old ballgame/odd ballgame

[spider25]

I have been a baseball fan for a long time as I am 68 and I understand new rule safety but I see double standards all over these rules now a runner has too slide certain distance from 2nd to protect the fielder but yet the fielder still can throw at the runners head ,and then a runner has to stay in the base on a run to 1st. but he can run 10 feet outside the basepath on his way home. and a pitcher still throws at a batter to retaliate and he get warned but are they going to make a new rule every time there is an injury. what about the pitchers mound before they lowered it you never heard of tommy john surgery . open your eyes mlb and leave the game alone .

[scrounge]

As "GET OFF MY LAWN" rants go, that, sir, is quite well done.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by spider25

I have been a baseball fan for a long time as I am 68 and I understand new rule safety but I see double standards all over these rules now a runner has too slide certain distance from 2nd to protect the fielder but yet the fielder still can throw at the runners head ,and then a runner has to stay in the basepath on a run to 1st. but he can run 10 feet outside the basepath on his way home. and a pitcher still throws at a batter to retaliate and he get warned but are they going to make a new rule every time there is an injury. what about the pitchers mound before they lowered it you never heard of tommy john surgery . open your eyes mlb and leave the game alone .

Highlighted part is not true. Being out of it can cause a runner to interfere on a throw to first but other than that he is free to go anywhere he pleases. The runner's lane has been there since 1882. It isn't new.

You never heard of TJ surgery because it hadn't been invented. It has enabled pitchers to continue. I don't think lowering the mound contributed. Many pitchers in the old days were "sore arm" or "dead arm" pitchers who would have had had it fixed and had much better careers had it been available.

Other medical advances have benefited players as well - and the populace as a whole. My new knee and various stents tell me I don't want to turn back that clock.

BTW - I'm 71 in case you think I'm some young whippersnapper mouthing off.

[spider25]

I know the basepath has always been at firstbase but i was referring to if you have a rule at one base then why not all bases. l do not think you are wrong but as a younsgter playing baseball I was taught to play different then what I see in todays game . Now they made a lot of stadium outfields with shorter distances to make it easier for home runs ////. there are a lot of very good players today but also a lot that would not have been on a major league team 30 yrs ago

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by spider25

I know the basepath has always been at firstbase but i was referring to if you have a rule at one base then why not all bases. l do not think you are wrong but as a younsgter playing baseball I was taught to play different then what I see in todays game . Now they made a lot of stadium outfields with shorter distances to make it easier for home runs ////. there are a lot of very good players today but also a lot that would not have been on a major league team 30 yrs ago

Can you be more specific about which rule(s) apply at only one base?

Sure. There are more teams than there used to be -- so 25 x whatever the expansion number is wouldn't be on any teams at all xx years ago.

[Benchcoach]

I think your gripe derives from the fact you are comparing apples and oranges. Wide turns are permitted and coached when the batter/runner is attempting to obtain extra bases. We use to tell the little guys it was running the banana. Running wide to first only slows batter/runner when the play is at first (the shortest distance between two points is a straight line) but running wide allows him not to break stride when trying to achieve an extra base. The rules have never allowed the runner to interfere with the play. But the feeling was if the slide was at 2b was “In the vicinity” intent to interfere would not be inferred. This was kind of absurd when we saw runners executing roll blocks to break up the double play. Baseball is not a blood sport. It was always a shame to watch gold glove catchers have seasons and careers shortened by plate collisions and the same can be said for F4s and F6s injured by roll blocks and high spikes. Sandy Koufax pitched from the high mound and had Tommy John been invented in his day, he would not have had to quit in his prime.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by spider25

I know the basepath has always been at firstbase but i was referring to if you have a rule at one base then why not all bases. l do not think you are wrong but as a younsgter playing baseball I was taught to play different then what I see in todays game . Now they made a lot of stadium outfields with shorter distances to make it easier for home runs ////. there are a lot of very good players today but also a lot that would not have been on a major league team 30 yrs ago

At the end or WWII MLB had 16 teams drawn from the white population of the US - about 100,000,000

Now there are 30 teams ( 1.9x as many) drawn from all the US, Latin America, Japan, Taiwan, and the up and coming Australia. Population about 550,000,000.

The talent pool is much larger now (5.5x) so the percent playing MLB is much smaller now

I postulate that many of the players "then" could not make a team now.

[JJ]

Many players in the good old days didn't have long careers because they were not paid well enough to keep playing. Even many "stars" had off-season jobs to support their families.

JJ

[CoachPaul]

Originally Posted by Benchcoach

...This was kind of absurd when we saw runners executing roll blocks to break up the double play. Baseball is not a blood sport. It was always a shame to watch gold glove catchers have seasons and careers shortened by plate collisions and the same can be said for F4s and F6s injured by roll blocks and high spikes...

I couldn't agree more. This rule change has so many "purists" throwing fits. I think I'm a purist, too, however I'm not at all bothered by this rule change.

Fans pay way too much money to see back up shortstops, second basemen, and catchers playing due to lower body injuries to the top players. I further love that the rule has been dubbed "The Chase Utley Rule." He's a dirty player. He's not simply going in hard and playing hard, etc. He's intending to injure or at least get in a free cheap shot, and that DB has been doing it for YEARS.