Month: January 2016

The Transition

~ brianwilliamscreative

With my left arm in that ridiculous compression sling, I decided to put down my bat and pick up a mic. Once healed, I could still play rec baseball, so I began to concentrate on trying to team my passion for baseball with — oh, I don’t know — broadcasting, perhaps?

My voice was maturing into a rich, relaxing delivery. Not terribly deep, but more easy-listening. It would stand out from the crowd.

I started a radio station in my family’s basement. My dad repaired record players and other electronics for fun, so I had a pair of turntables, cassette recorders and a mic.

Once I had enough nerve to tell my friends, they reacted as though they wanted to try it, too. They brought their own music and we played radio through a real Radio Shack AM transmitter.

We didn’t care that the signal traveled less than 60-feet. We had fun creating radio.

Between that, recording my own play-by-play baseball onto cassettes and listening to radio stations more intently than ever, I talked to my folks about contacting the local radio station with a letter and one of my tapes. I offered to clean and make coffee for the opportunity to learn.

The owner (also the GM, sales manager and locally well-known morning host) called me to arrange an after-school meeting. I received a tour (studios and offices in a modest colonial house), a quick audition in the production room, and an offer to learn on-the-job!

The family-owned AM day-timer (broadcasting dawn to dusk according to FCC regulations) was six miles from home. My parents reminded me that I would be sacrificing other activities. However, if I was willing to make the commitment and this is what I really wanted, they assured me that they would provide “taxi service” until I could drive.

The stars seemed to be aligning. I could now get paid to learn broadcasting at a unique radio station that could pay even more dividends for my career.

She’s a Beauty

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The DH debate can lead us farther and farther away from what had attracted us to this beautiful game in the first place. All of us learned by watching.

In the beginning, we didn’t care about defensive positioning, different pitches or two-strike swings. We saw something special in that instant when bat meets ball.

That’s an elementary view of a game that offers so much more than the crack of the bat. Yet the DH leads us back to that simple time. One can get that thrill from any home run derby, video game or Sunday slow-pitch softball.

But, as we allow the deeper game to reel us in, we understand that baseball offers such incredibly rich knowledge. Tradition, yes, but I continually learn from this perfect sport. On any given day of any regular season, we can witness something that has never happened before during a professional baseball game … in 150 years!

Do we really need to “dumb it down” for MLB marketers to justify their existence? Is baseball’s demise worth stealing from the delicate balance of a lineup to satisfy a new generation that may or may not take notice?

Long ago, baseball magically fused into a three-out-per-inning, nine-inning-per-game, nine-player-per-team sport that builds on its own perfection. Each player must hit, field and run.

Early innings are just as important as later innings. Offense balances defense. Hitting balances pitching.

A team that’s behind never runs out of time. A team that’s ahead can never run out the clock.

Each team receives the same number of opportunities to win. So when we shake our heads because the bottom of our lineup is due to bat in the bottom of the 9th, we can thank that pure mathematical balance that only baseball provides to us.

I’ll never understand why the failure of weaker hitters (such as pitchers) should pose a problem in a sport where Hall of Famers fail 7 of every 10 times. No sport can expose team or individual weaknesses the way baseball can. And it’s precisely connected to the value of no free substitution.

Should a manager play his weaker-hitting shortstop with a slick glove or his offensive-minded SS who has less range or a weaker arm? Should a pitcher who’s dealing be lifted because we have a runner in scoring position in the 5th?

If you think about it, decisions like these are affected when a tenth player is added to the equation. The exception to no free substitution waters down all that the perfect nine-player sport represents.

To me, the DH is like putting a side car on a Lamborghini. It may seem convenient or even practical at times, but boy, what does it do to the overall value of what a Lamborghini represents?

 

DH Debate Continues

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We began this debate in the last post, citing three quotes from those who are pro DH. Below, I’ll continue to refute their points.

4 – “Both leagues need to play by the same rules.”

Here’s something we can agree on. The current situation isn’t palatable for any of us. Especially when each league features an odd number of teams.

I’ll bet the pushers for inter-league play never saw this mess coming. The AL owners painted themselves into a greedy corner in January, 1973. At this point, MLB is stuck.

MLBPA will never relinquish the DH, (at least not without savvy bargaining agreement negotiation). That leaves MLB with the abomination we have now.

Would the MLBPA consider a 26th or even 27th active roster spot to get back to pure nine-player baseball across both leagues? That’s up to 60 more major league jobs (members).

Those additional roster spots could also alleviate any current pitching issues, such as one-inning or even one-batter relief staff. (See? I’m flexible with my traditional baseball values. Just not where the integrity of the game itself is at stake.)

5 -“The DH has been in effect for more than 40 years. It’s time.”

It’s time, all right. It’s time to stop the madness.

I could counter and say the pure game has been in effect for 150 years. I’ll take that nine-player baseball any day.

6 – “It doesn’t take a genius to double-switch.”

No one is saying you need to be sophisticated to manage or even to follow a manager’s moves. We’re just saying that a team needs to accept the penalty for substituting any player.

Guess what? That’s called “baseball”!

7 – “Look at the specialization in football.”

Football has become a product of television. Although I no longer watch it on any level, that has nothing to do with this debate.

Free substitution exists everywhere except in National League baseball (and select minor league games). Because of this, maybe … just maybe, the NL really offers something more for a sports fan. Something that no other game can offer.

We’ll pick up there in the next post.

I Vote for Nine-Player Baseball

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What’s with the current ridiculous groundswell of support for the DH in both leagues? I guarantee that I can refute any point established by the “home run derby” crowd.

Here are the first three tired, old debate quotes we hear from the pro DH masses:

1 – “Pitchers can’t hit.”

Tell that to Zack Greinke, Madison Bumgarner and several others who take their professionalism, their craft and their team play seriously. These are conditioned athletes who used to be the best hitters in every league where they played.

When they get to pro ball, their bats are taken away until they reach AA. And then, they only get to swing the bat (or even bunt) if they play for NL affiliates and only against an opponent that’s an NL affiliate.

When they reach the majors, they’re expected to succeed against the top pitchers in the world. They’re set up to fail. I’m sorry, but that’s an organizational issue, not a reason to neuter the integrity of the game.

No player should be given a pass from hitting, fielding or running unless they’re replaced in the lineup. That goes for the one-dimensional DH, too.

2 – “Pitchers can get hurt while hitting or running the bases.”

So can position players, right? Isn’t that called “baseball”?

Isn’t it interesting that no pitcher ever gets hurt on the mound? Shall we wrap them in bubble wrap? (I borrowed that visual from a position player friend.) Or maybe just use a pitching machine. Problem solved.

3 – “Fans love offense.”

Okay, let them play home run derby 162 times a year. Is that what baseball fans want?

The first DH game in MLB history ended up 15-5. The Yankees and Red Sox tallied 28 hits. The combined DH’s went 1-9 with one RBI. Exciting, huh? Mel Stottlemyre and Luis Tiant could have gone 1-9.

I wish I had been old enough to savor the 1968 season. I’ll pay to sit on the edge of my seat at a 1-0 game where every pitch matters. Where each manager struggles with the decision to pinch hit for a hot starter. Where a bunt, every 90 feet and any defensive play could turn the game.

On the other hand, 15-5 where nine hitters follow nine hitters and relievers can be dispensed as from a vending machine with no roster consequence? Just sit back and wait for the bomb, like in football? Call that what you want, but it isn’t “baseball” to me.

Care to offer your opinion? I welcome your comments, pro and con. I may respectfully reply, but that’s how civil discussion works.

By the way, I’m just getting started. More to come in the next post.

Door Closes, Window Opens

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Living near the school, I don’t have much time to think before arriving home following that first baseball practice of the season. I now realize that I need to confess to my mother, who is an RN, that my shoulders have felt weird all weekend.

Baseball activity exacerbated the situation, allowing me to experience new dimensions in pain. Just as I’d expected, no more baseball practice for me until we see the doctor.

I’ll spare you the gory details. The result? Cracked clavicle in my lead shoulder.

I wear a pressure sling for six weeks. Following that eternity, the doctor–as though he’s ordering dinner–calmly tells my parents that we’ll need another couple of weeks in the sling. Ugh.

I couldn’t wait to ceremoniously burn that sling, and now I need to begin another countdown to freedom from it. The high school season is lost, but I recover in time to play teener ball with my friends.

I never recover enough to make an impression on the high school coach. I never hit well enough anyway.

My right shoulder is never treated. I still feel that sensation across my shoulders when lifting weighty items a certain way.

Now what? I absolutely love baseball. I love to play. I love its strategy.

It’s the perfectly balanced sport between team and individual performance. Its math adds up: three outs per inning, nine innings, 90 feet between perfectly squared bases. How can this part of my life become part of my future?

I listen to games on the radio. A nationally televised MLB game is a real treat when you only receive three network stations from your antenna.

I call the local radio station for advice on how to begin a career in broadcasting. Most of the rest, as they say, is history.

New Sensation

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The first day of high school baseball practice is brisk. It feels good to throw a baseball again. My arm takes longer to loosen up. (Remember that there was a time when concentrating solely on one sport wasn’t the norm. I played freshman and JV basketball.)

After upperclassmen, I’m third in line at shortstop during infield practice. Glove work has always been second nature: short hops, backhands in the hole, over-the-head pops to short left. I make a clean first play and accurate, yet weak throw to 1st.

As a freshman, I’m one of the last to take batting practice. As soon as I begin to take warm-up swings and stretch a bat behind my neck, I feel a searing sensation from shoulder-to-shoulder.

“Gotta knock out the cobwebs,” I think. With every swing at a phantom pitch, the pain returns.

Before I and a handful of others take our BP cuts, early spring darkness envelops the field. This would be a blessing for me.

From the Beginning

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The wrestling coach pairs a toned 16-year-old against a scrawny 14-year-old whose only thought is to survive. Baseball practice finally starts next week following a long, cold winter (and several weeks of wrestling in gym class).

The thought arises, “Just go down. Give the 16-year-old a handshake and the coach satisfaction.” But then, I hear my friends urging me to compete.

They understand how I feel about wrestling. Compared to baseball … well, there is no comparison in my mind. Baseball features a beautiful outdoor landscape while wrestling takes place in a drafty gym on funky smelling mats. Baseball demonstrates agility; wrestling, brawn.

Competing isn’t an option from this position. However, I continue to hear encouragement and decide that I won’t be pinned.

A three-hour baseball game passes by in an instant for me, but this two-minute wrestling period lasts an eternity. I will not allow my shoulders to give in.

Finally, the whistle blows. I didn’t get pinned. I actually survived.

Now I can focus on a new beginning in the fresh air of baseball season. I think.