M.L.B. Sends Message: Pitchers, Not Baseballs, Must Adapt

As a young boy growing up in St. Louis, I loved the Cardinals. I also took apart a few balls in my day – if you never did, you missed out on the fun of finding out how they were made. Baseball for me is still the best American Sport, not about height, weight, strength, but strategy The reason the balls are sailing is Global Warming. A ball is going to fly farther in hot dry air. That said, I still love baseball though the salary’s for athletes is out of control, let's pay them less to play a game they love and give the money to teachers, nurses, janitors, trash collectors, etc. – people that actually keep the world turning on its axis. Oh, and lets not forget lowering the price to take you family to a game!

A paen to pitchers: They have the toughest job in the game. My grandfather was a catcher for the Philadelphia Browns way, way back in the day - circa 1910. Balls were spat on, loaded up with tobacco juice and dirt, and otherwise doctored by pitchers and catchers. Balls remained in play, scuffs, dents and all until they were lost in the stands. It was all part of the game. It was randomness and humanity and the joy of people at play. We’ve had eras of juiced batters, eras of emery paper, eras of Colorado humidors, spitballs, beanballs, and watered basepaths. But now MLB has doctored the ball to disadvantage pitchers and favor hitters. Home runs for TV ratings. I love pitching. I love umpires with idiosyncratic strike zones. All of this is the humanity of the game. Great pitching challenges batters and brings out their best. Who wants to see a lummox swinging for the fences? I’d rather see a shutout than a home run fest. I’d rather see Casey strike out in the bottom of the ninth. No joy in Mudville tonight, but great joy in the winners’ hometown. Without the war between pitcher and batter, the game will wither. 10-9 games will become boring in a way that pitchers’ duels never will. The one basic rule of the game has always been that if you’re caught cheating, you’re outta there. MLB has been caught cheating. There is only penalty worthy of the offense: “Manfred, you’re outta here!”

Cole played for the Astros for the past two seasons, but signed the new contract with the Yankees.

Wake up everyone MLB has a very big problem despite increasing broadcast revenues its audience is in permanent decline. Even the Gold Standard (sic) the NY Yankees had a staggering decrease of 17% in its viewership last season. Rather than making fundamental changes to the sport to speed it up and make it more exciting to watch for the 21st century, Commissioner Manfred and team owners delude themselves into believing if only the players hit even more home runs next season everything will be fine. Dream on !

How many major league ballparks have reduced the size of the outfield by bringing the fences in? These dimensional changes are bound to increase home run totals and contribute more offense. More important, probably, is that shortening the fences also permitted the expansion of restaurant/bar areas adding significant revenue. Remember when the pre 1970's renovated Yankee Stadium had a straight away center field that measured 461 feet and right center was still over 400. Can't speak for other venues but the tape measure blasts of today would have been fly balls a few years back.

If the baseball is not juiced, it certainly is designed to deliver what MLB likes to see on live TV and newscasts: the home run.

Baseball has been trying to stay relevant to audiences that increasingly want fast action and constant scoring. MLB has decided that rule changes can at most be almost imperceptible to avoid changing the nature of the game too much. But everyone loves home runs and they provide much-needed excitement especially to casual fans. So it's not difficult to believe that the ball has been altered somehow to be livelier, especially since Rawlings is "effectively owned by the league." It can't be coincidence that so many big-league pitchers, who have spent lifetimes holding and throwing baseballs, have insisted that the ball is different.

The inability of umpires to call balls and strikes accurately is a prime cause of long games with too little action, too many strikeouts and quite possibly, the over reliance on home runs. Umpires crouch, using the catcher as a shield. Consequently, they can't see the edges of home plate and they judge pitches from their own vantage point. So they call pitches below the knees strikes and pitches above the belt balls. The top of the strike zone is supposed to be just below armpit level, where the uniform letters are. Give pitchers back the high strike and batters won't be able to focus on thigh level pitches. The problem can be fixed simply by giving umpires the old balloon chest protectors and making them stand up straight.

Cows? Aren't they made of horsehide?

I played in the minor leagues as a left-handed pitcher. The pitchers has a point. Effectively, the hardness of the balls makes a difference in homeruns, ball speed, and environmental conditions such as dirt, water, and ball exterior condition. When I faced a player who loved fastballs (hit homeruns as a result), I requested a different ball as often as allowed to throw the batter off. I was looking for a well-worn ball that was soft in nature therefore it would not fly as far. New balls always has problems for any pitcher--that's why they are always rubbing the ball into condition.