Early 80's, listening to Kalas and Ashburn while driving car. Manny Trillo drops an easy pop out to extend an inning and allow a run to score. You could hear Ashburn in the backround, clear as day, "Oh sh*t!" while Kalas called the play. Laughed my butt off...I loved Ashburn!
FC/OT: Baseball is back!
- Thread starter Midnighter
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I always have a baseball free Summer. I may watch when the last game ever is played.That's disappointing. I was hoping for a baseball free summer.
Did see the news and the one item for further discussion that blows my mind…discussion of limiting the outfield from shifting (based on who is batting.)
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Hopefully, at least with regard to the pitch clock, pitchers start to quicken their pace already, so as to get used to it, so it's not a complete shock next year. Teams will keep shifting as much as possible until they are no longer allowed, however.
Red Sox at Yankees...April 7th...Opening day! Is 162 still in play or will the season be cut short a few games?
Yeah, makes sense. That's why they couldn't make that pitch clock change now. Pitchers will want time to prep for that pace.
All 162. The first week of the season has a lot of divisional games, for the most part, so it shouldn't be too hard to make that week up with doubleheaders.
I'm with you. I don't need to see pitchers at the plate flailing at pitches anymore. As a lifelong NL fan, I welcome the change.
It's double switch. Double shift or double clutch was shifting gears before synchronizes transmissions.
Having pitchers that can actually pitch and get guys out vs. guys that just throw heat and often walk batters will shorten a game more than the pitch clock. Also, if they truly want to shorten a game they would have gotten rid of the DH and made all pitchers hit. But the fact of the matter is, they want offense and that's why they're adding a DH to the NL and getting rid of the shift. I'm good with it because I don't care how long a game lasts. It's the youth that has the attention span of a fruit fly that is the issue.
EDIT: I've been going to a lot of AAA games where they've use the pitch clock for a few years and as a fan you can't really even tell the difference.
Absolutely the best way to listen to baseball ⚾️ in the 70s and 80s
remember It well
Play all day - get a bath
- go out on porch and listen to Harry and Richie !not only was Harry the best broadcaster of all time, there isn’t even anyone in his stratosphere
I grew up listening to Yankees games on the radio. (We couldn't get cable where I lived.) Listening to the Scooter, Phil Rizzuto. I will never forget the night he called a "swing and a miss" and then a few seconds later it "Holy Cow! That's a homerun!"
And with that my Pittsburgh Pirates are just 23 1/2 games now out of first place but charging hard!
We interrupt this "GET OFF MY LAWN!" segment to bring you back to reality.
First, regarding the pitch clock ... the reason why the experimental pitch clock in AA and AAA didn't result in a lasting reduction in game time was they included a loophole where a pitcher could step off the mound and reset the pitch clock. Once pitchers figured out how to work the system, things got slow again. They implemented a pitch clock again recently in A ball, and closed the loophole, and it dropped average game time by 21 minutes. And it's not just the overall game time ... it's the down time in between events that matters. Get in the box and hit. Get on the rubber and pitch. Stop fiddling with this and diddling with that. Youth (with decent talent)/HS games are often more enjoyable to watch than pro games, because of this much better pace and flow.
Second, regarding pitchers that can actually pitch. That's just flat-out bunk. The last 5 years, BB/G have hovered between 3.23 and 3.39 (the COVID season when pitchers weren't as prepared). If you remove that outlier year, the range was between 3.23 and 3.27. Most 5 year ranges won't be much different. Actually the 5 years prior to these last 5 had the lowest BB/G rates since the mid-60's ... and they were decently to substantially higher BEFORE the mid-60's.
Pitchers are, historically speaking, REALLY FREAKING GOOD right now. The amount of advanced training, using data capture and analysis, and physical training, is CRAZY. They've learned how to throw the ball really friggin hard and, more importantly, how to control velo and spin rate/efficiency to the point where these pitches they're throwing are just phenomenal. 4-seam fastball usage is actually down, despite the overall velocity uptick, because they can now throw cutters, 2-seams, sinkers, and all sorts of variants just by adjusting finger location, grip pressure and wrist presets, and these pitches are faster than 4 seam fastballs used to be ... and the movement on these things is unreal.
This may result in a more boring game than the traditionalists would like, but pitching has taken a HUGE leap forward. Hitting has struggled to keep up (and it's not because of these crazy "launch angle swings").
Third, the youth simply can process information faster than previous generations, because they've had so much thrown at them, via technology. Things can keep their attention as long as they're interesting.
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But I think we could probably get pretty unanimous agreement on the enjoyment of Australian rules football.
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I’m with you in theory, but I’m also sick of watching the automatic out in the 9 spot in the lineup.
How is it enforced? What happens if the pitch is not thrown before the clock runs out?
Then why did MLB ban all foreign substances for pitchers MID SEASON and check players gloves, hats and belts etc. last season? You think tht might have anything to do with the numbers you referenced for the past 5 years? The league wants offense and offense makes games longer no matter what you say. They should just say we want the pitchers to stop effing around so much so they can throw mellons that get knocked out of the park.
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I know this won’t be popular here, but I couldn’t stand listening to him. His voice and delivery annoyed me. I was always an Ashburn fan though.Absolutely the best way to listen to baseball ⚾️ in the 70s and 80s
remember It well
Play all day - get a bath
not only was Harry the best broadcaster of all time, there isn’t even anyone in his stratosphere
Then why did MLB ban all foreign substances for pitchers MID SEASON and check players gloves, hats and belts etc. last season? You think tht might have anything to do with the numbers you referenced for the past 5 years? The league wants offense and offense makes games longer no matter what you say. They should just say we want the pitchers to stop effing around so much so they can throw mellons that get knocked out of the park.
I never said the league didn't want more offense. And, for better or worse, the league's been messing with a lot of stuff ... higher/lower compression baseballs, seams, grip "aids", etc.
In fact, in the latest pitch clock experiment, offense increased, while game time decreased by 21 minutes (on average).
R/G AVG OBP SLG HR% BB% K%
w/o pitch clock
5.13 .237 .333 .371 1.9 11.1 29.3
w/ pitch clock
5.86 .263 .347 .424 2.5 9.7 25.3
Now, imagine how much more "action" there was, in a shorter period of time (i.e. fewer lulls). It may or may not make this much of a difference when implemented in the pros, but it's definitely worth a shot, without fundamentally changing the structure of the game or the gameplay within (I comparatively hated 7 inning doubleheaders) ... just get the ball out of your hand faster from pitch to pitch.
Well, I’ll still watch baseball because it’s sports and it’s what’s on all summer, but my days of contributing anything monetarily are done. All the small market teams just voted in agreement with this deal which increases the amount big markets can spend and hurts the ability of small markets to rebuild through the draft. They just told me they don’t give a crap about me as a fan, so I’ll return the favor.
Yeah, it’s all subjective and just a matter of personal tastes. I think it was his drawn out speech style that irritated me.He was “simply the best”!
but everyone is entitled to their misguided opinions
In other news, the Orioles have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
"Advanced training".
The Pitchers Whose Spin Rates Fell Most After a Crackdown on Sticky Substances (Published 2021)
Strikeouts have decreased and on-base percentage has risen — midseason changes without parallel in decades of baseball in the majors.
Which pitchers may be suffering most from MLB's foreign substance crackdown?
We're only halfway through the MLB season, but it's clear that this year will be defined by the league's crackdown on foreign substances. Since news leaked that MLB would start policing the use of substances during games, spin rates have plummeted across the majors - for some pitchers more than...
www.thescore.com
A guy at the gym this AM said he heard on The Fan that all teams play every other team....that will be neat if true.
One would expect that the number of in-division games remains unchanged from previous years. With that set, go as far as this takes you, go wild. Why not?
Great news. I frickin' LOVE baseball.
I just read that the A's open the season in Philadelphia. Full circle, no doubt, but A's and Phillies?! To open the regular season?!
I just read that the A's open the season in Philadelphia. Full circle, no doubt, but A's and Phillies?! To open the regular season?!
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I get that
Ironic because that was one of the things I liked - sitting in the porch listening
to him tell a story - I felt connected to the game even though I was just listening on the radio then when he would change his inflection when something good happened like “that balls ⚾️ outta here, home run Michael Jack Schmidt!” - so cool
all the memories
Harry was great. Alas, he replaced Bill Campbell, who was also an excellent PBP announcer. Bill "PT Barnum" Giles was instrumental in having Campbell fired and replacing him with Harry the K. The Phils were moving into their new stadium (the Vet), and after some terrible seasons were worried standing pat with the announcers would diminish the enthusiasm for the team, and lower ticket sales at the new stadium.
I really liked Harry the K; one of the best baseball PBP announcers I ever heard, and he had a great rapport with Richie. That said, Campbell was an excellent PBP announcer, and it would have been fun to hear him call the games of the strong teams the Phils had in '76, '77, '78, '79, '80, and '81.
"Advanced training".
The Pitchers Whose Spin Rates Fell Most After a Crackdown on Sticky Substances (Published 2021)
Strikeouts have decreased and on-base percentage has risen — midseason changes without parallel in decades of baseball in the majors.www.nytimes.com
Which pitchers may be suffering most from MLB's foreign substance crackdown?
We're only halfway through the MLB season, but it's clear that this year will be defined by the league's crackdown on foreign substances. Since news leaked that MLB would start policing the use of substances during games, spin rates have plummeted across the majors - for some pitchers more than...
"Advanced training".
The Pitchers Whose Spin Rates Fell Most After a Crackdown on Sticky Substances (Published 2021)
Strikeouts have decreased and on-base percentage has risen — midseason changes without parallel in decades of baseball in the majors.
Which pitchers may be suffering most from MLB's foreign substance crackdown?
We're only halfway through the MLB season, but it's clear that this year will be defined by the league's crackdown on foreign substances. Since news leaked that MLB would start policing the use of substances during games, spin rates have plummeted across the majors - for some pitchers more than...
Yes, advanced training. Yes, pitchers have been using grip aides for decades, and it's become an art form, as well. And, yes, MLB is attempting to crack down on that. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Without the "grip aides," pitchers are still phenomenal within the context of history. This is why there are so many attempts to dull their abilities ... because they've been that good. MLB is trying not to take drastic steps, like moving the mound back, while still trying to even the playing field, somewhat. It's a losing battle, to some extent ... as more and more kids who have had this advanced training starting from a younger age are making their way up the ranks.
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