Chews You Up & Spits You Out

No... This post doesn't have anything to do with chaw or "Big Tobacco's" devious attempt to addict little baseball fans everywhere with shredded chewing gum that comes in little foil-lined pouches that look an awful lot like expensive tobacco packaging. Nope. But, that might not be a bad idea for a future post.

Today I thought we'd talk about the nature of the game. If you didn't play much growing up, you might not fully understand. Then again, there were plenty of kids that quit when they were seven years old because baseball was too hard. Sometimes they quit because the ball itself was too hard. Ever wonder where the term "Hard Ball" comes from? Baseball is hard ball. Soft ball, and I'm talking here about the leagues full of has-been's and never-were's (one of which I'll be happily joining this fall), might as well be called Easy Ball just to accentuate the difference.

Consider this: The current Major League leader in batting average, Magglio Ordonez, is currently hitting .353. So basically, the man most likely to hit safely in the Majors only gets a hit less than 4 times out of 10. He's out more than 6 times out of 10. The infamous Ty Cobb, the all-time batting average leader at .367 over his career played for 24 season and collected 4191 hits. He got out 64% percent of time, but as far as hitting goes, Cobb was and still is the benchmark. Can you imagine doing anything day in and day out and succeeding about 30% of the time? There are plenty of good, everyday ballplayers in the pros that succeed less than 30% of the time.

Sure, there may be hot streaks where a guy may hit .450 for a few games, but not for long. One of the interesting things about the 162 game-season played in the majors is that everything usually evens outs. Guys that should hit about .250, but start the season red-hot, batting .375 over the first month, will usually hit a dry-spell later on, and then even out and finish the season about where his talent says he should be. Then, there are guys who go through the entire season, play maybe every other day for a while, and then maybe only about twice a week, and never pull out of their slump. The back-up catcher for the Royals has a total of 20 hits in 52 games this season. It took Alex Rodriguez 14 games to reach the 20 hit mark. And, after 52 games A-Rod had 19 homeruns.

And it's not just individuals who take a beating in baseball. Look at team records. I tried a search, and then I sorted the all-time team pitching statistics, so, if anyone out there has better data, please share. According to what I found, the team that has won more games than any other is the Giants, obviously including their time in New York. However, the team with the best all-time winning percentage is the New York Yankees with an astounding .569. Over their long history, they have won 9,242, and lost 6,997 games. By the way, this won't come as a surprise to anyone, but if you're looking for a team to root for, don't spend much time considering the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They are owners of the league's worst all-time winning percentage at an abysmal .396.

The point of all of this is whether you play or follow baseball, you have to expect some disappointment. And, when it comes, don't beat yourself up about it. So if you're in a slump, keep trying to hit the ball hard, and sooner or later they'll start to fall. After all, you can't win them all -- and you won't lose them all either.

By the way, if you're having an unproductive moment, check out "Pinch Hitter 2" at the very bottom of this page.

Radar Guns in Baseball

About a month ago I read an article in the Sports section of the Kansas City Star. I would have posted a link to it, but it has been "archived," so I would have to pay for it; and since no one likes to click on the advertisements on the left, I'm not making a dime on this blog. It was written by Joe Posnanski, recently voted the best sports writer in America. I've always enjoyed his stuff, but this particular article held special meaning for me. It was entitled, "You Can't Always Judge a Pitcher by His Fastball" -- Amen.

There were two questions that he addressed in his article: First, what has been the impact of the radar gun in baseball, and second, is Rowdy Hardy a real, bonified prospect for the Kansas City Royals. As it turns out, it was pretty much the same question, just stated differently.

Rowdy Hardy is currently pitching in A-Ball for the Royals' organization, and pitching well. His numbers rival any pitcher in the minor leagues. 14-4 on the season, 84 strikeouts, and only 14 walks. His ERA (Earned Run Average) is well under 3.00. But the numbers that keep him in Single-A are 81-82 -- which is about how hard he throws his fastball. If he threw 91-92, with the same numbers, the Royals wouldn't be able to move him up fast enough. As it sits, however, they're not exactly sure what they have in Hardy. Dayton Moore, the General Manager for the Royals, has said that next year he will play on the Double A squad, and that he will continue to move up in the organization until guys start to hit him.

Earl Weaver helped to pioneer the use of the radar gun in baseball. A legendary, hall of fame manager for the Baltimore Orioles, Weaver was obsessed with statistics and information. His purpose for using the radar gun wasn't to see how hard guys were throwing, but to better judge the difference between his pitchers' fastballs and off-speed pitches. For example, if a guy throws a fastball at 85 mph and his change-up comes in at 80 mph, it's really just a fat fastball, and he won't fool anyone with it. But, if someone was throwing their fastball 85 mph and the change-up at 69 mph, that was something they could work with and get guys out with. Weaver understood that pitching is much more than just how hard you can throw. The trick to pitching well is to keep the batter off balance, and you can do that by changing speeds and location. If a batter knows you throw a curveball that loops in there at about 65-67 mph, and your change-up looks just like your fastball, but it makes its way to the plate at about 70 mph, it makes your 80-81 mph fastball seem that much "quicker" to the plate. It's like Einstein said -- it's all relative.

So, while it is not necessary to throw the major league average 91-92 mph, it really is. Radar guns have changed the way scouts evaluate pitching prospects, and in most cases, unless a guy has a good, major league fastball, they could care less about any other abilities you may possess. But, every now and then a little left-hander like Rowdy Hardy takes their formula and throws it out the window -- at a blazing 82 mph.

To Cheer or Not to Cheer, That is the Question

I realize there are only about five people that actually pay any attention to this blog, and three of them are related to me. Still, I feel bad that it has been so long since my last post. I guess you could say I have been on summer vacation. Well, I'm back... and just in time for a new home run king.

I remember exactly where I was when Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' single-season homerun record, and I remember exactly what the blast looked like. It happened to be on the same night that Gordon B. Hinckley was going to be interview on the Larry King show, so I was at a neighbor's house because we didn't have cable. Luckily, they had picture in picture, so we didn't miss anything. Larry King went to commercial, so we switched the screens to bring the Cardinals game to the forefront. Then, right on cue, Big Mac hit a screaming line drive that just kept on going, right over the left field fence.

I also remember all of the excitement generated by the record chase that year. It was a three-man race until about half-way through the season. McGwire, Sosa, and Junior. I liked Junior, but he just wasn't the big bopper that the other two were. So, we he bowed out, I switched camps and started rooting for Slammin' Sammy. That was a season I will always remember.

But, to be completely honest, I had no idea that Barry Bonds had tied Hank Aaron's career homerun record over the weekend.

Now, I still don't have cable TV, so I don't watch as much Sports Center as I would like to, and I'm sure this latest milestone homerun was well covered by the world-wide leader in sports. But, on the other hand, I do have this really cool thing called the "inter-web," which magically transports scores and highlights to my iMac. So had I wanted to track Bond's progress, I easily could have done so. But I didn't really care. I still don't. Just like I didn't care when he broke McGwire's single-season homerun record.

I really used to like Barry Bonds. I was upset when he went to the giants and changed his number from 24 to 25. Of course, I also used to like Jose Canseco, but I've already made that confession, and we've moved on. The Pirates were my team there for a while, back in the days of Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Andy Van Slyke (or was it Dick Van Dyke... I always get those two names confused. By the way -- Eddie Murray and Eddie Murphy, one worked in Baltimore and the other in Beverly Hills, but I can't keep them straight either). Doug Drabek was their stud pitcher. But, anyway, those days are gone. Though I can't explain it now, I really did like Barry Bonds at one time.

So, why not rejoice in this milestone? It's not like there was some misconception that Big Mac and Slammin' Sammy were actually doing what they did on God-given talent and ability alone, right? There was plenty of speculation back then too. But I was still into it. Heck, I'm even a not-so-proud-anymore owner of a #21 Sosa Cubs jersey.

Maybe it's because of Bond's attitude that I don't seem to care about this feat. Maybe it's because of alleged use of illegal substances that I'm so apathetic to the "Barry Watch." I understand that he is a great player, but there's still something about him that I can't like.

Luckily, we shouldn't have to wait too long for Barry's name to fall back to number two on the all-time homerun list. Alex Rodriguez, or A-Rod, if you prefer (by the way, does Barry Bonds have a nick-name?), has just become the youngest player ever to reach 500 career homeruns. He definitely has a chance to take his place as the homerun king.

At any rate, Barry Bonds will most-likely hold that title by the end of the week. Of course, there's always a chance that he could get injured, or worse, fail a drug test. If you have any ideas for a nick-name for Barry, include them in a comment. How about Barry BALCO?