Cry foul!

[batmagadanleadoff]

An increase in foul balls is another factor contributing to longer baseball games.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/foul-balls-are-the-pace-of-play-problem-nobodys-talking-about/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/foul-balls-are-the-pace-of-play-problem-nobodys-talking-about/



excerpt:

Baseball has tackled foul-ball issues before: In fact, it was one of the original pace-of-play frustrations. In 1900, Phillies outfielder Roy Thomas was so adept at fouling off pitches to draw walks or spoil quality offerings that Reds pitcher Bill Phillips reached his breaking point and punched Thomas after he had fouled off a dozen pitches in one at-bat. Phillips's antics, according to baseball historian John Thorn, were a contributing factor in MLB's decision to begin penalizing foul balls as strikes the following season.

[Edgy MD]

Without reading the story, I'd guess that increases are due in part to gradually less and less foul territory being in play.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Oh I totally agree with this. Hitters are much better at wasting what they don't like, all a part of working the count.



Cool solution: Each team can place 2 "fielders" in each level of the stadium. They don't get time to position themselves between pitches but can freely move anywhere in the foul-territory seating areas. If the designated "catcher" catches the ball it's an out.



They'd play to tendencies and run around the park, fly up the stairs when the power hitters get up, knocking over kids, it would be great.



Designated crowdfielders cannot bat in a game. But they are in uniform and members of the active roster selected before each game. When their team is at bat, they are required to chat with fans and sign autographs.

[dgwphotography]

Something doesn't jibe for me here. Players are better at wasting pitches they don't like to work the count, but there are more strikeouts than ever...



I still say that MLB should force umpires to call the original armpits to knees strike zone. That will speed up games.

[Centerfield]

A 97 MPH fastball at the armpits is impossible to hit with any sort of authority.

[batmagadanleadoff]

There's more strikeouts because today's pitchers are better. And they throw harder. And then batters get specialized relievers for the last three or four innings who can hit 100 on the radar and air it out because they know they won't pitch more than an inning, if even that much.



The other day, I was reading an old Roger Angell piece. I have all of his anthology/collections and I like to pull them out for a quick read occasionally when I'm in the mood to read without committing to three or four hundred pages of some book. Angell's baseball pieces, as everyone here knows, are chapter size standalones and can be read independently of the other Angell pieces in his typical anthologies.



So I randomly picked out a piece from the '74 baseball season - a hodgepodege article on the goings on of that season. And there were a few lines about the remarkable Nolan Ryan, whose fast ball was clocked at almost 101MPH, a baseball record. Ryan was the only pitcher who could break the century mark on the radar and his accomplishment was met with the kind of awe appropriately reserved for the only pitcher in the whole wide world who could accomplish such a rare feat.



How many pitchers can hit 100MPH on the radar gun today? I'd bet at least two dozen in the majors.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=3265 time=1550786680 user_id=68]
There's more strikeouts because today's pitchers are better. And they throw harder. And then batters get specialized relievers for the last three or four innings who can hit 100 on the radar and air it out because they know they won't pitch more than an inning, if even that much.



The other day, I was reading an old Roger Angell piece. I have all of his anthology/collections and I like to pull them out for a quick read when I'm in the mood to read without committing to three or four hundred pages of some book. Angell's baseball pieces, as everyone here knows, are chapter size standalones and can be read independently of the other Angell pieces in his typical anthologies.



So I randomly picked out a piece from the '74 baseball season - a hodgepodege article on the goings on of that season. And there were a few lines about the remarkable Nolan Ryan, whose fast ball was clocked at almost 101MPH, a baseball record. Ryan was the only pitcher who could break the century mark on the radar and his accomplishment was met with the kind of awe appropriately reserved for the only pitcher in the whole wide world who could accomplish such a rare feat.



How many pitchers today can hit 100MPH on the radar gun. I'd bet at least two dozen in the majors.