Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Rule change, please [Baseball collisions at home plate]
Mccovey Chronicles ^ | 5/26/11 | Grant Brisbee

Posted on 05/26/2011 11:57:37 AM PDT by ZGuy

[Buster Posey, last year's Rookie of the Year is out for the season with a broken leg sustained on a collision at the plate last night. This is a major loss to the S.F. Giants. This blog post is in response to that hit.]

Barreling into a catcher adds nothing to the game of baseball. It never has. Every time I'd watch Pete Rose barrel into Ray Fosse, I'd think how messed up it was. It never really hit home until now, but it's the only element of contact in a non-contact sport. It's like the NFL using Scrabble to decide games that are tied after regulation -- it's the exact opposite of how the rest of the game is played.

Take-out slides at second can cause an injury, but there's something more organic about sliding a little late or wide. A player putting his head down and leveling a catcher is legal, and it's nonsense. I understand the logistical aspect -- you can't run through second or third base, so you have to slide,and first base is a force out, so there's no reason to knock the ball out of the first baseman's hands.

But there has to be a way to eliminate crazy-violent collisions at home plate. You can't decimate a catcher in college. They're able to enforce that somehow. There's no way to eliminate contact altogether, but there's a way to eliminate the strategy of plowing into a catcher so hard that he drops the ball. We're storming the administration building, folks. We're going to burn bras and draft cards and effigies, and we'll get this fixed.

After we stop openly weeping.

(Excerpt) Read more at mccoveychronicles.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: baseball; busterposey; giants; mlb
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-114 next last
To: cripplecreek

oh that’s just stupid.


21 posted on 05/26/2011 12:14:12 PM PDT by babble-on
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

:: If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault.” — Ty Cobb ::

And the baseball congregation says, “Amen!”


22 posted on 05/26/2011 12:14:48 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (Islam is a violent and tyrannical political ideology and has nothing to do with "religion".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy
Grant Brisbee, San Fransico Girly-Man!


23 posted on 05/26/2011 12:15:03 PM PDT by TexasCajun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy

I will never forget Kirk Gibson taking out a catcher. When interviewed he said; “All I missed was the crack of the pads” Kirk played Football at MSU and could have played in the NFL


24 posted on 05/26/2011 12:15:55 PM PDT by 70th Division (I love my country but fear my government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy

:: Buster Posey, last year’s Rookie of the Year is out for the season with a broken leg sustained on a collision at the plate last night. This is a major loss to the S.F. Giants. ::

Can I call you a “whaaaaaambulance!”?

The fricking Tigers have been mediocre, at best, for quite a few years...yet, I still root for them day-in and day-out. Would that they would be a mite more aggressive on the paths...could spice things up a bit.


25 posted on 05/26/2011 12:17:19 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (Islam is a violent and tyrannical political ideology and has nothing to do with "religion".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy

While I can’t stand the rule changes in the NFL that will more or less turn it into flag football, if the lockout ever ends, I sort of agree with this.

I never gave it much thought before, but a runner cannot barrel into the first baseman, shortstop, etc., so why should he be allowed to do this to the catcher.

I suppose the fact that catchers wear some protective gear is a factor, but that gear is designed to block baseballs, not fast moving humans.

If they ever do change the rule, they also need to make it illegal for the catcher to block the plate, unless he has the ball in his hand or glove. I thik plate blocking is probably what led to the practice of running over catchers.


26 posted on 05/26/2011 12:17:55 PM PDT by Above My Pay Grade
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy

Rose laid a legal hit on Ray - its baseball, but poor old Ray was never the same after that ...


27 posted on 05/26/2011 12:19:00 PM PDT by Lmo56 (If ya wanna run with the big dawgs - ya gotta learn to piss in the tall grass ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy

I always wondered why they can barrel into the catcher and not the first baseman.


28 posted on 05/26/2011 12:19:45 PM PDT by Baynative (Truth is treason in an empire of lies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PieterCasparzen

I DID see the play and it wasn’t the collision that hurt him, it was the fact his foot was under his leg and when the collision happened, he rolled over with his foot pinned. Ankles don’t bend backwards.

THAT is why he is out. The collision didn’t do anything to hurt him, it was the position of his leg.

Limp-wristed, dress-wearing, SF girly men writers who know NOTHING about baseball and who probably would LOVE for the teams to look more like the Village People than ball players need to STFU.


29 posted on 05/26/2011 12:21:08 PM PDT by Littlejon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Colonel_Flagg

Hit in chest by line drive. Lost breathe for lo-o-ng time. case of wrong place, wrong time. Suggest author read more Tom Boswell:
“Time Begins on Opening Day” or “How Life Resembles the World Series”


30 posted on 05/26/2011 12:21:18 PM PDT by famousdayandyear (On the 18th of April 75 hardly a man is now alive who remembers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Colonel_Flagg

Hit in chest by line drive. Lost breathe for lo-o-ng time. case of wrong place, wrong time. Suggest author read more Tom Boswell:
“Time Begins on Opening Day” or “How Life Resembles the World Series”


31 posted on 05/26/2011 12:21:26 PM PDT by famousdayandyear (On the 18th of April 75 hardly a man is now alive who remembers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy

“It never really hit home until now”....


32 posted on 05/26/2011 12:21:45 PM PDT by G Larry (I dream of a day when a man is judged by the content of his character)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek
Maybe they should just hit the ball off a tee.

No kidding. Maybe I'm "old school", but I recall that the best way to keep someone from barreling you over at the plate was to shove your glove, preferably with the ball in it, right into the face of the guy trying to knock you down. It's amazing how often they didn't do it again.

33 posted on 05/26/2011 12:22:26 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh (America does not need to be organized: it needs to be liberated.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Yawn ... Another whiner who used to have Buster Posey on his fantasy team ...
34 posted on 05/26/2011 12:23:19 PM PDT by dread78645 (Evolution. A doomed theory since 1859.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy
A SF fan who had no qualms about cheering on Barry Bonds is now crying "no fair!". Priceless.

I'll never forget Pete Rose leveling the now Giant manager at the plate in the 1980 NLCS. I'm sure Bruce will never forget it either.


35 posted on 05/26/2011 12:24:00 PM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard (Some men just want to watch the world burn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Baynative

If first basemen stood in front of the bag we would see more collisions at first.

Freegards


36 posted on 05/26/2011 12:25:03 PM PDT by Ransomed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: DManA

And maybe let Danica just win the indy just once


37 posted on 05/26/2011 12:25:43 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom!!! May I please be removed from the contribution under review program I will behave Thank y)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy
We're storming the administration building, folks. We're going to burn bras and draft cards and effigies, and we'll get this fixed. After we stop openly weeping.

No people are more pathetic than SF Bay Area liberals - absolutely none.

38 posted on 05/26/2011 12:26:21 PM PDT by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on its own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Baynative

Because it’s a force out.


39 posted on 05/26/2011 12:28:55 PM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard (Some men just want to watch the world burn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: ZGuy

There is already a rule in place concerning this situation.

“BASE PATH - The base path belongs to the runner EXCEPT when a fielder is in the path attempting to field a batted ball or when a fielder is in the path and in possession of the ball. After a runner has been put out (typically on a force play at second) he has NO rights to the base path. If R1 is put out at second by a long distance, he must duck or get out of the path. If he is hit with the throw while in the path, or makes contact with the fielder who is in the act of throwing, while on his feet, he is guilty. Since he is already out, the runner being played upon is called out. Rule 7.08(b), 7.09(L)”

The catcher does not belong on the base path.


40 posted on 05/26/2011 12:30:42 PM PDT by bad company (There are no illegal guns, just undocumented firearms.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-114 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson