In tepid defense of umpires

Umpires are remarkably good at their jobs. Trust me on this one.

If you hear about one really bad blown call in a week, it’s been a bad week, and there are thousands of plays, tens of thousands of pitches every seven days. But we only really notice the umpire when a mistake is made, and when we notice a mistake we get a sense of injustice. We want to fix things, and MLB doesn’t fix things.

As technology advances, it’s clear that umpires are increasingly obsolete. Sure, pitchf/x, the hardware and software system that tracks pitches from the point they leave the pitcher’s hand through the strikezone to the catcher’s mitt, isn’t 100% accurate yet, but it’s darn close. And instant replay gives us the chance to make field calls with close to 100% accuracy.

Historical Baseball Blurb: Joseph Andrews Sommers

It's totally possible this is not him

On May 28, 1885—almost 120 years ago, Joseph Andrews Sommers, apparently known as Pete, was arrested in Cleveland for playing baseball on Sunday.

This is interesting for a bunch of reasons. The first is obvious: arrested for playing baseball!? Those of you who have read Johnny Tremain are no doubt familiar with the (now antiquated) law against certain activities on the Christian Sabbath—like working, and, apparently, playing baseball.

Bill James reveals that the judge refused to admit evidence that a bazillion people played baseball on Sunday in Cleveland, all the time. Which is appropriate, because whether other people commit a crime with impunity or not shouldn’t matter whether an accused person is guilty. That lots of people sell cocaine and get away with it doesn’t mean that any given cocaine dealer who gets caught should be excused.

Then again, there has to come a point where the indifference of law enforcement enters the equation. Clearly the playing of baseball on Sunday had been open and notorious, and nobody had made an effort to curtail it until poor Pete got on somebody’s bad side. Anyway.

Historical Baseball Blurb: Frederick Kimball Stearns and the Detroit Wolverines

One of baseball’s biggest challenges over the years has been protecting competitive parity. As early as the 1880s, teams centered in larger markets (especially the east coast) were advantaged with more fans and better revenue (well, depending on how many other teams were around).

It’s easy for a fan to forget about what baseball is about. As with all things, it’s about money! I don’t say that pessimistically, and this isn’t a social commentary. Money is just a convenient tool for valuating all things in life—it’s not a materialistic thing. It’s a good measure to help us make good decisions, and it makes everything cheaper. But fans watching baseball are looking for any number of different non-money rewards. Maybe they want to see their team win, maybe they want to see a sweet changeup, maybe they want to see a circus catch in right field.

Well, most fans haven’t spent millions of dollars (or, in the case of the Dodgers, two billion dollars) buying a team. And at the end of the day, we shouldn’t expect baseball franchise owners to spend out of pocket to make a team viable, unless it’s a good long-term investment. Owners want to make money, and that’s OK. Now, fortunately, a lot of time that doesn’t move their interests out of line with the fans’. Winning teams do tend to make more money, and in any case, running a team well—that is, making cost-effective choices—should benefit everyone.

Historical Baseball Blurb: Elisa Green Williams

Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

Many baseball fans, when they attend a game or watching from home, enjoy scoring the action. It’s a sort of participatory, tactile spectatorship that puts you into the action of the game. It also makes you think about the rules of official scoring.

Most know that walks aren’t scored as hits, and that at-bats resulting in walks don’t count as official at-bats. Most also know that, in similar fashion, batters aren’t penalized for sacrifices, and aren’t credited for reaching base thanks to a fielding error. Less well-known? What happens when a batter gets a legitimate hit, but gets beaten legging it out to second? What happens when a baserunner pulls a Jean Segura and steals first?

Less casual observers around the league handle these questions—and they’re the ones who decide when it’s an error, when it’s a hit, when it’s a wild pitch, and when it’s a passed ball. The official scorekeepers have long been a subject of controversy.  Some argue that no-hitters have been ‘preserved’ by scorer favoritism, and even that DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak only reached that height thanks to some gracious home scoring calls.

Mark Buehrle and Charles Comiskey

It’s a good day to write about one of the coolest defensive plays the baseball world has seen in a long time. But sometimes, even at the most exciting and memorable moments, baseball offers us something deeper to appreciate. Have a look:

On April 5, opening day of the White Sox’s 2010 season, Mark Buehrle did this:

And the world rejoiced. Hawk Harrelson, who is the announcer who shouts “Mercy!,” is well known for having more, um, personality than any other guy in a baseball booth. His cohort Steve Stone is highly regarded, but with Hawk you either love him or hate him (and many take the latter). But that’s a bit of a digression, anyway.

Boston: Keeping It Classy Since 1886

Behold, dear readers, what some website is calling the first capture of the middle finger gesture in a photograph:

Note the gentleman in the upper left corner, waggling his most offensive digit for the world to gaze upon in horror (this may be difficult, as the excellently-haberdashered fellow in the middle surely drew your immediate attention).

LongoLongo

Takes a special sort of person to get all of this one...

From The Series "Through A Symposium, Inattentive": Baseball Haiku

The following were written during a symposium I was forced to attend but in which I had no interest whatsoever. The following is of low quality.


A Haiku for Aroldis Chapman

Glaring through my face
Fanning guys with fireballs
Scares me very much


A Haiku for Jonathan Schoop

High hopes for this kid
Please be good at second, please?
Please please please please please?


A Haiku for Kris Medlen

Hot stuff last year, pal!
I wonder if you'll repeat?
Rooting for you, bud!

From The Series "Through A Symposium, Inattentive": Baseball Limericks

The following were written during a symposium I was forced to attend but in which I had no interest whatsoever. The following is of low quality.


A Limerick for Jake Arrieta

There was once a pitcher named Jake
Who wouldn't give Os fans a break.
One day he's lights-out,
The next it's a rout!
When hitters get on him, they rake!


A Limerick for Roberto Alomar

There once was a 2B named Robby,
Disliked by the umpires' lobby.
He played well all the same,
Got his piece of sports Fame.
When I look at BRob I get sobby.


A Limerick for Bobby Bonilla

There once was a guy named Bonilla.
Back in 2001, he said "See ya!"
While he split with the Mets,
He still cashes their checks--
What a deal! You'd have to agree, huh?

The Commandments of Fandom

“The Gods of Baseball delivered unto me two tablets of stone written with the bat of Ruth; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Gods of Baseball spake with you on the mound out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.”

That’s right, folks! The spirits of the National Pastime have passed down to me the Commandments of Fandom, that I mayest teach them. Lo:

(1) Baseball is the Game thy Pastime; thou shalt have no other games before Baseball

(2) Thou shalt love Baseball above all teams

(3) Thou shalt honor Baseball’s history and traditions

(4) Thou shalt sustain Baseball’s welfare and perpetuity

(5) Thou shalt take a team, and, once taken, this team shall remain thine forever

(6) Thou shalt loathe the Yankees of the present; thou mayest acknowledge Yankees past

(7) Thou shalt remember thy baseball park, to attend when possible

(8) Thou shalt pursue quantifiable truth and intellectual honesty in thy fandom

(9) Thou shalt revel in The Pastime’s drama and elegance

(10) Remember: Thou shalt loathe the Yankees

The Infield Fly Rule

[Editor’s note: A rudimentary understanding of baseball will help with this one.]

It’s time to talk about the infield fly rule.

I KNOW, guys, that the infield fly rule is about the most stereotypical example of how baseball can be esoteric and impenetrable for those who aren’t hardcore fans. Well, all the more reason to do away with it for good—which is exactly what I propose we do.

First, here it is in all its glory: 

For Gentlemen's Consideration:

See: http://www.fangraphs.com/not/index.php/a-call-for-civility
See also: http://americanphotoarchive.photoshelter.com/image/I0000m5O3cKLXg5E

My Proposal For a New Pitching Regime

I love baseball. It is a game of tradition and history, and I love that, too. But sometimes I think maybe it relies too much on tradition, and managers make decisions informed more by what their habits are than by what the optimal approach is. Pitching arrangements are one of these things. So I’ve thought a little bit about how franchises might improve the way they handle pitching. Here’s the model, and then I’ll discuss it below.

[Note: I’m sure someone else has come up with ideas similar to this in the past; I’ve never read other research on this issue but I’m also not trying to claim this is the first time an idea like this is being presented.]

Current Model

12 total pitchers (five starters, seven relievers)

Starters: Expected to go ~6 innings/game (but as many innings as possible is ideal)

Relievers: Expected to go ~3 innings/game

Each starter pitches once every five games, and relievers pitch as needed (spreading out the workload).

My Proposed Model

12 total pitchers (four long-range, four mid-range, four short-range)