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Passed Ball: MLB RIP

MARCH 3, 2022

Why Does No One Give a Damn About Major League Baseball Anymore? Let Me Count The Ways.

Back in the day:

There was no pitch count.

There was no metadata.

There was no designated hitter.

There was no automatic walk.

There was no instant replay.

There was no strike zone graphic.

There was no radar gun.

There was no slow motion replay.

There was no Jumbotron.

There were no agents or free agents.

There were no batting gloves.

There were no new baseballs for every pitch.

There was no umpire video review.

There were no multi-million dollar players.

There was no home-run bat toss.

There was no pointing towards heaven for a two-out walk.

There was no infield shift.

There was no bench coach.

There were no six-inning, “value” starts.

There were no relief pitchers every inning.

They didn’t celebrate walk-off singles.

There were no strikes or lockouts.

On the other hand:

There were day games.

There were affordable tickets.

There were doubleheaders (Sunday, Lady’s Day, Labor Day, Twi-night).

There was playing for a run.

There was hit and run.

There were sacrifice bunts.

There were bunts for base hits.

There were squeeze plays.

There was hitting behind the runner.

There were players with nicknames like Lefty, Whitey, and Moose.

There were media photographers on the field.

There were players, including stars, drafted into the armed forces.

There were players who owned hardware stores to make ends meet in the offseason.

There were arguments with umpires and civility in the stands.

There was Robert Merrill singing the national anthem.

There was real organ music.

There was high-and-tight: brushback, not retaliation.

There were stolen bases.

There were double steals.

There was something in between hitting homeruns and striking out.

There was a World Series in October.

There was an Old Timers game.

The closer came in when the starter got in a jam, not in the 9th inning when the score was 5-2.

There were complete games.

There were knuckleball pitchers.

There were teams, not individual players.

When baseball was baseball.

© Gerald Elias | All Rights Reserved | Website by Konstantin Stanmeyer