I write to take exception to Christian Papillon’s opinion piece, “Major League Baseball Needs Promotion and Relegation.” His proposal will be but a further step toward making our unique national pastime indistinguishable from all the other “rectangle sports” — and especially the execrably global one known abroad as “football.”

The history of baseball teaches one central lesson: all change is bad.

Baseball was a perfect game in 1901. All rule and structural changes since then are to be regretted. Proposed improvements like Papillon’s, while they may sound appealing, almost always address earlier detrimental changes, but only further the damage.