Baseball shifts are as bad as Free Speech?

freerepublic.com ^ | 6/23/2018 | a little elbow grease

[JonPreston]

I watched my first Bball game at Ebbits Field. Earnie Banks played shortstop and the peanuts had salted shells. The B-41 to Civic Center was my ticket home.

[xp38]

You want scoring watch or play cricket. An exceptional at bat is scoring a hundred runs or more. It’s called a century. If your ball manages to avoid the fielders and rolls to the edge of the playing field (Oval) you get 4 runs. Hit it into the stands you get six (called hitting for six). I guess it’s the equivalent of a home run. No foul lines so every ball is fair. Cricket is baseball on steroids. Pre civil war Cricket and Baseball were about equivalent in popularity in the US. The rise of baseball was due a great deal to soldiers playing the game.

[a little elbow grease]

"I watched my first Bball game at Ebbits Field. Earnie Banks played shortstop ...."

___________________

I guess the CUBS were visiting EBBETS FIELD?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

You have a gun with two bullets. You’re in a room Hitler, Stalin and Walter O’Malley. What do you do?

Shoot O’Malley twice.

[a little elbow grease]

"I think you have it backwards. The shift is a CONSEQUENCE of over-reliance on the home run, not the CAUSE of it."

_________________________

Pretty true.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

No foul lines so every ball is fair.

Running on a ground ball is optional. There are only two bases.

[a little elbow grease]

How bout telling batters to hit to opposite fields? How much more interesting would THAT be?

__________________________

A lot.

[Alberta's Child]

Anyone who complains about the shift should simply be forced to watch 6-8 straight hours of video showing Don Mattingly and Tony Gwynn at the plate in their primes.

Those two were the finest hitters I've ever seen in my lifetime. Nobody ever played a shift against them because it would have been pointless. Heck -- fielders served a whole different purpose when those guys were at the plate. The fielders were there to keep them to a single when they put the ball in play. :-)

[a little elbow grease]

"A good swinging bunt down the third base line is a double with this defense. Unfortunately, the vast majority of ball players don’t know how to bunt."

_________________

So true................ I'm hoping that some of these excellent college players today are studying this and doing as you say!

[a little elbow grease]

They don’t see it.

[JonPreston]

Yes indeed, the Cubs were in town. When they learned how well Banks could hit he became their 1st baseman. I was such a fan as a kid that I’d wait for the late editions of the newspapers to hit the stands and I’d look at the box scores from the West Coast (never paying for the paper of course). I could do batting averages, ERAs, all the stats in my head just by looking at the latest box scores. It was my game all the way.

[a little elbow grease]

lol

Williams was a genius.

[a little elbow grease]

I think it's as stupid as telling NFL Defensive players that they have to line up the same exact way every game.

LOL........ I'm surprised the NFL ever let the QB's take the snap in the "shot gun".

;-)

[usconservative]

...the games are WAAAAAY too long.

They're under three hours long. Football games go longer and soccer, which is boring as hell feels like it's a lot longer than it actually is.

I look at it this way: with the average cost of a ticket to go see a game, I don't want the game to get sped up. I want as much playing time for my money as I can get. Especially with how much the players make!

[Arlis]

That’s COMMUNIST! Restrict a players freedom - so it’s communist!

Lessee, another way would be to put a weight on the pitcher’s pitching arm.........or make the first baseman have to stand 10’ from the bag, and run to it for every ball hit.........

Already “the thinking man’s sport” is suffering in attendance - communist rules will only make it worse.......

LEAVE THE PERFECT GAME ALONE!

[a little elbow grease]

"Anyone who complains about the shift should simply be forced to watch 6-8 straight hours of video showing Don Mattingly and Tony Gwynn at the plate in their primes. Those two were the finest hitters I've ever seen in my lifetime.."

___________

Yes, and add Bill Madlock to those two, please.

;-)

[cymbeline]

Pro baseball too slow paced. Why? Drives me crazy if I’m at the game, more so if it’s hot.

[a little elbow grease]

yes

[usconservative]

I'm surprised the NFL ever let the QB's take the snap in the "shot gun".

Don't be surprised if the players of color demand it get renamed because the NFL is promoting gun violence!

And hey, while we're at it, what's up with the half-back position? Are they really saying a halfback isn't as good as a fullback? Is the halfback retarded or something?!

[JonPreston]

The real story about why the Dodgers left Brooklyn. Looking back they'd be better off today on Atlantic Ave.

Brooklyn Dodgers