Bad news: baseball has problems – Good news: all the solutions are known and available

January 28, 2023 0 Comments

Field of Dreams, the fantasy movie, had a mysterious voice saying, “If you build it, he will come.” “Shoeless” Joe Jackson would return with his talented friends to show fans the way his generation played baseball. Sorry, Joe isn’t coming back. Instead, for the past half century, Hall of Fame pros at every level of the game have warned us how they feared it was deteriorating. Hitter-Ted Williams, Pitcher-Bob Feller, Manager-Earl Weaver, General Manager-Branch Rickey, and Owner-Bill Veeck, along with many others, have written books, articles, and have been quoted on their concerns. College Baseball Hall of Fame coaches Skip Bertman – LSU and Ron Fraser – UofM, the teachers, taught us in print and with photos how to employ the proper techniques. What all of these men brought to the aspects of the Game that they lived and loved remains relevant today. His warnings and instructions went unheeded. The brutalization continues. Like Elvis, common sense has left the building.

Solutions to many current problems, on and off the fields of Major League Baseball, have been known for more than 100 years. The way MLB implements the game, promotion and presentation of our national pastime is what it is – it is time to reconsider and redirect its efforts to benefit, not harm, the game’s rich history and future progress. There are no unknowns. NOT! It’s all been seen and done before.

As the professionals predicted, questions have been raised about what is happening now. Find answers, with GRAPHICS, to indicate where we were YESTERDAY, TODAY and we should be TOMORROW. Baseball numbers are what they are, facts. Facts are stubborn things.

There are a plethora of things to discuss, including the All-Star Game, the Playoffs, the World Series, Designated Hitter, and Saves, to name a few. The rules, assumptions, suppositions and definitions that dominate today’s Game are reviewed. Let’s not forget the years spent willfully, painfully, ignoring steroid use.

What’s going on out there?

· MLB teams are in the midst of a strikeout epidemic, which has increased for 11 straight years. At current rates, 2017 will mark the 12th consecutive year and the American League average per team will top 1,300 for the first time.

· Players have forgotten, or have never learned, some of the proper techniques for running and fielding the bases. Most baserunners sprint only when deemed necessary; they are constantly looking for the ball while running; drawing bad leads off the bases, especially first base; and repeatedly violate the unwritten Rules that have been accepted forever. Unwritten Rule #1: Don’t assume anything!

The biggest flaw of infielders is that they always look for runners, instead of bringing the glove and ball directly to the base whenever possible and allowing runners to tag themselves. Again, first baseman is the biggest problem because of the way first basemen position themselves when holding runners, making it more difficult to get the gloves to the base on the pitcher’s interceptions. The main reason why they are sometimes successful is that the runner tracks are very bad.

· Clearly, hitters are not practicing the skills necessary to defeat the drastic infield defensive changes currently being employed. Managers have let the slow, sure bunt go the way of the dodo bird, in part because their hitters have never learned the how, when, and where of the art of bunting to turn it into a useful weapon.

· Everyone involved has attributed a completely alien mindset to every aspect of the release. The assumptions and definitions that permeate pitching have managed to lower expectations to levels that would never have been accepted by previous generations.

· The 44-year Designated Hitter experiment has failed to deliver the superior offensive production expected. Check the statistics. Also, having half the teams playing the same game using different Rules is, on the face of it, unproductive. That’s probably why no other league in any sport would entertain the idea. The DH should be discarded as soon as possible.

MLB constantly complains about the length of its games and has implemented several Rules changes to speed them up. Unfortunately, they have not allowed their arbitrators to strictly enforce all of the Rules currently on the books. Until they do, there can be no appreciable change in the pace of the games.

· MLB also needs to take a hard look at how its games are televised. The dominant view is from behind the pitcher and shows only the pitcher and catcher on defense, plus the batter and umpire. There are 7 more defensive outfielders. How are they positioned to defend the current hitter, and if there are runners on base, what are they doing on the field? The best view for a baseball game is behind home plate, which is why those tickets cost more and the scorer, broadcast crews, other media, and owners watch from there. The television viewer should be able to see everything he sees, as it happens, not from replays.

Issues related to those on the field can and should be addressed, from the youth leagues to the minor leagues, before reaching the big leagues. The evidence is inside, they are not. Issues related to those from the front office to the top of the management pyramid also have a lot of work ahead of them to restore confidence that the Game is headed in the right direction and to present it in a way that appeals, not discourages, players. future fans.

Many have drawn their own conclusions about what could be described as the brain dead era. Agree or disagree. All right! You may have your own questions or better answers to those asked. Big! There’s an oft-repeated observation about baseball these days: “That’s the way they do things now.” That form of “now” is real, it’s wrong, and no one cares that it’s wrong. Worse yet, nobody cares that nobody cares. If you care, in these days of social media there are many ways in which the powers in charge can be influenced to change course. It won’t be easy, but please let them know your opinions. They count!

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