How’s the strikeout record doing?
Good question. Many batters have taken a "HR or strikeout" attitude.
Posted on 09/12/2019 9:32:20 AM PDT by DFG
Major League Baseball’s remarkable home run surge has led to countless records being broken this season.
Now the biggest one has fallen.
When Jonathan Villar of the Baltimore Orioles launched a three-run home run during Wednesday’s 7-3 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was No. 6,106 hit across MLB this season.
That breaks the previous record of 6,105 hit in 2017.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
How’s the strikeout record doing?
Good question. Many batters have taken a "HR or strikeout" attitude.
Baseball is indeed dying rapidly for many factors as are the other major sports.
Earnshaw Cook, in his book, Percentage Baseball, 1964, noted that the resilience of the 1961 baseball increased by 12% over that of 1927. Baseballs don't stay the same.
True...and that can be very hard on a family. My granddaughter played on a softball travel team for two years. Their travel schedule was crazy.
As in all forms of entertainment, there are simply a heck of a lot of alternatives out there, and it's now heavily segmented.
Juiced up ball.
Or Juiced Up players?
WE also played.....
GUNS!
Cowboys and Indians(not native americans)
We also had real guns. BB guns when we were kids. 22 when I was 14. Shotgun when I was 16. Kids brought them to high school too on a gun rack in their GMC pick up truck especially during hunting season.
We also had mini bikes and a 125cc dirt bikes at age 14. We also had go carts with McCulloch Chainsaw engines on them.
We would take the go carts over to the local community college on the weekend to race them around their big packing lots. Nobody cared. We did NOT wear helmets all the time either.
In the winter we would pull each other with Murph’s Artic Cat snowmobile with a tow rope on skis. We built jumps for the skier to go over when you would swing wide on the turn.
Again, sans helmet.
We also rode in the back of our pick up trucks to the drive in. We would park the truck backwards, sit in the back on an old car seat or lawn chairs. We would bring a cooler of beer too.
Baseball is NOT dying. MLB is more profitable today than it's ever been. MLB average attendance is almost 26,000 per game and each team plays 81 home games. That's not dying!
Does Major League Baseball own Rawlings?
Rawlings, a more than century-old company that produces the official ball and helmet of Major League Baseball, will be changing hands in a $395 million deal that adds the professional league as a key investor. ... And Rawlings baseballs have been the official, and exclusive, game balls since 1977.Jun 5, 2018.
MLB Buys Rawlings From Newell Brands for $395 Million - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com › articles › newell-brands-to-sell-rawlings-brands-for-3...
Search for: Does Major League Baseball own Rawlings?
“The modern approach to baseball — at least in the American League — involves putting a cleanup hitter in every spot in the order. There are no 3-run home runs anymore because nobody gets on base ahead of a home run hitter.”
We see the same reality in the National League. Maybe only every other batter is 265 #’s and 6’5” tall and built like you know what.
They hit the 100 mph pitched balls so hard and fast, they can even break their knee when the ball hits their knee.
Often the home run balls are hit faster than the pitch was clocked at.
“Every time a new stadium is built (a frequent occurrence) the outfield walls move towards home plate about 10 feet.”
The SF Giants will remodel their ball park after this season is over and bring the fences in like in other ball parks.
“My Royals have a player who went from 12 home runs last year to 42 this year. Tell me the ball isn’t juiced.”
Just a coincidence. Time to move on.
Oh man LL moms are beyond insane. You can’t cross one - even innocently - and live to tell the tale!
“My Royals have a player who went from 12 homeruns last year to 42 this year. Tell me the ball isn’t juiced.”
He’s got 44 now!
LOL. Exactly what I thought.
Respectfully, how old are you?
I don’t necessarily disagree but I think your perception is likely influenced by your generation.
These days, it’s not soccer kids are playing because mostly that conflicts with football. The sport that’s killing baseball is Lacrosse. Much faster pace, much more action. Only takes an hour to play.
They juiced the balls due to fading interest in baseball. It was predictable. It won’t change the fading interest in baseball.
“Wrapped Tighter than previously and the stitching is tighter making it harder for pitchers to grip.”
The ball might be tighter, but the really big thing is the lowered seams. It allows the ball to carry with less resistance and it cuts back on the movement from the pitchers. In 2018 the average fastball velocity was 92.8 mph. As I understand it from numerous sources, most indicate that it is over 95 mph now. But professional hitters can hit a fast fastball. Where they get into trouble is when the ball is “moving” while coming in. This is what made the slider and the splitter so important in the success of pitching at the highest level as they disguised a straight fastball.
But with the lowered seems, the ball comes in flatter and the hitters can get after it easier. And with the aerodynamics of the ball allowing it to sail better, more distance for everyone. This is why this year the change up has become so successful as it is used in lieu of the breaking pitch for off speed.
And if the pitchers are allowed to go up in the zone by getting the high calls they didn’t used to get, the hitters may hit less period so they will hit mistakes for more home runs, but get less hits. So a .250 hitter hits 35 home runs. And because in most cases, there’s no one on in front of therm, many are solo shots because the guy in front of therm was trying to launch also and tried to pull a low outside pitch and hit a weak grounder or pop up to a middle infielder. Game gets slower, but ther clubs sell the shot.
rwood
I was watching an Astros game the other night and our booth guys were commenting on the juiced ball. They were talking about the juicing as if it were an established fact and not a theory. They said the giveaway was that at a certain point this season, the minor leagues started using the same baseballs as the major leagues, and home-runs in the minors almost doubled.
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