Hank Steinbrenner is angry about Yankee pitcher Chien-Ming Wang injuring his foot while running the bases in Houston. (The good folks at Bronx Banter have discussed this.)
“My only message is simple,” Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. “The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century.”
Steinbrenner said he was angry and added: “I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.”
Continuing on this theme, I think there are more 19th century rules that need to be adopted. My suggestions:
Make teams play all nine innings of the game. If the home team is winning after 8 1/2 innings, they still have to bat.
Allow players to be out if a batted ball is caught on the first bounce. This should keep scoring down.
Move the pitcher's plate back to about 50' and remove the mound, but make the pitchers throw sidearm or underhand.
Allow batters to request a high or low pitch.
Take away gloves from all fielders except the catcher.
Don't charge batters strikes on foul balls.
Only allow substitutions if both team captains agree.
Make the umpires wear top hats.
Have the first batter in each inning be the batter who comes after the player who made the last out of the inning. So if the leadoff man reaches and then is caught stealing to end the inning with the cleanup man up, the #2 hitter leads off the next inning.
I'm pretty sure everything but the Designated Hitter is a rule from the 1800s in baseball... or at least an alteration on a rule from the 1800s. Maybe the American League should man up and play baseball the way it was meant to be played.
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Baseball did not evolve from rounders! And I'll lick any man in the room who says so.
2
The other rules that came from the 20th Century were the prohibition against throwing spit balls and other illegal pitches, rules regarding suspended games, and the requirement that the home team bat last.
If only there were some sort of way to keep Wang from hitting. Some kind of rule that excluded him from hitting duties. An exclusion act, if you will...
Roy Oswalt missed half a season in 2003 when he was injured while running the bases. Of course, I only remember this because I happened to be at the game.
But you know what, baseball isn't for sissies. You risk injury any time you go out there. There's no law that says one position gets to be protected from bodily harm while the other's don't. (Well, OK, there is the rule about catchers' gear...)
Basically I agree with Ty Cobb, who said: "Baseball is a red-blooded sport for red-blooded men. It's no pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out." My advice to anyone who wants to protect the poor, fragile pitchers from hitting: Grow a pair.
In southern New England (and I think also in the NY/NJ area) there's an informal circuit of 19th century style baseball teams. My local one is the Providence Greys. They play by 1888 rules, but other teams play by slightly different rules -- home team rules apply in any given game.
Here are two enormous differences from the current game that Bob didn't mention. The batter can call for a High or Low pitch, which in effect means he chooses which of two small strike zones will be in effect. And second, only one baseball is used for the duration of the game (there's another for emergencies but it isn't used unless the first ball is lost or destroyed), and it's quite soft. This means it is very difficult to hit in the late innings -- it's become squishy and distorted. So the vast majority of runs are scored in the early innings.
It's awesome. I can't wait for the next game.
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Or, this guy:
http://www.carlspackler.com/archive/cs_146.jpg
Baseball did not evolve from rounders! And I'll lick any man in the room who says so.
2
The other rules that came from the 20th Century were the prohibition against throwing spit balls and other illegal pitches, rules regarding suspended games, and the requirement that the home team bat last.
Let's see there's ... um... well... um....
All Wang was doing was running. He could have hurt his foot running to first to cover the base just as easily.
Wang likely runs every day. So why is running from second to third more hazardous than running in the outfield and perhaps getting hit by a BP ball?
Pitchers having to cover first
Pitchers fielding bunts
Pitchers having to leave the mound
Jason Repko
But you know what, baseball isn't for sissies. You risk injury any time you go out there. There's no law that says one position gets to be protected from bodily harm while the other's don't. (Well, OK, there is the rule about catchers' gear...)
Basically I agree with Ty Cobb, who said: "Baseball is a red-blooded sport for red-blooded men. It's no pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out." My advice to anyone who wants to protect the poor, fragile pitchers from hitting: Grow a pair.
Sorry... bad joke.... feel free to delete
Here are two enormous differences from the current game that Bob didn't mention. The batter can call for a High or Low pitch, which in effect means he chooses which of two small strike zones will be in effect. And second, only one baseball is used for the duration of the game (there's another for emergencies but it isn't used unless the first ball is lost or destroyed), and it's quite soft. This means it is very difficult to hit in the late innings -- it's become squishy and distorted. So the vast majority of runs are scored in the early innings.
It's awesome. I can't wait for the next game.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.