Monday, May 10, 2021

Dear Fathers of the National Pastime: "I give up," a friend says

Thoughts from a reader... 

I give up. I cannot stomach how these jokers accept doing the Walk of Shame back to the dugout after striking outdated after day. So I decided to have some historical fun.

 

This Yankees team has whiffed 23 times in the last two games, and 300 times so far this season. So I wanted to take a look at the worst Yankees teams of all time to see how many Ks those garbage time teams fared. (I’ve included the last full-season team for a comparison. The ‘08 and ‘12 teams were Highlanders.)

 

 

1989: 831 Ks led by Jesse Barfield (122)

1966: 817 Ks led by Tom Tresh (89)

1990: 1,027 Ks led by Jesse Barfield (150) and Roberto Kelly (148)

1913: 617 Ks led by Birdie Cree (51)

1912: 579 Ks led by Guy Zion (57)

1908: 639 Ks led by Neil Ball (91)

2019: 1,437 Ks led by Like Voit

 

There are nine teams that set and/or broke the mark for team strikeouts, All nine teams have done so in the last 3 seasons (excluding the 2020 “season”). The 2021 Yankees are on a pace to strike out more than 1,500 times, and might possibly approach or break the record of 1,687 set by the 2018 Asstros or, at very least, join the pantheon of the all-time profligate whiffers. 


The stench is overpowering.

 

Seeing strikeout records climbing year after year leaves me sickened. I used to love baseball. Now it’s becoming meaningless, and I’m numb. Watching this parade of strikeouts has given me a greater appreciation of soccer and figure skating. 

11 comments:

HoraceClarke66 said...

Very disappointed, Duque.

I had already started the outline of my new superhero movie plot starring "Guy Zion"...only to discover that his name was actually "Guy Zinn."

Dammit!!!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Jesse Barfield was a contact hitter by today's standards. 122 strikeouts? A mere pittance, compared to what our guys will do this year. We're going to have at least five guys with a whopping 240 strikeouts!

Now, if we were hitting 6 home runs a game, the situation wouldn't look quite so bleak. But as we've all seen, so far this year, the home run balls have been few and far between, possibly because of the factory changes in the baseball. Yet another reason why it appears that this will be another lost year for the pinstripers.

The Hammer of God

HoraceClarke66 said...

But your point is well-taken.

The geniuses at MLB are giving us the deadball game...without the speed, guile, and constant stealing and small-ball.

They are giving us the 1960s power game...without the epic, Valhallic spectacle of Willie Mays getting up, brushing himself off after a Don Drysdale fastball under the chin, and hitting the next pitch 450 feet.

They are giving us the juiced-up, phony game that took over fully around the time of this century...without the wild scoring and amazing feats of (juiced) strength we used to see.

In short, they are now giving us the worst of all possible games: slow, anonymous ("Oh, great, another 'opener' starting!"), and one-dimensional, with as little hitting or running as possible...augmented by childish rule changes designed mostly to help TV programmers.

I wonder why baseball's popularity keeps dropping...

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


In the very mortal words of Crash Davis: "Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-guv9Pd_RA

Anonymous said...

I believe the reason is the new ball. Supposedly the seams are raised. What this means is that the pitcher is getting a better grip and more spin so the good ones are getting great action on their off speed stuff and the lesser ones can effect the ball just enough to create pop ups and topped balls because even 1/2 inch difference in where you think the ball should be and where it is makes a huge difference.

The truly superior hitters can adjust. Case in point DJ. He started the season hitting ground balls and is now back to himself. The lesser hitters (Hicks and sadly, Frazier, can't adjust and end up worse.

Doug K. (Sitting in a Cracker Barrel Somewhere in PA)

Retired Stratman said...

You may be right about the balls being altered, but remember the last time we thought the balls were juiced and it turned out that it was the players who were juiced? Fool me once...

It’s the analytics that are killing baseball, from the overshifts to the data that tells pitchers exactly where to put the ball to take advantage of every hitter’s cold zones. Pretty soon we won’t need the players anymore- we can just have computers simulate the games.

Big data is killing baseball right before our eyes.

Retired Stratman said...

You may be right about the balls being altered, but remember the last time we thought the balls were juiced and it turned out that it was the players who were juiced? Fool me once...

It’s the analytics that are killing baseball, from the overshifts to the data that tells pitchers exactly where to put the ball to take advantage of every hitter’s cold zones. Pretty soon we won’t need the players anymore- we can just have computers simulate the games.

Big data is killing baseball right before our eyes.

Anonymous said...

@Doug K. I hadn't heard about the seams being raised. If that's so, that's inexcusable, terrible. Soon we'll have no-hitters or perfect games being thrown every other day. I suggest MLB allow the hitters to use larger bats, even cricket bats. Eliminate the limitation on bat size. A player can use a boat paddle if he's strong enough. Won't that be a fun new improvement on the game!

The Hammer of God

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Like many things in life, MBA's with no real life experiences have ruined the game.

Looks good on paper. Wait, what? There's not even papers anymore?

Another thing I miss.

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