up for the difference in offensive production. In essence, a GM can have an extra glove and an extra bat in his lineup. Or, a GM can create a lineup and use the DH to allow his players a rest day without having to lose a valuable bat from the lineup.

AL GMs have so many more options with the DH. They can add bats, gloves, give days off, simplify their lineups or platoon more aggressively than their NL counterparts. In an NL game, there are multiple lineup changes (the double switch) which force a manager to take out two players in order to (basically) skip a pitcher’s at bat. NL managers need more utility players, unspecialized players who can manage themselves at multiple positions. With so many lineup changes there isn’t room for much specialization.

NL managers are also forced to go to the bullpen earlier than AL managers. Often when a team gets men on base in scoring position, with one or two outs, and the starting pitcher coming up in a tight game, a pinch hitter is used to try to get a lead. Thus an NL team in this position is forced to abandon an effective pitcher before their performance would otherwise require.

Pinch hitters are at a disadvantage over DHs. Most players hit best when they are in the field. They hit a little worse when DHing. But few players can consistently pinch hit with success. Even if a manager can PH a pitcher 3 times out of five, it still doesn’t approach what a DH can do.

What adds to the NL manager’s problems is the fact natural hitters who have mobility or fielding problems (Cecil Fielder’s and Frank Thomas’s) are going to migrate to the AL. These players make better than average pinch hitters but moving to the AL allows them more at bats and often better money.

Finally, better pitchers will also start to migrate to the AL. By not being forced to hit, pitchers can avoid potential injuries (from running the basepaths), focus more of their practice on pitching, stay in games longer, get more rest and prep time during games and be given more opportunities to win.

So, when everything is taken together, it makes sense the AL dominates the NL. Better players migrate there and the very ways teams are put together are more focused towards winning games. In fact, AL teams might even be making more money than NL teams (I’d have to check). The NL should consider adopting the DH rule in order to start leveling the playing field. But in the meantime, NL GMs might want to start trying to organize their teams like AL teams. It’s worth a shot.