Baseball is boring, that’s one reason I like it.
It is slow moving, and doesn’t require much concentration. If you don’t believe me, watch the Phillies play, or listen to TV color man John Kruk. They barely seem to be paying attention.
The Phllies lose track of the number of outs, and Kruk often doesn’t know what inning they’re in. Tom McCarthy often has to carry Kruk like a knapsack.
At the park, baseball allows long discussions of the game, or philosophy, or reliving your youthful indiscretions far more than the other Big Three — football, basketball, hockey. Even soccer requires more attention than baseball.
At home, I can have the game on while I do something else — read the newspaper, answer email, sharpen the cutlery, or even write a book. “Cats are Supermodels” (available on Amazon) was written on my iPad watching the Phillies one summer.
If you miss a play, instant replay brings it back, several times. So does my magic TV, which can replay anything, freeze the action, and do most anything but change the score.
But MLB (Major League Baseball) is finding ratings and attendance falling, and it’s more than the COVID-19 crisis. The world is moving faster, while baseball maintains its molasses pace. Fans want more action.
That led to the despicable Designated Hitter, which means pitchers are no longer baseball players who are expected to play both offense and defense. MLB added instant replay for umps to review close plays, which slowed the game some more, but made it more accurate.
I have a dear friend who always says “embrace change.”
She felt that way until Donald J. Trump was elected president. She suddenly realized not all change is good.
Anyway, since MLB has gone along with the DH, instant replay, and 7-inning doubleheaders, it might be ready for some more change to speed up and improve the game.
1- Let the computer call balls and strikes. TV shows the strike zone and you can see how often the umps get it wrong. Let them stand there for plays at the plate, but automate the calls of balls and strikes.
2- Three balls for a walk, not four. Count the base on balls as a hit for the batter. He got on base, right?
3- Keep three strikes, but a foul ball with two strikes on the batter counts as an out. No more unlimited foul balls.
4- All games are seven innings.
5- If a batter steps out of the batter’s box, he gets a strike.
6- A pitcher must deliver in 12 seconds after receiving the ball, or that’s a walk. Why 12? Why not?
These changes will produce faster, higher-scoring games, yet still leave fans plenty of time for conversation, and possibly hold John Kruk’s attention.
No Way! You are OUT
Computer says I am Safe!
WHAT!! No way Jose! What have you been drinking?
If a player makes an error you can’t change it. If an ump errs, so be it. You’re trying to eliminate the human part. We’re letting tech rule us. I like mistakes.
The changes have slowed the game, even the 7 innings.
Get rid of every change except DH. DH for both leagues. That’s it.
Doubleday’s spinnin’ in his grave!!
This is outrageous, and you a Yankee fan! The Babe’s spinnin’ too. Have a nice day😁
I haven’t been a Yankee fan since 1955. If you don’t believe in messing with tradition, you should oppose DH, too.
I’ve allowed myself one exception and I have always liked the Yankees with the obvious one exception.
GO PHILLIES!!
Tom W. we have something in common. I, too, am a Yankees fan. My first love is the Phillies but have always loved the Yankees as well.
There was a friend in the fifties who loved the Yankees. Everything was Yankees Yankees Yankees.
We asked him Why?What about the Phillies? He said the Phillies are happy on playing, the Yanks are happier winning. And have they ever!
That kid was brighter than any of us. H, I bet we have much more in common than the Yanks. Maybe in time Stu will unwittingly surprise us. 🤞
Tom W. as I mentioned before, even though I am a Yankee’s fan, my first love is the Phillies. When they played each other, in the 2009 World Series and during inter league games I always rooted for the Phillies.
I do not doubt that you and I, as well as others here, have a lot in common. Unfortunately, politics is a great divider among people. If all of us could get past our political beliefs and see the sum total of who we are I believe we would become better than we are as a nation. We would still have the loonies, on both sides, but we would not be as fractured as we are now.
HAPPY SUNDAY !!!
Pallie,
Weren’t you wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers’ jacket when we first met ?
Baseball and softball has become a pitcher – batter duel.
I don’t know what the original distance was from rubber to plate, but it was changed to the current. Time for another change. If you don’t agree, then you can stand in the batter’s box. We’ll take it easy on you and only throw fast balls. We’ll start around 80 mph, then increase it till you bail ! I myself would stay in for a ONE HUNDRED MILE PER HOUR fast ball. I wouldn’t see a 80 mph coming. 100 mph. FORGETABOUTIT !
Tony
Tony
I don’t own a Brooklyn Dodgers jacket. I do own a Brooklyn Dodgers cap, and a Brooklyn jacket. The borough, not the team.
I sit corrected.
I also plead, too many concussions.
When was that ? 2009, 10 ?
Disagreed with just about every one of your suggestions. I think the DH should be in both leagues. It’s not good baseball to watch a pitcher step up to the plate and watch his embarrassing attempt to try to hit. Besides, if he does get on, he’s bound to get hurt and there aren’t very many good pitchers anymore. 3 balls for a walk, max two fouls with 2 strikes, 7 inning games? I’m against all of them. As for your thoughts on batters stepping out of the box, pitchers taking too long between pitches, I’m in favor of those.
Having a computer call balls and strikes, I’m in concurrence with Tom that too much Tech is too much Tech. A solution for the umps missing balls and strikes is one that I thought of. To us watching the games on TV, it’s plenty obvious when an ump is calling too many “off the plate strikes” or too many high or low pitched as strikes, have the home plate ump get on the horn with the MLB replay guys and ask for their opinion as to how they are calling the game. They can tell him that “you blew X number of calls in the inning” and explain why.
Only thing more aggravating to me is that batters refuse to adjust to the infield shift and still hit into ground balls in short right field and left field. C’mon, you’re a major league, you should be able to check-swing a double to the opposite field. Hit .750 for a few weeks and they’ll have to play you straight up. I’ve been harping on this since the shift became popular a few years back. To those who answer, “They’re being paid to the long ball not singles” I answer emphatically, “NO, they’re being paid to win ball games”.
Agreement is never required.
Meant to say “you’re a major leaguer” in the final paragraph and also meant to say “They’re being paid to hit the long ball”
I agree baseball needs some changes to speed things up, but only your time limit between pitches is realistic.
The computer umpire is getting closer with a trial earlier this season in some minor league.
Lowering the mound, not moving it, makes more sense and was done in the middle of the last century.
Kruk is entertaining and not afraid to say what needs to be said in many situations.
Furthermore baseball is not more boring than soccer, where every goal is a cause for a major celebration.
Not as boring as soccer is hardly reason to cheer.
I have found and now enjoy this boring game.
Also rugby.
Boring is curling.
Stu
Your brain has turned to mush. . . .
“Whoever wants to understand the heart and mind of America better learn baseball.” — Jacques Barzun, Apparently the heart and mind of America consists of 18 men standing around doing nothing for 99% of the time. The only way to improve the game is to stop playing it.
Of course baseball is boring. The so-called perfect game is one in which nothing much happens.
It’s much like watching a chess match.
I write this while wearing a Phillies T-shirt and listening to the game.
I’d rather watch paint dry.
still HAPPY SUNDAY !!!
You folks are entertaining to say the least ! Is there a baseball term for “Monday morning quarterbacks”?
I played little league ball a million years ago. As an adult, I played softball. I could always play defense. I probably couldn’t hit a beachball rolling across the plate. Naturally, there was football in the younger years. Soccer as an adult, both indoor ( net ) and outdoor ( wing ).
Those are my credentials. What are yours ? Did you play, coach, umpire? I did all of that. When you’re behind the plate, calling a game, life is very different. Kids throwing hardballs or softballs give it their best and surprisingly, some of them show talent at an early age. In baseball, a fastball does not travel in a straight line. The faster it is thrown, the more it ‘jumps’. Softball, there’s a thing called an ‘umpire’s tail’.
So now you jump to the majors. The fastball is travelling at 95 – 100 mph. Across 60 feet, 6 inches. DON’T BLINK !
You’re gonna tell me that a top player should be able to put that ball in play, on target. If that is so, then why is getting 1 hit out of 3 respectable ?
Now, get behind that plate. Tell me – no, show me, how good you are at calling balls and strikes ! When I did it, I was consistently calling strikes on balls below the knees. ” consistent” was the operative word. The saying was. I like them low, not high.
The other thing. I knew my limits. I wouldn’t call a game for teens. Boys or girls. Those games were above my capabilities to call a good game.
Tony
Hi, Stu,
Limit the number of foul balls a batter can hit until he walks or gets a pitch that he likes? It’s Richie Ashburn, of blessed memory, who’s spinning in his grave.
But the Major Problem with Major League Baseball is that it’s become liberal-political. When the Dodgers and Giants deserted New Yorkers, it at least was because of greed, the lure of making more money on the West Coast. But MLB pulling the All Star game out of Atlanta after that last election over an election integrity law? And MLB becoming pals with BLM? I’ve suspended my fandom of baseball and wrote Phillies why.
The DH is an abomination.
Agreed.
did anybody ever play, ” one pitch” ?
Street games of stick ball, like pimple, half, and hose are one swing, one out. You get three swings. Then there’s wire ball….throwing a tennis ball up, trying to hit electric lines, then having to catch it. We lived dangerously. Also wall ball and step ball.
Tom,
True to all that . I should have pushed a few more keys. One pitch is ( was ) played on a regular diamond. There was actually a league. I played a few years.
Tony
Well, if players, coaches and managers knew the fundamentals., that would help. If players would stop swinging for the fences and striking out a lot, that would make it less boring.
Yes, I’m a couple of weeks behind by posting this now, but I think it’s relevant. A change that might shave thirty seconds of each game (Baby steps) would be to allow the pitcher to signal the ump [Four fingers up & a point to first base perhaps] when he intends to issue an intentional walk. Why go through the charade of throwing four pitches?
You are more than a couple of weeks behind. 😊 MLB baseball has adopted the idea you suggest.