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Why is baseball the best sport on the planet? Discuss. (4 Viewers)

ThinkingFold said:
View attachment 1303970

It certainly will not last, but.................

Happy Jonah Hill GIF
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Not in first but .500 at the All-Star break is more than I could hope for. Now I just need to hope that Skenes isn't traded before the season is over. ;)


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krafticus said:
I umpire with people in their 60's and 70's, and they still have a love for the game, and are involved with it. You don't have to play to be involved.
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Ten to one it's slow-pitch softball, with all the usual rules that have very little in common with actual baseball. :cool

Yeah, I used to love pitching slow-pitch myself...
 
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pltrgyst said:
Really? I heard the Orioles were desperate for players, but that doesn't sound right.
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wow, you really are out of touch with the current state of the sport ..
Most of the umpires in our org are former coaches, and still love the game. We might not be able to PLAY at the high level, but we are contributing and are part of the sport .. at a high level.

that is, unless you are in the "all umpires suck" camp .. which unfortunately, too many are

you keep playing your badminton in the mornings my friend. ;-)
 
krafticus said:
that is, unless you are in the "all umpires suck" camp .. which unfortunately, too many are
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Which is a growing problem in the sport in general.
- Parents, when the kids are at a young age, feel that it is OK to yell, scream, insult, and belittle an umpire for every close call that does not go little Johnny's way. - Now, Little Johnny thinks that if all the parents are doing this, they can do it too, and they get this attitude.
- Coaches add on, and feel that yelling and screaming is going to make it better, or try to intimidate an umpire now, or for the rest of the game.
- Most umpires are out there for the love of the game, and not the money (it's not bad, but it's not great), and these parents/coaches/kids start to steal the love away.

Now, you get the umpires that are a) new to the "profession", are either learning the ways, b) still love the game and can deal with the BS, or c) no longer have the love of the game and just want the cash ... and could care less if their calls are good/bad/HORRIBLE. As time moves on, you start to lose the (a) group quickly, and some of the (b) group. That leaves you with that (c) group, and all of the videos and stories on umpire hate.

and really all should start, and end, with the coaches. You teach the kids AND the PARENTS at every stage of the game, that there is no place for this; not at 8u, not at 13u, not in High School, not rec baseball ... nowhere. You teach them to respect the umpires and accept their calls. That isn't to say you agree with every call, and that you debate some .. but there are correct ways to do this.

This weekend, there was a bang-bang play at the plate. I see the throw come in, catcher catches, swipe tags the runner a second before he touches the plate. I call him out. The coach comes out, looks at me, and very politely asks "what did you see there blue". I explain that the catcher had possession of the ball and tagged the runner before any part of him touched the plate. I said it was close, but in my view, he was out. He thanked me, and walked away without a negative comment or any animosity. THAT is how you question a call. No yelling, no name calling, no "get your partner from 2nd base over to see if he saw if differently". Just a "what did you see", and a thank you.

More times than not, around here, you have good coaches and good parents. You get some rough ones in there occasionally, but the good outweighs the bad for me.

I'm still in the (a) group above for now. Hopefully I can start the (d) group .. umpires that still have a love for the game, and have been doing this for a while.

You teach kids and parents this, and you keep the good umpires around.
 
krafticus said:
Which is a growing problem in the sport in general.
- Parents, when the kids are at a young age, feel that it is OK to yell, scream, insult, and belittle an umpire for every close call that does not go little Johnny's way. - Now, Little Johnny thinks that if all the parents are doing this, they can do it too, and they get this attitude.
- Coaches add on, and feel that yelling and screaming is going to make it better, or try to intimidate an umpire now, or for the rest of the game.
- Most umpires are out there for the love of the game, and not the money (it's not bad, but it's not great), and these parents/coaches/kids start to steal the love away.

Now, you get the umpires that are a) new to the "profession", are either learning the ways, b) still love the game and can deal with the BS, or c) no longer have the love of the game and just want the cash ... and could care less if their calls are good/bad/HORRIBLE. As time moves on, you start to lose the (a) group quickly, and some of the (b) group. That leaves you with that (c) group, and all of the videos and stories on umpire hate.

and really all should start, and end, with the coaches. You teach the kids AND the PARENTS at every stage of the game, that there is no place for this; not at 8u, not at 13u, not in High School, not rec baseball ... nowhere. You teach them to respect the umpires and accept their calls. That isn't to say you agree with every call, and that you debate some .. but there are correct ways to do this.

This weekend, there was a bang-bang play at the plate. I see the throw come in, catcher catches, swipe tags the runner a second before he touches the plate. I call him out. The coach comes out, looks at me, and very politely asks "what did you see there blue". I explain that the catcher had possession of the ball and tagged the runner before any part of him touched the plate. I said it was close, but in my view, he was out. He thanked me, and walked away without a negative comment or any animosity. THAT is how you question a call. No yelling, no name calling, no "get your partner from 2nd base over to see if he saw if differently". Just a "what did you see", and a thank you.

More times than not, around here, you have good coaches and good parents. You get some rough ones in there occasionally, but the good outweighs the bad for me.

I'm still in the (a) group above for now. Hopefully I can start the (d) group .. umpires that still have a love for the game, and have been doing this for a while.

You teach kids and parents this, and you keep the good umpires around.
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Krafty, I'm certain that you're an (a) great ump because (b) you must be (c) reading too many (d) rulebooks that you (e) type this way. :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
 
krafticus said:
wow, you really are out of touch with the current state of the sport ..
Most of the umpires in our org are former coaches, and still love the game. We might not be able to PLAY at the high level, but we are contributing and are part of the sport .. at a high level.

that is, unless you are in the "all umpires suck" camp .. which unfortunately, too many are

you keep playing your badminton in the mornings my friend. ;-)
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Yeah, I'm out of touch with the game, for sure. But you need work on your sense of humor, Mark. For the record, I played ball in high school, for an Army team in Germany, and in college at Rutgers. Then I played (and pitched) slow-pitch for about twenty years for IBM, then umped for years, including the annual Congressional baseball game.

Oh, and I was born on Mickey Mantle's birthday, and given the same names as Yogi Berra. I just happen to be a dyed-in-the wool Yankee fan who ribs Orioles fans at every opportunity. And who thinks Clete Boyer was a better fielder than Brooks. (Take that! :cool)

Plus my new knee just had it's fourth birthday, and at age 77 would be happy to take you on at my peculiar form of "badminton" -- either down here, or up there. :cool We could take bets on it in PCF...
 
Heading to some upcoming games in August:
  1. CLE at MIN, 8/10 (leaving only one active park -- Seattle -- that I haven't been to)
  2. NYY at DET, 8/16
  3. West Michigan at Lansing (A), 8/18 (two top prospects -- Max Clark (drafted 3rd overall in 2023) and Kevin McGonigle (37th overall in 2023) were just promoted to A ball)
 
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I’m not sure if baseball is the best sport. However, out of all the major sports baseball must be the most unique.

Unlike every other major sport the goal of baseball is not to attack on one side of the play area and defend the opposite side

Baseball does not have a game clock (besides the pitch clock)

The dimensions of the playing field is different at every baseball field.

Baseball can be easily followed when listening to the radio. If you ever tried listening to hockey or the NFL on the radio it’s absolutely horrible.

When going to a baseball game it’s also easy to follow the action pretty much wherever you sit. Unless you get good seats at a football game you end up watching the big screen a lot of the time and wonder why you didn’t just stay inside your warm house.
 
Watching Cubs vs. Cardinals. This ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast stinks. All the Statcast graphics are too much. Let us follow along on the app or something, but all the "his xwOBA vs left handers with a rWHIP+ of 49 or lower is 313, so his barrel speed against low sinkers will affect his spin rate less than 4% with the win blowing in" stuff is too much.
 
Finally found the kids sport. It’s just a “fun” league, but batted 1.000 on the season including against some stud teams that knew what they were doing.

Rakes and fields better than his friends who have been playing for 2 years. Meanwhile he’s in this because it was time to try something new after just being lost for several years in basketball.

The culmination is a day on the field.

AD0B83CA-F31B-4EA3-84F1-D1A009201C9E.jpeg


The downside is he thinks it’s horribly boring, so now we’re bribing him. He can go back to basketball and new sports, but he’s required to keep playing baseball too :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
 
Beakertwang said:
Watching Cubs vs. Cardinals. This ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast stinks. All the Statcast graphics are too much. Let us follow along on the app or something, but all the "his xwOBA vs left handers with a rWHIP+ of 49 or lower is 313, so his barrel speed against low sinkers will affect his spin rate less than 4% with the win blowing in" stuff is too much.
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Analytics very nearly ruined baseball. But at least they killed that soul sucking infield shift bullshit.
 
bergs said:
Analytics very nearly ruined baseball. But at least they killed that soul sucking infield shift bullshit.
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I get why people like the analytics, but it just clutters up the broadcast. And on top of that, these 3 guys are plain boring.

Also, I never minded the shift. The defense should be able to position themselves wherever they want. And I like the pace with the pitch clock, but not some of the dumb situations that arise because of it. But for the love of all that is good and holy, can we please make the pitchers pitch the intentional walk, and stop it with the ghost runner in extra innings?
 
Beakertwang said:
Watching Cubs vs. Cardinals. This ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast stinks. All the Statcast graphics are too much. Let us follow along on the app or something, but all the "his xwOBA vs left handers with a rWHIP+ of 49 or lower is 313, so his barrel speed against low sinkers will affect his spin rate less than 4% with the win blowing in" stuff is too much.
Click to expand...
The ESPN broadcast has to be the worst one. Even the Apple TV broadcast is tolerable.
 
Beakertwang said:
I get why people like the analytics, but it just clutters up the broadcast. And on top of that, these 3 guys are plain boring.

Also, I never minded the shift. The defense should be able to position themselves wherever they want. And I like the pace with the pitch clock, but not some of the dumb situations that arise because of it. But for the love of all that is good and holy, can we please make the pitchers pitch the intentional walk, and stop it with the ghost runner in extra innings?
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I hate the start on second base bullshit. Pitch clock, ok. Not allowing shifts, yeah sure. But starting with a guy on 2nd just fundamentally changes how extra innings were addressed and played for over a hundred years. It’s moronic and pointless.
 
Records Are Made To Be Broken

The Chicago White Sox have lost 20 straight games. Three more losses and they tie the 1961 Phillies at 23 straight. If the White Sox get swept by Oakland in the next 3 games, the home town rival Cubs have the chance to hand The White Sox the record.
( sorry @TomC727 )

Screenshot_20240805_000006_Google.jpg
 

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