Cracked: Baseball Is Carefully Crafted To Skirt The Limits Of Human Ability

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On any regulation baseball diamond, the distance from home plate to the pitcher’s mound is weirdly specific: 60’ 6”. That distance isn’t a two-thirds ode to the devil; it’s an important design feature. That’s the empirically determined balancing point which puts the pitcher and hitter on an equal playing field. Moving the pitcher’s mound back even five feet would change the game wildly, giving batters a huge (20 percent) increase in the time they had to prepare their swing, ...

Here Are The 2016 MLB Prime Time Television Ratings For Each Team

The data from Nielsen NLSN +0.06% that covers the 29 U.S. clubs in the league from April 3-Sept 25 shows that nine clubs had the No. 1 ranking across all TV networks in prime time (Royals, Tigers, Orioles, Pirates, Indians, Red Sox, Mariners, and Giants). More than half the league (16 out of 29) saw them rank in the top 3 across all television networks. Out of the 29 clubs charted, 24, or 83% of the league saw the No. 1 rated programming in primetime on just cable over the course of the season. ...Read More...

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: September 28, 2016 at 09:56 AM | 13 comment(s)
  Beats: baseball is dead, television ratings

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-28-2016

New York Sun, September 28, 1916:

The great winning streak of the Giants looked deader than Dickens’s door nail on the Polo lawn yesterday when the ninth inning came rolling around. With two out in the ninth and the Cards leading at 2 to 0, the boys in the stands were edging toward the exits. Then came the explosion.

A warm slap to right by Charley Herzog was converted into a triple by Owen Wilson’s keystone komedy fielding, and Lew McCarty and George Burns rushed home with the tieing runs. The ...

Pete Rose petitions Hall of Fame for inclusion on ballots in lengthy letter

This is tiresome.

Disgraced hit king Pete Rose has asked National Baseball Hall of Fame officials to reconsider the bylaw that blocks his candidacy for enshrinement, petitioning Hall president Jeff Idelson in a seven-page letter that argues for his inclusion on future ballots.

The letter, obtained by Yahoo Sports, contends the terms of Rose’s lifetime ban for gambling – drawn by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti – intentionally excluded language that would have barred Rose from Cooperstown ...

Tigers rely on young pitchers in next 4 games | MLB.com

It’s Fulmer today, Daniel Norris tomorrow.

He would have Verlander pitching the regular-season finale on Sunday, particularly if a postseason bid is at stake. But as for Friday and Saturday in Atlanta, it’s two from the threesome of Matt Boyd, Jordan Zimmermann and Buck Farmer.

Baseball Prospectus | Pitching Backward: What We Know About Spin Rate

Your head might be spinning by the end of this article.

Cardinals GM John Mozeliak refects on 2016 | MLB.com

On how the organization intends to improve its defense before next season:

“Any time you identify something you want to address, whether it’s defense, power, the pitching, a lot of times it’s at what cost? And what I mean by that is, to get better defense, we may have to take a step back offensively. In terms of internal analysis that we do upstairs, that’s certainly an exercise we’re going to do. Then we’re going to decide what makes us look like a better club. But none of us is satisfied ...

Is Oakland’s Mount Davis Killing Fly Balls? | FanGraphs Baseball

Interesting stuff.

Comedy writer/baseball announcer Ken Levine reminisces about Vin Scully

Levine:
Here’s something that will make you groan. I asked if he kept all of his scorebooks down through the years and he said no. At the end of each season he just chucked them. To me that’s like throwing away the Ten Commandments.

...There was some guy on the internet selling full game broadcasts from the ‘50s-‘60s. He had some Dodger games so I bought them. I’m driving to the stadium one night listening to Vin call a game at Wrigley Field from 1966. I get so caught up in the drama ...

OMNICHATTER 9-28-16

The last-Wednesday-of-the-regular-season OMNICHATTER

OT: NBA 2016-17 Preseason Thread

I estimate only 10-12 Primates care about the NBA, but with our own off-topic thread, we won’t distract from what this site’s really about: other off-topic threads. (Link goes to the Nylon Calculus projections page.)

Surgery possible for Tyson Ross - The San Diego Union-Tribune

I’m surprised it took them so long to get to this point.

Marlins sign Martin Prado to 3-year, $40 million extension

he Marlins have agreed to a 3-year, $40 million contract extension with third baseman Martin Prado, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. Prado was slated to become a free agent after the season.

The signing of Prado represents a small bright spot in an impossibly tough week for the Marlins, who lost ace Jose Fernandez in a boating accident early Sunday. Prado has been one of the club’s leaders since news broke of Fernandez’s death, and was the only player to speak at the ...

MLB MOVES VENEZUELAN SHOWCASE TO PANAMA

This year’s showcase will have one major difference: it won’t be in Venezuela. Instead, MLB’s annual Venezuelan national showcase will be in Panama on Nov. 16-17, a change that appears to be due to the increasing safety concerns in Venezuela, both for American scouts and local scouts living in Venezuela.

The problems in Venezuela are complex, but over the last few years, the country has been hit by a deep economic recession and soaring inflation. Controls on foreign imports have led to ...

Pakistan’s National Baseball Team Just Wants You To Know They Exist

Pakistan was mercy-ruled during the first game of the tournament Thursday afternoon after Brazil went up 10-0 in the 7th inning. They were mercy-ruled again Friday night, losing 14-0 to Great Britain after the 7th inning.

It was the outcome expected by all. The night before the game against Brazil, at the downtown Brooklyn Marriott where the teams were lodged, Team Pakistan’s manager Syed Fakhar Ali Shah told me, “Obviously we know what the result is gonna be, but we are not mentioning it ...

Nationals’ Wilson Ramos injures right knee | MLB.com

This greatly hurts the Nationals and Wilson Ramos. The injury puts a big off-season payday in jeopardy.

With the Nationals already nursing Bryce Harper (thumb), Daniel Murphy (buttocks) and Stephen Strasburg (forearm) back to full strength as the postseason draws closer, they will have to be prepared to play without catcher Wilson Ramos for the remainder of the season, including the postseason, with a torn ACL in his right knee.

Manager Dusty Baker told reporters of the diagnosis, which ...

Why some agents have serious concerns about MLB’s next CBA | FOX Sports

Hopefully, the next CBA will be signed early.

Carlos Delgado: Colin Kaepernick’s actions rooted in American ideals

“But I think it is important that athletes, who have this platform, where they can reach millions of people, they should use it,” Delgado said. “If your principles indicate that you want to do something or must do it, you should act, whether you act alone or with others. Yes, I received support from some of my fellow athletes. And even those who didn’t join me, they never made me feel left out. They never elbowed me out. But I heard from others who wanted to rip my head off, saying: ‘Go back to ...

Dunedin Blue Jays spring-training study fails to understand how hotel rooms work | Field of Schemes

The new report projects $21.4 million in annual economic spending, which at current hotel and sales tax rates means only $1-2 million a year in actual tax receipts, and if you then have to divide by 6-8 … let’s just say nobody in Pinellas County should be planning on seeing that $81 million again.

Are Baseball’s MVP Voters Racist?

Black players don’t claim MVPs in the American League. Hispanic players are ignored by National League voters. Has an ugly bias influenced the MVP vote?

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-27-2016

[Portland] Oregonian, September 27, 1916:

Charged with assault with intent to kill George Johnson, American Association umpire, Jacob Scholkey, 24 years old, was indicted by a grand jury [in Toledo yesterday].

During the game with St. Paul at Swayne Field last July 23, Umpire Johnson was struck on the head by a pop bottle thrown from the stand and rendered unconscious. He was in the hospital two days and it was feard for a time he could not recover.

I’m not sure what happened to Scholkey. I ...

The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Only in baseball — in no other sport — do we imagine that olden days were better than our own, or that the stars of nearly a century ago could not only compete with those of today but would certainly exceed them. Was there ever a guy like Ruth? Or Gehrig? No. Nor have there been writers like Rice and Runyon, Gallico and Vidmer, Kieran and Lieb, or Cannon. All these were honored in their generations, and were the glory of their times.
But I’ll take the game and the writing of ...

Yankees say good riddance to David Ortiz, the best to ever own them | New York Post

But Ortiz is the Yankees killer to end all Yankees killers. He is the one who has given more night sweats to more Yankees pitchers (and Yankees fans) than anybody, mostly because he has played for a team (and for a city) that has been the object of Yankees obsession from the moment he arrived.

It is fair to wonder if the Red Sox’s epic, operatic drought that stood at 86 years in 2004 might not now be at 98 if not for Ortiz, whose walk-off homer won Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, whose homer over ...

Fans jeer as Cardinals suffer ‘embarrassing loss’ | St. Louis Cardinals | stltoday.com

And the fans, in a rare moment of pique, let the Cardinals hear about it, first booing and then erupting in a Bronx cheer when the final out of a seven-run fourth was recorded. They booed a little more later on and then many of them beat the traffic, with some of them at least leaving with a Grateful Dead T-shirt, a special theme night promotion.

Unfortunately, the memory of Jerry Garcia was of no more help than Jaime Garcia on Monday.

The paid crowd to witness the carnage was 34,942, ...

Braves’ instructional league led by young arms | MLB.com

The next big thing.

Maitan looks like he belongs

Perhaps one of the biggest storylines at instructs for the Braves is the arrival of international signee Kevin Maitan. The top player on MLBPipeline.com’s Top 30 International Prospects list, Maitan signed with the Braves for $4.25 million in July. The 16-year-old shortstop phenom is joined by others from this past signing period as playing in the United States for the first time.
“You look at these guys and they’re basically sophomores in high ...

Yet Another Update on Safeco Field, Home Run Haven | U.S.S. Mariner

Barreling up in Seattle.

Kyle Hendricks extends mastery, Kris Bryant tops 100 RBIs in Cubs’ 100th win - Chicago Tribune

Cubs win 100th game.

“It’s not too often you get this much talent in one room on one team,” said Bryant, who was a rookie on last year’s Cubs team that won 97 games. “We need to realize what we have here and be grateful for it. I certainly am. I couldn’t have pictured a better two years in the big leagues.”

OMNICHATTER 9-27-16

The Number 16 OMNICHATTER

Scoreboard operator tells the inside stories of Fenway’s Wall

“Legend has it that Manny came in and went to the bathroom,” he says. “He did come in, but he wasn’t going to the bathroom. There isn’t a bathroom back there; there hasn’t been one since I started.”

Ramirez came in many times, says Elias.

“We’d talk everything except baseball,” he says. “Even if he hit a home run the inning before. He’d ask about my kids, we’d talk family, he loved cars, and he was very nice to us. We had a lot of laughs. Sometimes we’d give him ...

Fallout from brawl becomes big question for Blue Jays now - Sportsnet.ca

The Blue Jays have everything to lose in a brawl. They have to be smarter than this.