Please note: As we compose new blog entries, we will now send each one out to all our subscribers as we post them. Here’s a link to see the entire Blog Archives -GL
THE BASEBALL HISTORY COMES ALIVE BLOG
Please note: As we compose new blog entries, we will now send each one out to all our subscribers as we post them. Here’s a link to see the entire Blog Archives -GL
May 5, 2021
Mark Kolier submits his first blog post today with some interesting observations about the state of the current game. Some of his opinions are sure to stir up emotions, especially what he says about the DH. But that’s the purpose of the blog page: a chance for us all to opine about our great game. In the featured photo above, we see the very first DH, Ron Blomberg from 1973. -GL
New Blog Topic: Baseball – Can It Improve From Here?
Ah, America’s Pastime. It would be a mistake for today’s under-35 baseball fans to believe that baseball before 1973 (the first year of the Designated Hitter,) was baseball in the stone age. That attitude does exist when comparing the stars of yesteryear to those of the present day. Before let’s say 1980, most players had a fair amount of ‘seasoning’ before reaching the major leagues. This practice was expected to deliver more experienced players who had learned the tricks of the trade. Hitting and bunting, baserunning, fielding, and throwing.
Veteran baseball fans complain that money ‘changed that game’ and that owners, players and agents are all greedy and only concerned with their own paths. They also complain that players don’t know HOW to play the game anymore in part because players are brought up to the major league level at too tender an age to really understand the nuances of major league baseball. What you can get by with at the minor league level does not guarantee success in the major leagues. Young phenoms like Juan Soto (wise and talented beyond his years) of the Washington Nationals are the exception.
Baseball has always been a very strategic game. Professional baseball players have always been required to work hard on their craft with the chances slight for any real success by one individual player. Minor league teams have two or three good prospects, and 20 other guys for them to play with that aren’t as good. To not appreciate the physical, competitive, and tactical attributes of players from earlier eras is to not understand baseball in the context of its place in American and World history.
It’s also wrong for older baseball fans to disparage today’s players as being ego-inflated prima donnas who would not have flourished as much in the hardscrabble days of baseball (or let’s say 1979 pre-ESPN). Today’s Major Leaguer is better conditioned, better prepared, better informed, and of course better paid than his professional forbears. It’s a shame we cannot watch players like Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and Sandy Koufax play in today’s Major Leagues. Would they be successful? One thing is for sure, they’d take advantage of all the latest training methods and analytical tools that were not available to them during their playing days. It’s difficult to imagine the all-time greats not being, well, all-time great in any era!
Acknowledging that the game of baseball is played very differently than it was before 1973 would seem strange to the less observant. The basics are all the same for the most part. The DH was one response to the 1968 ‘Year of the Pitcher’. Baseball needed more hitting, and lowering the mound from 15 to 10 inches was not enough. Pitchers could not hit much then (and it’s even worse now), and the
pitchers were not penalized salary-wise for NOT hitting. This created another job, the DH. It was a polarizing experiment that has lasted 48 years. It will likely continue for BOTH leagues once a new collective bargaining agreement is reached between the MLBPA and MLB. When the DH debuted, National League fans held their noses when talking about the superiority of their league’s classic style of play. This still happens today but baseball is not worse for the DH, it’s better. The DH was a worthwhile adaptation to the downward trend of a pitcher’s ability to bat. Because it’s so difficult to hit a baseball!
So, the question remains, can baseball improve from here? Or because sports fans have dwindling patience and a never-ending stream of distractions (pastimes!), is baseball doomed to second-tier sports status? Before you jump at that statement keep in mind that this is exactly what many longtime baseball fans are feeling and saying. Too many strikeouts, too many home runs as a percentage of batted balls in play, and too many pitching changes! Major-league baseball in its wisdom is acknowledging the problem by having instituted some new rules in 2020 at the MLB level and is currently testing others at the minor league level. Some of these experimental rules sound downright nutty such as having a home run derby in lieu of extra-innings. Another league is testing a ‘double’ hook rule in which if the starting pitcher is removed, it forces the removal of the designated hitter. And don’t forget the test where the mound is being moved back 1 foot to 61 ft. 6 inches to give the hitter just a little more time.
Pioneer League Testing Home Run Derby In Place Of Extra Innings
As out-there as some of these rule changes might appear, it’s actually a good thing that MLB is testing what seem to be a bunch of ‘weird’ ideas. In fact, baseball, and all professional sports, should be in a continuous testing environment, always seeking to make their games better for those that watch it. After all, these are spectator sports where players are paid unbelievable amounts of money. Their job is to entertain the folks that pay to watch the team in person and on whatever platform they choose.
Can baseball improve from here? ABSOLUTLEY! Can baseball improve without losing its soul and its ties to the history of the game? That too is possible but less certain. Listening to fans, paying attention to what’s going on in and outside baseball, and continued testing will all contribute to making America’s Pastime a game that can thrive and survive. It may look a little different than it did when you were a kid, but it’s still a ball, a bat, a glove, and the guys that make it happen on the field!
Mark Kolier
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