Author Topic: Around Baseball  (Read 421464 times)

Reb

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20835 on: June 02, 2023, 12:22:42 am »
Fun historic note from Bill James (talking about Eddie Yost):

In the first 30 years of baseball history, walks for hitters were not even tabulated.   Nobody knew how much a player walked; literally, nobody.  It wasn’t figured.  The numbers that you see now for players like Yank Robinson, Roy Thomas and Topsy Hartsel are numbers that were calculated years later from game scoresheets, which DID record batter’s walks; they just did not add them up.

When John Heydler (National League President) added Batter’s Walks to the stats published by the league, about 1912, he did so with an explanation that these were just given for what they were worth, since the pitcher’s control or lack of control was what determined when a walk occurred, and the batter just walked more if he happened to be at the plate.  The belief that walks are controlled by the pitcher, not the batter, was the dominant belief in baseball when I became a professional writer in 1975, and it still exists now, although it is now a recessive model of thought.   At the time that Yost played the basic reference guides did not publish batter’s walks or published them separately from the rest of the official stats, in a section with things like grounding into a double play and sacrifice flies.  They were a secondary, non-essential category. 

The Baseball Register, however, would make a special effort to publish Yost’s walks; they would publish HIS, but not anyone else’s, because that was what he was known for.   Some of this was not oversight, but a value judgment.  Drawing a walk is not an athletic achievement, not an active achievement.  It is a passive achievement, accomplished by patience, judgement and strategy, rather than by strength, speed or agility.  Some people actively discriminate against the skill because it is not athletic.   Scouts generally paid no attention to walks until about 2010.
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craig

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20836 on: June 02, 2023, 07:33:19 am »
I just looked at Yost's baseball reference stat page.  Wow!  he had a season with 21HR, 77K, and 135BB.  162-game average over entire career had .394 OBP with 124BB/162 games.  Crazy. 

Reb

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20837 on: June 03, 2023, 12:19:53 am »
DBacks are on a 98 win pace and tied with Dodgers for best record in NL.

CurtOne

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20838 on: June 04, 2023, 12:47:11 pm »
Cards and Pirates are already in 7th?  When did they start and why?

brjones

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20839 on: June 04, 2023, 01:00:33 pm »
Cards and Pirates are already in 7th?  When did they start and why?

They had the 11:30 game on Peacock. There's one every Sunday morning since last year.

CurtOne

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20840 on: June 04, 2023, 01:05:49 pm »
Thank you.  Didn't know that.  Don't know how I missed it.

CurtOne

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20841 on: June 04, 2023, 03:36:02 pm »
Instant replay has actually helped speed up the game, even if sometimes there are long delays.  Those delays are not longer than the huge blowups between players and managers and the umpires.  And the funny thing was, other than shoe polish cases, did you ever see an umpire change his mind about a ball, strike, safe or out? 

Deeg

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20842 on: June 04, 2023, 05:28:39 pm »
Interesting home/away splits for Jake Burger through 42 games: 1.233 OPS home, .463 away.

brjones

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20843 on: June 06, 2023, 03:58:57 pm »
Jacob deGrom is having Tommy John surgery.

Alek Manoah--last year's third place finisher in the AL Cy Young race--has been optioned to the Florida Complex League.

CurtOne

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20844 on: June 06, 2023, 06:11:40 pm »
Wonder if the Jays would take Mancini for him.  Greedy bastards would probably want Barnhardt too.

CurtOne

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20845 on: June 06, 2023, 06:14:21 pm »
Not sure if this is funny or sad.  Just got an email about Lou Gehrig Day auction items.  A lot of autographed bats in the thousands.  I think Trout's was the highest.  The only one I could afford?  Trey Mancini's is limping along at $150.  Mrs. Mancini must be bidding.

Reb

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20846 on: June 07, 2023, 03:50:38 am »
Tonight, Rockies pitchers threw 240 pitches in 9-inning loss to Giants, including 11 walks and 16 Ks.

Chris27

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20847 on: June 07, 2023, 11:13:34 pm »
Jon Gray has a 2.32 ERA and 0.96 WHIP for Texas.

Take that GoBlue, if you're reading the board....
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Reb

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20848 on: June 08, 2023, 03:01:08 am »
Jordan Lyles of the Royals is 0-10.

He’s given up 18 homers in 73.2 IP.

Reb

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Re: Around Baseball
« Reply #20849 on: June 08, 2023, 03:10:27 am »
Twins and Red Sox are each 31-31.

Twins are in first place in AL Central. Red Sox are in last place in AL East.
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