Major League Baseball has several ways to speed up the game that are far preferable to automatic runners at second base (sounds like something we did as kids). They are:
1) Limit the number of throws a pitcher can make to first base to hold a runner on.
2) Limit the number of foul balls -- after so many the runner is walked.
3) The aforementioned pitch clock, making a violation an automatic balk.
4) Limit the commercial time between innings. TV commercials have added between 45 minutes and an hour to each game. Never will happen, but....
The problem with all these options is that the psyche of baseball is different. You go to a baseball game to relax, to kick back and to enjoy the people you're with, the game, the surroundings, the play and the crowd. If it's 50 minutes and you're out that you want, go to your brothel.
Oh, and the National League will get back to its normal post-stone age ways and the Cardinals will again rule!
