Ma, maaa, they put a shift on me!!
Go ahead, take a good look all around–and tell me we’re not living in Stupidworld.
Here’s Majuh League Base Ball’s contribution to the overall stupidity.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10028942-a-shift-ban-is-the-game-changer-mlb-needs-right-now
For those who don’t know, baseball managers can rearrange the defensive alignment on the field to try to decrease the batter’s chance of getting a hit. If he’s a guy who hits mostly to right field, the defensive players shift over to right field–sometimes leaving left field all but empty. Baseball teams have been doing this since the 1870s. They even do it in slow-pitch softball.
MLB wants to ban it so as to generate more hitting and higher batting averages.
This is why I don’t watch baseball anymore. Heck, why don’t they just put in a batting tee? Or tie the outfielders’ shoelaces together? Man, if you can’t hit through the shift, or foil it simply by hitting the ball to the empty side of the field, you don’t belong there in the first place!
Every innovation they’ve made to baseball since the 1980s has only eroded its quality. I mean, of course some gavone is gonna hit .300, if they won’t allow the defense to take his batting style into account. Then he can appear in commercials as a big star. Feh. Phony! Booyabumya!
And then they’ll have the chutzpah to compare these pampered palookas with real ballplayers who had real achievements…
And a 5-cent pack of baseball cards, without the gum, now costs $2.50. There is only one answer to all this:
I remember being outraged when they first allowed designated hitters and then designated runners. I even objected when Roger Maris supposedly broke Babe Ruth’s home run record because his total was based on a lengthened season. If the Babe had had more than 154 games as Maris did, his record would have been much higher. Then came the new bats, and the constant expansion of the leagues, and on and on. I gave up on baseball long ago.
Instead of tying the outfielders’ shoelaces together (and why not the infielders’ as well?), why not just have the pitcher spin a wheel marked with pitch outcomes to determine whether a batter gets on base and if so how many bases?
They changed the ball, the bat, and brought in the distance to the fence – I stopped being a fan.
What a whine fest. instead of encouraging players to improve, let’s hamstring the defense.
Never mind that I stopped following baseball after the 2nd strike this is ludicrous.
It’s another example of revisionism. Redefine something and you can change history.
I have never been to a major league football, basketball, or baseball game! I always thought, who in their right mind would pay that much for a ticket?
Patty and I used to go to Yankee games. If you’d seen how she lit up when Joe DiMaggio came onto the field for Old Timer’s Day, you might say it was worth it.
But we don’t go anymore. Not since they ruined the game.