Improving Baseball

Improving Baseball/15 September 2022

? It is time to talk baseball, and I am not going to discuss the Red Sox, as it would cause too much pain.

I like the changes that major league baseball intends to institute, specifically a pitch timer, restrictions on shifts and larger bases.

When these changes were tried in the minor leagues, it was concluded that games became quicker when there is a pitch clock.?We should do it.?

The average time of a major league game has increased by 40 minutes since I first visited Fenway Park in 1957.?Let’s make the game shorter for young people going to baseball games in the future with their grandfathers and with their mothers and dads.

I have been an early bird since I went to Boston Latin School over 60 years ago. I wake up quite naturally sometime between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.?That means staying up for a baseball game is not easy! One day last week, I made it through the 7th inning.?Think of how many young people are told to go to bed because the games have been so long. I think it is good for the common man. I think it is good for the game per se.?The only losers may be the concession stand.

Defensive shifts have cost hitters offensive numbers since the time of Lou Boudreau when he instituted the Williams Shift in 1948; I wasn’t born yet, but I have read about it. Who knows how many more hits David Ortiz would have achieved had there not been a second basemen positioned halfway into right field?

Larger bases may be safer and may encourage more stolen bases.

Change is the moral order of the universe and that includes baseball. Baseball is an institution of almost sacred proportions.?Some people object to any change.?I like these.?