[greymule]

As I've mentioned before on these threads, in 1969 I played in a semipro tournament in which a 20-second clock had been implemented. Major League Baseball sent several officials, including Monte Irvin, to observe the effect of the clock on the game. (Even 41 years ago, MLB had some concern about the pace of the game.)

We were prepared—had a guy assigned to warn our pitcher when the limit was approaching. We were all watching the clock for a couple of innings, until everybody realized that 20 seconds was actually a pretty long time. Most pitches were 10-12 seconds apart, sometimes faster. After a few innings, nobody was watching the clock.

I think everybody back then was simply accustomed to a fairly brisk pace and went with the natural flow. Any batter who insisted on going through a 17-step ritual between pitches would have taken a lot of heat, and in those days the bench jockeying was bad.