Baseball's problems

[Nellie Fox]

George Will is a huge baseball fan. I don't agree with everything he says in this column, but his main point is dead-on.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/16/problems-for-major-league-baseball-bigger-than-lockout/

[Lipman 1]

George Will is a huge baseball fan. I don't agree with everything he says in this column, but his main point is dead-on.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...-than-lockout/

I like a lot of what he's saying.

Will also plays a small part in John Helyar's book "The Lords of the Realm", apparently his baseball musings really pissed off JR who was quoted using some expletive's in talking about him.

[longtimefan]

George Will is a huge baseball fan. I don't agree with everything he says in this column, but his main point is dead-on.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...-than-lockout/

Will is correct. If you have even casually watched this game of the years, you should see that the games have gotten much longer and with less excitement. The PA and owners better stop treating each other as enemies and learn to collaborate together to make baseball a more enjoyable form of entertainment.

[longtimefan]

I like a lot of what he's saying.

Will also plays a small part in John Helyar's book "The Lords of the Realm", apparently his baseball musings really pissed off JR who was quoted using some expletive's in talking about him.

George is my new hero.

[LITTLE NELL]

George is my new hero.

He will never be a hero of mine because he's a Cub fan but can't argue with a word he said. The part about Carew was spot on. It drives me crazy to see some of the shifts we have seen the last few years with hitters refusing to take advantage of the huge gaps by dropping down a bunt or just going for a easy hit against the shift, instead we see these guys swinging for the fences and more often than not striking out.

[Frater Perdurabo]

I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say that among the most offputting things about baseball is the cussed sanctimony of those who can’t stop complaining about how terrible the game is now and how it was so much better before.

I don’t blame kids at all for not showing interest in baseball if their elders incessantly complain about it.

Put another way: When kids feel like they are being told to get off the lawn, don’t be surprised when they prefer the basketball court or video games.

[Tommy John]

I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say that among the most offputting things about baseball is the cussed sanctimony of those who can’t stop complaining about how terrible the game is now and how it was so much better before.

I don’t blame kids at all for not showing interest in baseball if their elders incessantly complain about it.

Put another way: When kids feel like they are being told to get off the lawn, don’t be surprised when they prefer the basketball court or video games.

This is true. Go to any baseball page on Facebook and you see a lot of older guys bitching, moaning and griping about how baseball isn’t the same as when they were young, when it was played by “real men.” They seem so damn miserable you wonder why they even bother following baseball any more.

[Lipman 1]

He will never be a hero of mine because he's a Cub fan but can't argue with a word he said. The part about Carew was spot on. It drives me crazy to see some of the shifts we have seen the last few years with hitters refusing to take advantage of the huge gaps by dropping down a bunt or just going for a easy hit against the shift, instead we see these guys swinging for the fences and more often than not striking out.

As Freddie Freeman was quoted as saying a few weeks ago (paraphrasing) 'If it was so easy to hit through the open area don't you think I'd do it?' He then pointed out that the pitcher has something to say with a hitters ability to do this.

[LITTLE NELL]

As Freddie Freeman was quoted as saying a few weeks ago (paraphrasing) 'If it was so easy to hit through the open area don't you think I'd do it?' He then pointed out that the pitcher has something to say with a hitters ability to do this.

That's a bunch of baloney, most of these guys don't even try, they are Major League Hitters, they can't make adjustments? Maybe they should watch some videos of guys like Carew.

[voodoochile]

That's a bunch of baloney, most of these guys don't even try. Maybe they should watch some videos of guys like Carew.

It's just a belief that there's more to be gained by not accepting the soft single the other way over pulling the ball hard. People can disagree on the aesthetics of the game, but that is the commonly held belief among most teams and they have stats to back it up. If they eliminate shifts it's going to get even worse, because there will be less defenders in that area to field them so more will find grass and gaps. As a result, players will sit back and swing from the heels more often because there will be even less incentive to go the other way.

[Zakath]

Interesting stat in there about the dropoff in stolen bases. Growing up in an era where stolen bases were often more about individual glory than a strategic part of the game, it was probably good to get out of the Lou Brock/Rickey Henderson time frame, but it's really almost a lost art now. The "home run or die" mentality has really taken this out of the game. 1070 fewer stolen bases translates to almost 36 fewer per team over the season, and that's in the last 10 years where the dropoff was already in full swing at the start of that time frame.

[Lipman 1]

That's a bunch of baloney, most of these guys don't even try, they are Major League Hitters, they can't make adjustments? Maybe they should watch some videos of guys like Carew.

You mean the Rod Carew, a...what...SEVEN time batting champ, a 15 time all-star, 15 times hitting over .300 for a season, a Hall of Famer?

Yea, every player should just watch video and they too can be like Rod Carew!

Look I agree, it would be nice if some guys would take more shots that way but it depends on the situation and WHO is hitting. Do you really want your clean-up, RBI guys dropping down bunts into unoccupied say third base area?

And it's not even as easy to do that with pitchers throwing gas, working guys inside so they can't get decent wood on the ball. Like Freeman said pitchers have a say in a hitters ability to do what you want.

[LITTLE NELL]

You mean the Rod Carew, a...what...SEVEN time batting champ, a 15 time all-star, 15 times hitting over .300 for a season, a Hall of Famer?

Yea, every player should just watch video and they too can be like Rod Carew!

Look I agree, it would be nice if some guys would take more shots that way but it depends on the situation and WHO is hitting. Do you really want your clean-up, RBI guys dropping down bunts into unoccupied say third base area?

And it's not even as easy to do that with pitchers throwing gas, working guys inside so they can't get decent wood on the ball. Like Freeman said pitchers have a say in a hitters ability to do what you want.

I'm really surprised by your comments. You're no newbie and though not as old as some of us I think you go back to the mid 60s. As far as Rod Carew goes, yes, he's one of the greatest hitters ever so it's not going to hurt anyone watching videos of him or any other great hitter, maybe they should watch videos of Mario Mendoza. I only brought up Carew because George Will did.
Are you really enjoying the brand of baseball being played nowadays?

[Lipman 1]

I'm really surprised by your comments. You're no newbie and though not as old as some of us I think you go back to the mid 60s. As far as Rod Carew goes, yes, he's one of the greatest hitters ever so it's not going to hurt anyone watching videos of him or any other great hitter, maybe they should watch videos of Mario Mendoza. I only brought up Carew because George Will did.
Are you really enjoying the brand of baseball being played nowadays?

All I'm saying is watching videos does nothing to help a hitter who has been doing something one way all his life to "suddenly" be able to hit the other way, hit against the shift etc. It takes time and is something that needs to be learned at the minor league level.

Do I enjoy the game? It depends on if the Sox are winning, if they are I could care less how they win but in general terms the game is not played as well as it used to be.

You can blame the stat-geeks for that. But I'm guessing over time like everything else with the game, it will change into other directions.