Showing posts with label baseball could in theory be improved. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baseball could in theory be improved. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Missed Third Strike
Hmm. In addition to looking up the etymology of if you see kay today I learned about this amazing missed third strike rule. Did everyone know about this and have they been keeping it a secret or have I just been out of the loop all these years? Fungster - the wiki entry made a lot of parallels between early baseball and Cricket. Maybe its time for another cricket post.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
LoC heresy: how I'd make baseball better
Or what I'd do if I were told that I was designing a baseball league to break up MLB's monopoly. To start:
1. No infield fly rule. An infield popup is weaksauce. If it turns into an easy double-play, so what? The pitcher earned it by making the batter pop up! This would take away one of the big advantages of "groundball pitchers", thus opening up more places for "flyball pitchers". And most importantly, the least exciting play in baseball is immediately transformed into the most-exciting play.
2. No DH. Duh.
3. Knock down the outfield fences and replace them with a line on the ground. If a ball is caught behind the line, it's a live ball, i.e., the batter is not out -- but he had better be running if he wants a triple or home run. Like getting rid of the infield fly rule, this replaces a boring dead-ball play with an exciting play. Strong-armed outfielders and hitters who combine power with speed see their value go way up.
4. Possible rule changes to enable/refine rule change #3. Depending on how it seems to work with the baserunning, there might be need for a second line, closer to the plate (maybe 50 feet closer?). A ball hit in the air past this second line would free runners to advance as far as they want, i.e., they couldn't be "doubled off" -- however, the batter is still out on a ball caught on the fly between the two lines.
Sure, the changes are crazy, but they introduce a lot more running, a lot more intrigue on the basepaths, and a lot more action generally...and dare I say "fun". (And don't go all purist on me...I'll just say, "fine, this isn't 'baseball'".)
What other rule changes would you imagine to create a different version of baseball that might compete successfully on the market?
1. No infield fly rule. An infield popup is weaksauce. If it turns into an easy double-play, so what? The pitcher earned it by making the batter pop up! This would take away one of the big advantages of "groundball pitchers", thus opening up more places for "flyball pitchers". And most importantly, the least exciting play in baseball is immediately transformed into the most-exciting play.
2. No DH. Duh.
3. Knock down the outfield fences and replace them with a line on the ground. If a ball is caught behind the line, it's a live ball, i.e., the batter is not out -- but he had better be running if he wants a triple or home run. Like getting rid of the infield fly rule, this replaces a boring dead-ball play with an exciting play. Strong-armed outfielders and hitters who combine power with speed see their value go way up.
4. Possible rule changes to enable/refine rule change #3. Depending on how it seems to work with the baserunning, there might be need for a second line, closer to the plate (maybe 50 feet closer?). A ball hit in the air past this second line would free runners to advance as far as they want, i.e., they couldn't be "doubled off" -- however, the batter is still out on a ball caught on the fly between the two lines.
Sure, the changes are crazy, but they introduce a lot more running, a lot more intrigue on the basepaths, and a lot more action generally...and dare I say "fun". (And don't go all purist on me...I'll just say, "fine, this isn't 'baseball'".)
What other rule changes would you imagine to create a different version of baseball that might compete successfully on the market?
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