Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 11/03/84 (WLS Mods); site fisher.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!astrovax!fisher!david From: david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball Subject: Re: 1985 Predictions and Banterings Message-ID: <582@fisher.UUCP> Date: Tue, 16-Apr-85 09:34:29 EST Article-I.D.: fisher.582 Posted: Tue Apr 16 09:34:29 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 17-Apr-85 01:14:06 EST References: <118@mb2c.UUCP> Organization: Princeton University Department of Statistics Lines: 112 Lamarr Hoyt have ANOTHER big year? I'm still waiting for his FIRST one. Cy Young awards are usually given out on the basis of won-loss records --- about the worst way you could do it. Fact is, the year Hoyt won it, his ERA hovered near the 4.00 mark; he won 24 games because the White Sox were kind enough to average 6 runs a game during his starts. With that kind of support, someone pitched very well and remained injury-free would have won 30... > 1) Should the DH be banned or used by both leagues? It should be banned. For the following umpteen reasons: (1) Baseball is a great game, and unlike football and basketball, remains well-balanced; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (2) The designated hitter is the beginning of a platoon system; if you wish to exempt weak hitting pitchers from plate appearences, why not weak hitting shortstops? Rick Rhoden is infinitely more dangerous than Jose Oquendo anyway. (3) The argument that pitchers "are paid to pitch, not to hit" is fallacious; one could just as well argue that shortstops are paid to field, not to hit, and 95% of all left and right fielders are paid to hit, not to field. Come to think of it, pitchers aren't paid to field either; why don't we stick someone out there to handle the glove? Pitchers (and other fielders, and batsman) are payed to play baseball. Baseball includes fielding and hitting. Death to free substitution! (4) The argument that fans are "entitled to see the best hitters and best pitchers and best fielders" rather than see a bad hitter, e.g., is dangerously distorted; why not then let Mike Schmidt bat for the Phillies whenever there are runners on? That would certainly be giving fans the "best"...and like anything given freely, it becomes cheapened. (5) More offense is not an end unto itself. (6) The DH doesn't produce more offense, anyway: AL games average one extra hit a game than NL games. As offense is the dubious raison d'etre of the DH, I don't understand why even someone who did believe that offense = excitement would be attached to it. (7) Part of the attraction of baseball is armchair managing (in fact, this is more important to me than "lots o' runs"). The DH reduces the number of decisions to be made, and therefore reduces this pleasure. (8) There is inconclusive evidence that the DH has shortened the expected careers of AL pitchers (they hurl too many innings and are deprived of pitching against their mound opponents); however, we won't know this for sure for another decade or so. (9) Proponents of change ought to bear the burden of discussion; DH proponents never proved their case, and were never made to bear that burden. (10) It's plain ugly. (11) If it ain't broke, why the hell were we fixing it? etc., etc., rant, rave, etc. > 3) Are domed stadiums and artificial turf beneficial or detrimental to M.L.B.? (1) The decline of the minor leagues put the teams on a more equal footing in developing talent. So did the pooling of amateur draft data. This trend appears to be reversing. (2) The rise of baseball TV revenue from national contracts reduced the ratio of earnings between rich and poor teams. This, too, may reverse, as the Cubs (and only the Cubs) are still holding out against sharing cable revenue. > 4) Who is/was the better hitter - Cobb or Rose? ( not many eyewitness compari- > sons here :-) ) > 5) Where should the next expansion teams be located? Is this a good time for > baseball to expand? > > Hopefully, these questions will provoke a little thought and some lively > discussion. Considering that I am a maniacal, die-hard Tiger fan, perhaps > my predictions should be taken with one giant :-) . But then again, you > never know. > > > See you at the game, > > > /\ > /\/\ > / \ > / \ > / \ > / \ > / \ > / \ > / \ > / \ > /\ /\ > \/ \/ > \ / > \ ** / > \ * * / > \ ** / > \ / > \ / > \ / > \ / > \--/ > \/ > > > > Mark Tompkins > MBT Co. > epsilon!mb2c!mlt *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***