As Halloween arrives, baseball winds down. November World Series games are guaranteed now, but many of us remember when trick-or-treating came after a champion was crowned. During Saturday's 9-1 blowout victory by the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Texas Rangers in game two, my mind began to wander. As sort of a 'seventh-inning stretch', if you will, here are seven memories about how baseball used to be. They aren't ranked in any particular order, but maybe oldest to newest. It's still a great game, but not as we remember growing up. Get out the rocking chair, and feel free to use your old person voice...

The beautiful ball park: Let me explain. The newer parks, especially in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Denver are gorgeous, but I'm not talking about the backdrop. Having seen most of my in-person games at Dodger Stadium, you would walk in and just take in the sights of green grass, white chalk lines, and blue walls. None of that featured any corporate logos, or other advertising. For over 20 years, Unocal 76 was the only company allowed to have signage at the stadium, and it was just their logo on top of the two scoreboards. Now, even the back of the pitcher's mound is sponsored, and the number of signs on the outfield wall rival minor league fences. We know players earn millions, and advertising helps pay them, but the ambiance of back in the day just kind of makes you sigh.

The argument clinic: It's been 15 years now since baseball instituted replay reviews, and while the effort is to get the call right, it also means that managers don't have anyone to argue with when they don't get their way. Earl Weaver shouting obscenities, Tommy Lasorda and Joe West nose to nose, Billy Martin kicking dirt, or Lou Piniella picking up and throwing second base. You occasionally see a manager get ejecting for arguing balls and strikes, and Astros manager Dusty Baker was thrown out after his pitcher hit a guy, but gone are the days when managers would turn into clowns. That's probably a good thing, but we still miss it.

The complete game: Pitchers always say they want to finish what they started, but managers will no longer let them. Just this past week, an Arizona pitcher was taken out because the skipper didn't want him to face a lineup a third time. While there's no medical proof that a pitcher's arm will fall off after more than 100 pitches, that's how those multi million-dollar arms are treated. This year, Jordan Lyles of Kansas City and Sandy Alcantara of Miami led their respective leagues in complete games, with just three. Don Sutton had 179 in his 22 year-year career. In 27 years, Nolan Ryan had 222, including 26 with the California Angels in 1973, and again in 1974.

The occasional marathon: One always fun thing about baseball, especially if you were going to the game, was you had no idea what time you would be home. A brilliant pitching performance could mean the game could take less than two hours, or a 16-inning marathon might last until one o'clock in the morning. Modern executives like to make you think that those 1am games happened all the time, so now there are pitch clocks and timers everywhere you look (oh, and congratulations baseball, all those clocks saved about 20 minutes. You know they did that for TV, right?). One of my favorite memories of listening to a game on the radio was in 1989. The Dodgers were in Montreal and I was driving from my parents home in Palmdale to college in Chico—just over 400 miles. I purposely left when the game started, and I was only about a half-hour away from completing my eight hour drive when the game ended. The Dodgers won 1-0 in 22 innings. I had stopped for gas in Santa Nella, and had the radio cranked so I could hear Rick Dempsey tag an Expo out at the plate in the 17th to extend the game. Dempsey homered in the 22nd to win it. Also, announcer Ross Porter did all 22 innings by himself. Vin Scully was on assignment.

The hit-and-run: This year's new rules have brought back the stolen base, but the sport has gone from one extreme to the other. Risking being thrown out on the base paths while home runs are more common than ever wasn't worth it, so steals became rare, and bunts, hit-and-run plays, and pitch-outs are critical entries on baseball's endangered species list. Now, the bases are bigger, pitchers can only attempt to pick off a runner three times per at-bat (the third unsuccessful attempt results in a balk), and runners took advantage. This season, would-be base stealers were successful 80 percent of the time. Throws to first, and fans booing the opposing pitcher were part of the game, even if there were a half-dozen pickoff attempts.

The double switch: The universal DH is here to stay, but, because of it, managers have fewer things to do. They now worry about which of their 13 pitchers to use in which order, rather than who will bat for the pitcher next inning, and then who will go in defensively. The players union likes the DH, saying that it provides more jobs for hitters, but the truth is that more players get into a game without a DH than with it. With the DH, you set the lineup, and then forget it. Even in recent years, you often times (Dodger fans will know this) saw a manager go through all his position players in seven or eight innings, and then was in trouble if his team fought back to tie it, and go extra innings. Pinch hitters and double switches also provided fans an opportunity to think along with the manager, or second-guess him.

The call: The Hall-of-Fame broadcasters like Vin Scully, Dick Enberg, Jack Buck, Ernie Harwell, Marty Brennaman and others are either retired or gone now, but the color commentators and analysts of today make listening to a game a chore at times. Admittedly, just how hard the ball is hit, or whether its a fastball or changeup is good information, but you guys can shut up for just a second. The other night, Corey Seager hit a dramatic ninth-inning game one homer for Texas, and he wasn't even rounding second base yet when they started to analyze the pitch and the swing. I know it makes them sound smart, but it doesn't always enhance the enjoyment of the game.

Missing the point: Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Shaikin interviewed Fox broadcaster Joe Davis, and asked him about the World Series, and the longshot matchups. The series is being ballyhooed with projected low ratings, supposedly because of bad markets. Davis said the proper things about showcasing teams and players that the nation as a whole may not be familiar with, but if this series turns out to be a ratings disaster, it's because nobody cares. Dallas and Phoenix are big markets. The teams, though, with their lousy regular season records, just don't belong there.

East coast offense?: As a lifelong West Coaster, I always cringe at the east-coast bias on television, particularly in sports. For example, every regular season meeting between the Yankees and the Red Sox is treated like the game of the century. In the NFL this week, the New York Giants played the New York Jets. That only happens once every four years, but not even people in New York really cared. The game was only shown on CBS in New York and New Jersey, plus the Philadelphia market. The 4-3 Jets outlasted the 2-6 Giants 13-10 in overtime.

Frenzy?: On Tuesday, the National Hockey League did something new, and kind of weird. They called it the 'Frozen Frenzy'. All 32 teams played that night, with every game starting at a different time. Many games started at 15 minute intervals, and ESPN2 showed what they called 'wrap-around coverage.' ESPN also carried three games live in their entirety. It seems like kind of a half-baked idea, and why do it in the middle of the week? Maybe on a holiday or something would be better. When I first saw an ESPN promo, I thought they were going to have hockey for 24 hours. Now that would be something.

Strom feelings: I cannot bring myself to root for the Diamondbacks, knowing they were only three wins over .500 for the regular season, and are now three wins away from calling themselves world champions, but if Arizona does win it all, there is one person I will be especially happy for. D-Backs pitching coach Brent Strom, who just turned 75 on Saturday, was a roving pitching instructor for the Padres when I was working in Idaho Falls in 1997. He made a couple of visits during that season, and one of them coincided with my mom coming to see me. Strom sat with my mom during one of those games, and she often talked about how nice he was. You've probably heard the term 'baseball lifer'. Strom's trip to Idaho Falls was 26 years ago, and he's still in the game, and still going strong.