There are always lines to be drawn - this is "in" or this is "out". Are performance enhancing drugs in or out of Baseball? What about catamarans in the America's Cup or Oscar Pistorius' running blades. Or more interestingly the running blades on a non-paralympic athlete's legs?

Researching technology and techniques to determine if they are good for the sport like the Curling Federation is doing is little different from the MLBA deciding on whether wood, metal, or corked and testing the effects on the game.

I'm not sure the manufacturing changes "improved" the sport so much as "changed" it which could be good, bad, or indifferent depending on the team, skill, strengths, and weaknesses. But testing and understanding the changes is a worthwhile goal.