Baseball

Baseball // August 3, 2023 // Lawrence S. DiCara

  Given the hate and divisiveness in Washington, as well as the difficulties faced by so many of our elected officials closer to home, it is a good time to talk about baseball.

The season started ominously in Fort Myers. I saw from a close distance Justin Turner being hit by a pitch in the face. It certainly seems he recovered 100%! Let’s hope the same is the case with Tanner Houck. I am just old enough to remember Herb Score who was hit by a line drive in 1957 and never really recovered. He had led the league in strikeouts at age 22, and age 23. Many thought he was the next Bob Feller. I have his 1958 baseball card locked in a safe. I still remember the shiner which he displayed. 

I commented at the end of spring training that the new rules really worked. They have! Despite some griping, most everybody has abided by them, and the nation and baseball are the better for it.

The pitch clock means that most games are over within three hours; some have been closer to two. That is a good thing, unless you are a vendor in the stands where the longer people are sitting, the more likely they are to spend money.

More importantly, to this observer, stealing bases is fashionable once again. Watching Jarren Duran run is a sight to behold. No one goes to get a beer when he is on base! Probably the last person wearing a Red Sox uniform who was as fast was Tommy Harper. If I had anything to say about it, I would play Duran every day and in the off season I would teach him how to drag bunt. He could lead the league in hitting, perhaps in stolen bases and in doubles, given that many of his singles find him at second base. Not bad! I sure hope he doesn’t suffer the same fate as Tito Francona in 1959. He hit .363, but he did not have enough plate appearances to win the batting title.

The trade deadline saw that some people were buyers, and some people were sellers. The Kike Hernandez trade was a no brainer. Ohtani stayed put.

The Astors, Rangers and Angels opened their wallets! Others did not. Were I the owners of the Padres or the Mets, I would not be in a good mood without regard to what I did at the trade deadline, given so many high-priced players have produced so very little. Although I am hardly a fan of the Rays, somehow or other they seem to put it together with far less money than most everybody else.

The split between the haves and the have nots in baseball is very much as it was after the end of World War II. Some teams – Yankees, Red Sox and Indians - would always win and other teams Senators, Browns and Athletics - would always lose. Within a few years, those three latter franchises relocated to greener pastures. One of them, of course, is the predecessor of the Oakland Athletics, who had a difficult season, to put it mildly. Las Vegas would be their fourth location in 125 years!

I hope that the powers that be at MLB continue to make changes to bring people into the park and to keep them in their seats and to encourage people to run and steal bases, bunt and utilize hit and run and all of the old tricks which made baseball interesting when I was growing up.

May the weather be favorable as the playoffs begin and as we approach Election Day in the City of Boston which is now almost simultaneous with the end of the World Series.