The Youtuber has a better take than cranky Bill (if you can call "Get off my lawn!" a take).

Why is it verboten to hit a home run on a 3-0 pitch in a lopsided game, but ok to do the same thing on a 3-1 pitch? Shouldn't the logic require that the hitter strike out on purpose to avoid rubbing it in?
Asked by: Marc Schneider

Answered: 8/21/2020

Why do we put the fork on the right hand of the plate and the knife on the left? Why do Stop Signs have eight sides? Why do people put flowers on the edge of their yard instead of in the middle? Why is the basketball goal 10 feet high? Why are bases 90 feet apart? Why do they those little miniature oranges have like six different names? Why do they sell them in red nets? Shouldn't the nets be orange? Maybe they should be green? Why are the nets made out of string, rather than plastic? Why do doughnuts have holes in the middle? Why do windows slide up, rather than down? Why do file cabinet drawers have their handles at the bottom, rather than the top? Why do baseball managers wear uniforms like they were going to go in and pinch hit in the 8th inning? Why does an hour have 60 minutes, rather than 72? Why does a foot have 12 inches? For that matter, why is an inch short and a yard long? Why can't you call a little distance a yard and a longer distance an inch? Why do we have political conventions in August and vote in November? Why are manila folders a light "beige" color. What the hell is "manila" anyway? Are walls ever colored "manila", or coffee cups, or toilet paper? Why isn't that color called "sand"? Why don't they put pictures of beautiful women on file folders, rather than just boring sand color?

Because that's the way things are done. The world is a large collection of arbitrary rules.

Hey, guys, if you read the Hey, Bill feature, you might feed me a question now and then. I'm trying to keep the feature going, but I'm not getting many interesting questions. A good question is one which:

(a) has an answer, but
(b) we don't know what the answer is, but
(c) we can get some insight into what the answer might be if we work the problem.

Thanks.

math not history

ok

in the history of MLB

how many PAs

how many IPs

The other team is going to try to get back in the game. Is stupid to stop trying to score runs. Not your fault if their pitchers cannot record outs. Grow a pair.

The whole thing is absurd, but for me the worst is Tatis's team not having his back in all this. Poor kid looked like he'd been taken to the woodshed, and he couldn't figure out why.

What a ridiculous response by Bill

Posted by chargingryno on 8/24/2020 1:06:00 AM (view original):
What a ridiculous response by Bill

+1. James has, at this point, become reduced to a parody of his former self. He still has the occasional insight, finds a new and useful way of looking at a problem, etc. But too often he comes across as inflexible, intransigent, impatient, arrogant, and condescending. I used to subscribe to his site and read it daily; I no longer do the former and I rarely do the latter.

Re: Tatis, I find any animosity directed at him to be childish and absurd. If the losing team doesn't want to continue to play the game, then they should pull their players off the field, concede the contest, and forfeit. Otherwise, stop whining.

I don't know. I think an entirely Cartesian-Machiavellian-utilitarian civilization is a contradiction in terms.

I completely agree with contrarian23 on how Bill James has been for a while now, and I also look at the site much less often than I did once.

That said, civilization is based entirely on setting cultural and customary, and at times institutional limits, on how much winners can win, those in power can exercise power, the rich can become richer, the high status can flaunt their status.

The Ayn Rand version of society, in which everything is merely self-serving and self-servingness should be maximized without any regard for compassion, respect, courtesy, community, a sense of the common good, or fair play is destroying the world, American life, society. It is the opposite of civilization and I hate every minute of it. Life is not a competition for advantage every minute - at work, in the family, between families, on the bus, in sports, education, professions, between classes, between races, genders, etc. Nor should it be. That is the law of the jungle. Take advantage of everything you can is the philosophy of the predator in the jungle. Some of you here yearn to live in that world. You are welcome to it. Far, far from me, from the rest of society, from America, from Italy, from my family and friends. Good luck with that. Try the caves of Afghanistan maybe.

Me? I prefer that Mickey Mantle put his head down as he trotted the bases to not humiliate the pitcher, and I f---ing hate end zone dances and think the opposing fans should have a right to shoot any player than does one on the other team, or their own for that matter, maybe be obliged to even.

I remember when losers in elections were gracious and promised to work with the winnner to address the community's problem, not when you gloated at every misstep, every setback, every personal tragedy even, to befall those who disagreed with you.

Civilization, at least in the West, is coming to an end my friends, and the deterioration of baseball is fast apace as a major canary in the coal mine.

Baseball was the ANTIDOTE to American life, not part of the parade. Just as, and I strongly recommend it - Roger Osborne shows in his great book "Civilization" has been true of Western Art - an antidote to the ills of Western society at any given historical period, not an expression of it.

Baseball is about failure and losing: pennant winners lose 70 games a season, All-Star pitchers give up 3 runs a game, the best hitters fail 7 times out of ten. There is no clock in a society where "time is money" - baseball is about not winning, not dividing the world into "winners" and "losers". Someone has to win, but you play again just the next day, and next season. Now we want baseball to be like economics has become, crush the losers, like business has become, expand at all costs, maximize profits and give those to shareholder value, not reinvestment into the things that the business makes, develops or stands for, certainly not for wages to recognize the contribution of those who contribute.

I don't want anything to do with it, and am glad I am already 60. You don't bunt just to f.. with someone's no-hitter. You try to swing the bat and get a hit fair and square so as to try to win for your team, but not just be an a---hole. You take a 3-0 pitch up by 10 runs. Then you swing, You try to win, you don't shove it down the other team's throat.

Rational instrumental utilitarianism is the recipe for destroying society. It is working too.

Wonderfully said, Italyprof.

I agree with many points professor, but in regards to baseball I humbly disagree.

Tatis, Harper, Baez and many others of their energy bring excitement to the game. I'd rather watch a game with the players who look like they actually give a damn as opposed to unwritten rules of "have fun but don't show it, especially in front of the other team".

Last year the rangers manager praised his team for coming back from a 7 run deficit to win saying "we never quit". So why should the team winning by 7 quit? There's another layer too, in the battle between owners and players in arbitration. Every "pitch they take" to follow unwritten rules will be used against them in those hearings as "why didn't you hit more HR?"

These are professional pitchers. You can throw a good pitch 3-0 without throwing pure cheese.

Lastly, the game is in a tough spot. The younger generations aren't watching as much as they did, and I believe it is 100% because of situations like this, when a young, electric, exhilarating player does something amazing and instead of talking about that, we say "well he shouldn't have embarrassed the other team. There are these unwritten rules we must follow!"

I've seen it with Baez, with Harper, with Bautista and many others over the years. Let them have fun. You don't want the hitter to watch the ball fly over the wall, don't give up a homerun.

Baseball is a snowflake sport, starting to watch less and less lately... You are professionals making millions, if not hundreds of thousands to play a game. These are the most ELITE players in the world, that can come back from any deficient, to stop playing because you have a larger than normal lead is stupid. Like others have said, the rangers have come back from that exact deficient last year....Manager is an airhead. Whole thing is cringe as ****, Padres should have backed him 100%, Tatis should stick to it just like Tim Anderson. Play the game hard 100% of the time, no matter the score.

I don't take italyprof's comments personally...he and I have had many discussions over the years and he knows that about the only thing Ayn Rand and I have in common is that we're both atheists. Other than that, there is not much in her philosophy or economics that I don't consider detestable...other than some political despots and mass murderers, I consider her a strong candidate for worst person of the 20th century.

I also dismiss the use of the term "snowflake" - a politically charged term too often bandied about as an excuse for all manner of bigotry. To use it in this context, in addition to being insulting, is also to completely misread the situation. It's the old guard "back in my day we didn't do it that way..." characters that are the ones invoking the so-called unwritten rules. Reminds me of Pete Rose complaining back in '78 when his hitting streak ended that Gene Garber didn't "challenge him" with fastballs. This unwritten rule stuff ain't new.

Sports are one area of society, maybe the only one, where unfettered competition is desirable. Watching the best of the best compete as the highest level and push each other to improve relentlessly is a big part of what draws me (and I expect I am not alone). I do like Mantle's home run trot. But I also loved Joe Carter's joyful romp around the bases in Game 6 of the '93 World Series. And I even have a begrudging respect for Reggie palpably showing off (and arguably showing up) Charlie Hough when he hit his 3rd HR in game 6 of the 1977 series. Play the game to your best ability, 100% of the time, and tip your cap to the other guy when he beats you.

Great points made all around. I'll just lazily add a "ditto" to contrarian23's post above. Very well said, my friend!

oh my

ben franklin lives



misdirection of the funnest sort

Posted by contrarian23 on 8/24/2020 2:29:00 PM (view original):
I don't take italyprof's comments personally...he and I have had many discussions over the years and he knows that about the only thing Ayn Rand and I have in common is that we're both atheists. Other than that, there is not much in her philosophy or economics that I don't consider detestable...other than some political despots and mass murderers, I consider her a strong candidate for worst person of the 20th century.

I also dismiss the use of the term "snowflake" - a politically charged term too often bandied about as an excuse for all manner of bigotry. To use it in this context, in addition to being insulting, is also to completely misread the situation. It's the old guard "back in my day we didn't do it that way..." characters that are the ones invoking the so-called unwritten rules. Reminds me of Pete Rose complaining back in '78 when his hitting streak ended that Gene Garber didn't "challenge him" with fastballs. This unwritten rule stuff ain't new.

Sports are one area of society, maybe the only one, where unfettered competition is desirable. Watching the best of the best compete as the highest level and push each other to improve relentlessly is a big part of what draws me (and I expect I am not alone). I do like Mantle's home run trot. But I also loved Joe Carter's joyful romp around the bases in Game 6 of the '93 World Series. And I even have a begrudging respect for Reggie palpably showing off (and arguably showing up) Charlie Hough when he hit his 3rd HR in game 6 of the 1977 series. Play the game to your best ability, 100% of the time, and tip your cap to the other guy when he beats you.

contrarian23, you know that there is no one I respect more on this site, so my comments were in no way personal. In any case, I don't hold personal animosity toward people I disagree with.

But there is no such thing as unfettered competition. Unfettered competition would be a boxing match allowed to end not only in death but also allowing the boxers to also hit the audience members and vice-versa. It would mean that each player would continually compete, at every moment, not just during game time, to either be on a team or even to go beyond having teams, so there would be no teams, and so no baseball. Apples don't compete with Beethoven symphonies, nor with Newtonian physics for that matter, people don't compete with cars, or with chairs. So there is no competition where this not also an organized system, and so where that competition is "fettered" - though notice how this is already a neoliberal ideological term to make regulating business seem like a form of slavery, when in fact it was the "unfettered" labor market that allowed the slave trade - so the ban on the slave trade was a fetter - that is it disallowed fetters on human beings being sold, so it fettered competition. Better.

Sorry, one more less extreme example: IF we allowed "unfettered competition" in sports, then causing concussions in football, or breaking arms on players on the other team, or openly throwing the baseball at the head of the batter so as to take them out of the game would have to be allowed. Tripping opponents in basketball, kicking an opponent in the nuts in boxing (or biting their ear off), using your hockey stick to hit someone in the head overtly, must all be allowed.

If they are not, then the competition is fettered. The culture of competition - fair play, don't humiliate opponents, remember it will be you losing sometime soon in the near future, etc. OR crush, kill, destroy - will follow the form of competition - unfettered or fettered. Fettered competition between human beings is called "civilization". Read the Tao te Ching for one guide to how it can work in terms of everyday behavior, there are many other examples and guides. Unfettered competition is called "barbarism" or "savagery" or "the law of the jungle" - read any mainstream economics textbook, or maybe "The Prince" by Machiavelli, to see how that works.

So, if you hit a home run, silently thank the pitcher for giving you a ball to hit, after all without him or her, your home run would not be possible, run around the bases with humility, remembering that, as the counselers on the chariot behind a conquering in hero celebrated in Ancient Rome reminded them, all glory is fleeting.

If you are winning by 10 runs, throw the ball over the plate, not only to not risk walking a batter, but also to give the other team a chance to bat, to keep their honor even in defeat, and take a 3-0 pitch to give their pitcher a chance to keep some dignity by throwing a strike. If he fails, okay, that was his doing, not yours. Then swing on 3-1 if it is a strike, also to not seem like you are acting out of pity or bored with the event.

If your side wins an election, treat the other side with kindness and understanding. To them it is a sign that disaster may follow. Show them a sign that this is not so, that you are all in it together, a nation. It will be your side sometime soon after all. You would want that from them.

Or do we really think that "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" was for little children? So the bases of values of Western Civilization were a total waste of 2000 years? Or, religious or not today, can we glean some wisdom from our forefounders, be they Connie Mack or Jesus of Nazareth?

In the East Lao Tze is only one of the many guides. If today the Chinese are told "do what will win you points from onlookers on the universal social media points system we use to keep tabs on everyone" does it mean that all of Chinese civilization was a waste of time until now ? For 2,500 years? Or have we all lost the Way?