Baseball - Maybe They're Remembering How to Play the Game

I used to watch a lot of baseball, but for the last several years I have stayed a way from the grand old game. It really is a wonderful game, a mix of athletic skills and strategy. That has not changed since the game began in the late 19th Century. Sure the game has changed, passing from a game of precision and speed to a game of power and that is okay but, even as the game evolved, the old skills were never forgotten. Not every at bat yields a home run or a strikeout, so players still had to know the basics.

What are those basics?  For the offense: How to advance a runner. When to steal and when to stay put When to try for an extra base. How to slide. How to bunt. How to hit to the opposite field.
For the defense: What base to throw to. When to cut off a throw and how to throw to the cut off man.. The necessity to back up the right base.
For pitchers: How to move the ball around the strike zone. How to back hitters off the plate. How to defend your position. How to summon up something extra when you need a strikeout. How to pitch more than 5 innings without getting exhausted. How to get hitters to chase a ball outside the strike zone. And, most importantly, how to throw a strike and avoid walks.

To play a baseball game you have to do more than swing for the fences and throw hard. For awhile, it seemed that players had forgotten the basics and had no interest in learning. As long as they got those huge salaries, they were content to play sloppy, bad baseball.

So it was with a little hesitancy that on Memorial Day I gave into a bit of nostalgia and put on a game, Oakland vs Kansas City and, much to my surprise and delight, it was a darn good game. The players actually knew what they were doing at the plate and in the field and the pitchers were sharp and efficient. I was amazed to see guys field their positions well, run the bases sensibly and actually bunt and hit and run. I thought such skills were gone and I am happy to say that I was wrong. Somewhere, somehow, someone must have got though to these guys and convinced them that, if they want to keep making good money, they need to learn the game. Keep up the nice work