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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
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To: Talisker

I was making a joke with some liberals about baseball being biased against left-handers because the second baseman must be right-handed and suggested that every other game the runners run clock-wise. They started taking the suggestion seriously.


41 posted on 05/26/2011 12:33:18 PM PDT by bkepley
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To: andy58-in-nh

Yep we played real baseball when I was a kid.


42 posted on 05/26/2011 12:37:43 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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Video: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15201733


43 posted on 05/26/2011 12:39:21 PM PDT by Rio
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To: ZGuy

Let’s put face cages on the batting helmets, too. Just like the ladies use.


44 posted on 05/26/2011 12:41:04 PM PDT by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: Lmo56
but poor old Ray was never the same after that ...

He was a classic flash in the pan. If you want to blame his short career on any injury, blame it on the broken neck he received in 1974 while breaking up a clubhouse fight between Reggie Jackson and Billy North.......

The year his shoulder was dislocated in the collision (1970), he never went on the DL and played 42 games in the second half. The year following he went to the All Star game again and won his second Gold Glove.

His average didn't begin to taper off until 72-73......

45 posted on 05/26/2011 12:41:15 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (It's a beautiful day and I'm glad I can see it in color.......)
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To: conservativebuckeye

“This kills my fantasy team.”

Pick up Yadier Molina or LuCroy (Millwaukee) or Hernandez (Cincy)....all 3 hitting over 300. My son had Posey....I was just looking at the stats of these guys.


46 posted on 05/26/2011 12:44:27 PM PDT by oust the louse (The death of Osama is as mysterious as the life of Obama. just sayin...)
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To: ZGuy

The most non-called infraction in baseball is a catcher without possession of the ball being in the basepath.

Quote from MLB rules “The catcher, without the ball in his possession, has no right to block the pathway “


47 posted on 05/26/2011 12:47:48 PM PDT by Cyman
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To: ZGuy

It’s hell on the nail polish so maybe he has a point.


48 posted on 05/26/2011 12:47:48 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: ZGuy

Maybe the catchers should try tagging the runners like the other players do, instead of blocking the plate with their body. You block another base it’s interference. JUst stick the ball and the glove by the plate and tag them when they try to touch the base.


49 posted on 05/26/2011 12:49:21 PM PDT by ez ("Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is." - Milton, Paradise Lost)
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To: ZGuy

PS: I caught for 12 years and my 10 year old grandson has now caught for three.


50 posted on 05/26/2011 12:50:31 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: ZGuy

Sometimes the runner gets the catcher. Sometimes the catcher gets the runner.


51 posted on 05/26/2011 12:50:36 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts.)
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To: ZGuy

You know what makes ME sad? YOU DO. Maybe we can chug on over to namby-pamby land and get some self-confidence for ya, ya jackwagon!

(Not you, Z, just sayin’)


52 posted on 05/26/2011 12:53:18 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts.)
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To: KoRn

EXACTLY! The friggin catcher is blocking the plate. What is the runner supposed to do? You can’t just slide past the guys legs. The CATCHER leaves only two options, get out of the way, or get knocked on your ass. BTW, Rose may be an ass, but Fosse was blocking the plate. He got what he bargained for.


53 posted on 05/26/2011 12:53:43 PM PDT by boop ("Let's just say they'll be satisfied with LESS"... Ming the Merciless)
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To: Doc Savage

I strongly agree on 2 & 5.


54 posted on 05/26/2011 12:54:51 PM PDT by Mr.Unique (The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.)
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To: ZGuy

Stop whining, you douchebags.

If you can’t take the hits in your sperm-colored uniforms that have “gigantes” across the front, go play cricket.


55 posted on 05/26/2011 12:56:44 PM PDT by Crcl1
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To: ez
Maybe the catchers should try tagging the runners like the other players do, instead of blocking the plate with their body.

And then again maybe not.

56 posted on 05/26/2011 12:57:01 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: PieterCasparzen

Don’t you think it’s also time to completely enclose the field of play with netting? If it saves ONE CHILD from getting a crack on the noggin with a foul ball, isn’t it worth it? Don’t you think? ;)


57 posted on 05/26/2011 12:58:31 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts.)
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To: Mr. Mojo
Not quite. Baserunners routinely barrel into 2nd basemen and/or shortstops in hopes of breaking up double plays. And pitchers have been throwing 90+ mph fastballs into the sides (and occasionally the heads) of batters since the game began.

:-}

58 posted on 05/26/2011 12:59:26 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: Lmo56
"Rose laid a legal hit on Ray - its baseball...

True, but it was the freaking All Star game and totally meaningless which only goes to prove that Pete Rose belongs in the Total Jerk Hall of Fame.

59 posted on 05/26/2011 1:00:13 PM PDT by Ditto (Nov 2, 2010 -- Partial cleaning accomplished. More trash to remove in 2012)
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To: ichabod1

Right, and wiffle balls sting too much. /sarc %!


60 posted on 05/26/2011 1:00:46 PM PDT by PieterCasparzen (Huguenot)
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