Just when you thought it was safe to jog past a red-dirt diamond without
risk of getting struck by a foul ball — baseball is back!
Thawed out from the Turin Olympics, we now warmly anticipate the return of
baseball with spring training under way and the start of the World Baseball
Classic this week.
Baseball symbolizes miraculously sprouting green buds, perpetual rebirth
and eternal hope. For many it evokes memories of unpacking the glove on
that first warm day of Spring. Of course, you had placed a ball in your
mitt, bound it tightly with rubber bands and soaked it in neetsfoot oil
over the Winter to create that perfect "pocket."
Baseball means one more game of catch with dad or memories of your last
throws together in the backyard or driveway — with the guy who had proudly
bought you that first glove. And finally a trip to the stadium which had
the greenest and best mowed of many grasses.
For most of America, the start of the baseball season is also the de facto
cure for seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is the depression caused by
the lack of sunshine while spending more time indoors during winter.
Some say football is our national sport but after another monotonous Super
Bowl no reasonable person would make that claim. No Super Bowl ever
compares to the progression of precise chess-like moves in a seven-game
World Series. That said, there are some changes that could make baseball
even better.
Baseball's detractors say the game moves too slowly.
This writer and his son once calculated, using a simple stopwatch, that the
actual time the ball is in play during a three-hour, nine-inning game is an
unbelievable 13.5 to 14.5 minutes. (But, surprise, the figure is the same
for a professional football game, which can span 3 1/2 hours.)
Anyway, baseball is the only major league sport where the players, during
the course of a 162 game season plus exhibition games, warm up before the
game and 18 times during the game, i.e., every half inning. For the sake of
debate (and knowing there is extreme variation) let's say pitchers throw 50
pitches before the game and six warm-up tosses each half inning.
So how about this: Whenever the teams change sides, the flow of the game
should continue, uninterrupted. If you saved four minutes per half inning,
the total time saved over nine innings would be about 72 minutes.
Starting pitchers usually last five to six innings because they become
ineffective after 100 game pitches. And, since the human arm and shoulder
is not engineered to throw forever at such fast speeds or torque, the wear
on the rotator cuff, biceps, triceps, tendons, ligaments, bones and joints
is way past normal.
So, I suggest that pitchers take 25 rather than 50 warm-up pitches in the
bullpen before the game. They could take two warm-up throws each half
inning.
By throwing 25 fewer pregame warm-up pitches and four fewer warm-ups per
half inning (times six innings, for a total of 24), each starting pitcher
would save a total of 49 throws.
That savings would allow pitchers to throw effectively further into the
game. The reduced workload during the course of a 30-outing season also
could avoid many tired, sore and injured arms.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim might have gone to the World Series last
year if their best right- and left-handed starters, Bartolo Colon and
Jarrod Washburn, and a few relievers had not been sidelined with arm
injuries.
Returning to saving game time, the suggestions above should decrease the
number of pitching changes during a game. The time savings could be 15-20
minutes, on top of the 72 minutes trimmed by eliminating the break between
half-innings, for a total reduction of roughly 90 minutes, or half the
current duration.
So, we can speed up and shorten the game if we wanted to. But should we?
Maybe we should slide safely away from what we think we should ask for.
Let's ask both detractors and diehards if they want to speed up the game.
In a world of speed, crash and anxiety maybe a lazy day at the ballpark is
what we all need. After all, trips to the refreshment stands, hot dogs, the
brown (Gulden's) vs. yellow (French) mustard debate and "hanging out" with
your buddies are part of the game experience.
Admittedly, a 90-minute game would make sponsors frenzied by squeezing out
many of the commercials, which encourage you to drink more beer, drive a
fast car faster — and take out more health, disability and life insurance.
Now, there is some controversy over who actually invented the game of
baseball.
Folklore tells us that baseball was invented before the Civil War in
Cooperstown, N.Y., by Abner Doubleday. Abner or not, some person or persons
or teams made it America's greatest game. So, on second thought, maybe we
should think hard before we steal time from the game.
We, the faithful fans, like to think it was Abner, because we like legends
and believe in miracles. And baseball is one of the miracles of spring.
Editor's Note:: Michael Arnold Glueck wrote this week's piece of short
relief on baseball.
