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

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

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 how his generation played baseball. I’m sorry, Joe’s not coming back. Instead, for the last half century, Hall of Famers at all levels 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 been quoted about their concerns. College Baseball Hall of Fame coaches Skip Bertman – LSU and Ron Fraser – UofM, the masters, taught us in print and with pictures how to use proper techniques. What all these men brought to the aspects of the Game that they lived and loved remains relevant today. His warnings and instructions were not heeded. 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’s 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 has 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 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, Playoffs, World Series, Designated Hitter and Saves, to name a few. The rules, assumptions, assumptions and definitions that dominate today’s Game are reviewed. Let us 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 be the 12th straight year and the AL average per team will top 1,300 for the first time.

· Players have forgotten, or never learned, some of the proper techniques for running and fielding bases. Most baserunners run hard only when deemed necessary; they are constantly looking for the ball while running; getting bad leads off bases, especially first base; and repeatedly violate the unwritten Rules that have been accepted forever. Unwritten rule #1: Assume nothing!

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

· Evidently, hitters aren’t practicing the skills necessary to defeat the drastic onfield defensive shifts that are currently being employed. Managers have let slow, sure bunt go the way of the dodo bird, in part because their hitters have never learned the how, when and where art of bunt to make it a useful weapon.

· Everyone involved has attributed a completely weird mentality to all aspects of the release. The assumptions and definitions that pervade 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 of the teams playing the same game using different Rules is, at first glance, non-productive. That’s probably why no other league in any sport would consider the idea. The DH must be discarded as soon as possible.

MLB constantly complains about the length of its games and has implemented several Rule changes to speed them up. Unfortunately, they have not allowed their umpires to strictly enforce all 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 batter, 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, so those tickets cost more and the scorer, broadcast teams, other media and owners watch from there. The television viewer should be able to see everything he sees, as it happens, not from repetitions.

Issues related to those on the field of play can and should be addressed, from the youth leagues to the Minor Leagues, before reaching the Major Leagues. The evidence is inside, they are not. Topics from front office to the top of the managerial pyramid also have their work cut out for them to restore confidence that the Game is headed in the right direction and present it in a way that will engage, not discourage, future fans.

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

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