Tired of the home run (1 Viewer)

[bostonfred]

i doubt it will surprise any of you when i say i wish the home run would just go away. It has become a cancer eating away at baseball. I saw an article today where Jason Kubel admits he would rather bat 230 with 20 homeruns than bat 320. I suppose that makes sense at some level. Maybe his team wins more games that way; maybe, maybe not. And what does it mean for us fans? It means watching Jason do next to nothing 450 - 500 times. That's exciting. Baseball is coming awfully close to some form of mendosa line with only things like fantasy baseball keeping it alive. you can't watch it. games go on and on. Pitchers nibble hoping the guys swinging for the fences will overswing and K. batters make millions by launching one a week or one every ten days. OBP is all about walks. if it wasn't, it would still be called batting average. why is that so important? because if your hitting philosphy is swinging from the heels at every opportunity all your management can do is hope the ball is in the strike zone. we're supposed to believe that the guy who bats 230 but walks once a game is worth $50 a seat to watch. Some guys can do it. Ted Williams and Rickey Henderson come to mind. lesser lights like Dwight Evans did it well too. The problem is we now have an entire generation that believes settling for a walk is something to be proud of. If you can't go yard maybe the next guy will. baseball needs to remember it is in the entertainment business. making fans pay ridiculous sums to watch 1950's Sox-style station to station baseball for 3 & 3/4 hours is not a recipe for growth. How many people really saw Ted's last homer?

Saw this post elsewhere. Thought it was interesting. Are home runs and OBP killing baseball?

 

[dparker713]

i doubt it will surprise any of you when i say i wish the home run would just go away. It has become a cancer eating away at baseball. I saw an article today where Jason Kubel admits he would rather bat 230 with 20 homeruns than bat 320. I suppose that makes sense at some level. Maybe his team wins more games that way; maybe, maybe not. And what does it mean for us fans? It means watching Jason do next to nothing 450 - 500 times. That's exciting. Baseball is coming awfully close to some form of mendosa line with only things like fantasy baseball keeping it alive. you can't watch it. games go on and on. Pitchers nibble hoping the guys swinging for the fences will overswing and K. batters make millions by launching one a week or one every ten days. OBP is all about walks. if it wasn't, it would still be called batting average. why is that so important? because if your hitting philosphy is swinging from the heels at every opportunity all your management can do is hope the ball is in the strike zone. we're supposed to believe that the guy who bats 230 but walks once a game is worth $50 a seat to watch. Some guys can do it. Ted Williams and Rickey Henderson come to mind. lesser lights like Dwight Evans did it well too. The problem is we now have an entire generation that believes settling for a walk is something to be proud of. If you can't go yard maybe the next guy will. baseball needs to remember it is in the entertainment business. making fans pay ridiculous sums to watch 1950's Sox-style station to station baseball for 3 & 3/4 hours is not a recipe for growth. How many people really saw Ted's last homer?

Saw this post elsewhere. Thought it was interesting. Are home runs and OBP killing baseball?

Mr. Fred, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

 

[Darth Cheney]

I think they should bring back more mustaches in MLB. I just bought the 1983 Topps set online and was thumbing through it and was surprised to see how many MLBers had mustaches...It looked like a gawdamn Marlboro Man Convention.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I think they should bring back more mustaches in MLB. I just the 1983 Topps set online and was thumbing through it and was surprised to see how many MLBers hade mustaches...It looked like a gawdamn Marlboro Man Convention.

trendsetter

 

[RnR]

I'm really against the forward pass in football too. What happened to the days of getting in the Maryland I and earning 3 yards the hard way?

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I'm really against the forward pass in football too. What happened to the days of getting in the Maryland I and earning 3 yards the hard way?

I get what you're saying.

 

[Northern Voice]

Baseball is getting better, getting away from all home runs and going back to being a game of speed, strategy, etc...

This years Rays are the most fun team to watch in 15+ years.

 

[Celph Titled]

i doubt it will surprise any of you when i say i wish the home run would just go away. It has become a cancer eating away at baseball. I saw an article today where Jason Kubel admits he would rather bat 230 with 20 homeruns than bat 320. I suppose that makes sense at some level. Maybe his team wins more games that way; maybe, maybe not. And what does it mean for us fans? It means watching Jason do next to nothing 450 - 500 times. That's exciting. Baseball is coming awfully close to some form of mendosa line with only things like fantasy baseball keeping it alive. you can't watch it. games go on and on. Pitchers nibble hoping the guys swinging for the fences will overswing and K. batters make millions by launching one a week or one every ten days. OBP is all about walks. if it wasn't, it would still be called batting average. why is that so important? because if your hitting philosphy is swinging from the heels at every opportunity all your management can do is hope the ball is in the strike zone. we're supposed to believe that the guy who bats 230 but walks once a game is worth $50 a seat to watch. Some guys can do it. Ted Williams and Rickey Henderson come to mind. lesser lights like Dwight Evans did it well too. The problem is we now have an entire generation that believes settling for a walk is something to be proud of. If you can't go yard maybe the next guy will. baseball needs to remember it is in the entertainment business. making fans pay ridiculous sums to watch 1950's Sox-style station to station baseball for 3 & 3/4 hours is not a recipe for growth. How many people really saw Ted's last homer?

Saw this post elsewhere. Thought it was interesting. Are home runs and OBP killing baseball?

Having a high OBP means you are not only taking a lot of walks, but also avoiding strikeouts and hitting line drives or flyballs with enough power to become HR's. I don't see how any of those are bad things.

 

[Insomniac]

i doubt it will surprise any of you when i say i wish the home run would just go away. It has become a cancer eating away at baseball. I saw an article today where Jason Kubel admits he would rather bat 230 with 20 homeruns than bat 320. I suppose that makes sense at some level. Maybe his team wins more games that way; maybe, maybe not. And what does it mean for us fans? It means watching Jason do next to nothing 450 - 500 times. That's exciting. Baseball is coming awfully close to some form of mendosa line with only things like fantasy baseball keeping it alive. you can't watch it. games go on and on. Pitchers nibble hoping the guys swinging for the fences will overswing and K. batters make millions by launching one a week or one every ten days. OBP is all about walks. if it wasn't, it would still be called batting average. why is that so important? because if your hitting philosphy is swinging from the heels at every opportunity all your management can do is hope the ball is in the strike zone. we're supposed to believe that the guy who bats 230 but walks once a game is worth $50 a seat to watch. Some guys can do it. Ted Williams and Rickey Henderson come to mind. lesser lights like Dwight Evans did it well too. The problem is we now have an entire generation that believes settling for a walk is something to be proud of. If you can't go yard maybe the next guy will. baseball needs to remember it is in the entertainment business. making fans pay ridiculous sums to watch 1950's Sox-style station to station baseball for 3 & 3/4 hours is not a recipe for growth. How many people really saw Ted's last homer?

Saw this post elsewhere. Thought it was interesting. Are home runs and OBP killing baseball?

This is typical of "old school" Dan Shaughnessy type analysis. State something as a fact without making any attempt to know the truth. Folklore over facts.If there are lot more guys trying to get walks then you'd expect the walk rate to be higher now than in the past. AL stats onlyBB per 9 innings pitched1970 3.51980 3.21990 3.42000 3.72010 3.4HR per 9 IP1970 0.91980 0.81990 0.82000 1.22010 0.9Ks per 9 IP1970 5.71980 4.61990 5.72000 6.32010 6.8Now maybe if you took the time to look at every year and both leagues you might see the trend you claim exists but I doubt it. The big change isn't walks it's strikeout rates. Last year the NL as a league had a K rate of around 7 per 9 IP. If you looked at all the pitchers with 1000+ IP who retired before 1960 only Rube Waddell had a K rate that high for his career.