No Clock in the World: The Case for a Realistic and Long-Lived Player in the 1920s and 20th Century of Major League Baseball
Editor’s Note: Frederic J. Frommer, a writer and sports historian, is the author of several books, including “You Gotta Have Heart,” a history of Washington baseball. Follow him on Twitter at @ffrommer. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. You can find more opinions on CNN.
For more than 150 years, the lack of a clock on the field has distinguished baseball from other major US team sports, and some baseball purists are sure to object to adding one. “There’s no clock in baseball. And there’s no clock in baseball for a reason,” now-New York Mets star pitcher Max Scherzer said in 2019.
It might sound like a radical idea, but the same concept saved the National Basketball Association nearly 70 years ago. In both cases, the clock was added to accelerate a plodding game.
A World Series between the Astros andPhillies last year lasted four and a half hours and included a nine-inning game, which lasted nearly four hours. In 2020, the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians slogged through a nine-inning game that lasted a whopping four hours and 50 minutes — longer than some doubleheaders used to take back in the day.
MLB faced a similar challenge a half-century ago when dominant pitching led to an era of low-scoring games that eroded attendance. In 1969, the sport responded by lowering the pitcher’s mound, which literally put pitchers and hitters on a more level playing field and led to increased hitting and more scoring.
The designated hitter, a non-fielding player who is in the batting lineup, typically replacing the pitcher, was adopted in the American League four years later to inject more offense. Last season, MLB made the DH universal across both leagues.
The Fort Wayne Pistons Game of 1950: How Mendenhall Wanted to Shut Down the Stail in the Finale of the NBA Championship
Basketball in the 50s was often boring, with teams playing back and forth without attempting to score, and it was common for a team to sit for five minutes before taking a shot. The worst game of this strategy was in 1950, when the Fort Wayne Pistons faced the Minneapolis Lakers who had won the NBA Championship in the previous season.
Murray Mendenhall ordered his players to stall because he knew he was facing a superior team. Fans, opponents and the referees urged the Pistons to attempt more shots after the team fell behind by 8-7 at the end of the first quarter. But the Pistons stuck to their guns, and outscored the Lakers 3-1 in the fourth quarter on their way to a 19-18 victory — the lowest scoring game in NBA history.
Lakers coach Johnny Kundla was annoyed that play like that would kill basketball. Seven decades later, Sports Illustrated baseball writer and Fox broadcaster Tom Verducci made the same prediction about baseball.
The dead time in a game has gone up since the commissioner became commissioner, according to Verducci. “It’s not all on him. The players say that they don’t want to be told to hurry it up, or slow- play their own way into oblivion. Rules changes to add a clock and ban defensive shifts were opposed by the MLB Players Association.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/18/opinions/mlb-pitch-clock-baseball-new-rules-frommer/index.html
The Losing of David Biasone and the Boston Red Sox: The MLB Infield Compensation for a Lossy Braves Player
Danny Biasone, the proprietor of a bowling alley and owner of the NBA team in Syracuse, knew the league had to make basketball more exciting for fans.
The impact was immediate: average team scoring per game increased from 79 points to 93. That figure rose to 106 by 1958, and not coincidentally, attendance soared by 40%.
“The adoption of the clock was the most important event in the NBA, and Danny Biasone is the most important man in the NBA,” said Maurice Podoloff, who was league president at the time. Basketball is a game with superstars constantly showing off their skills.
The game has become too slow even for a former star player, as was stated by New York Mets commentator and former star player from the baseball team, KEITH HERCULES He said in January that he won’t watch baseball any more when he stops working in the booth. “It’s three-hour games now, three-and-a-half, when I played it was two-and-a-half. I still love the game, but they are lengthy.
Baseball has long struggled to attract young fans, in part because of the slow pace of play. The sport has a problem when it begins losing lifers like the 69-year-oldHernandez.
On Saturday, during a spring training matchup between the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox, Braves hitter Cal Conley was called out for failing to get into the batter’s box on time. The game ended in a tie after the bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Conley reacted with shocked laughter.
First, second and third bases have grown in size from 15 inches square to 18 inches square, which the MLB says will reduce player injuries. The league is also requiring two infielders on each side of the second-base line before a pitch is thrown, preventing them from crowding one side or another in a defensive maneuver known as the “infield shift.”
The new rules were approved by the MLB in September and intended to improve pace of play, increase action, and reduce injuries.
“Over the past few years, minor league personnel and a wide variety of fans have been aware of the impact of these changes in making the game even better and more enjoyable, which is what they have wanted to see,” said commissioner Rob Manfred.
“I can work very quickly or very slow”, Max said after his first spring training start. “There is another layer here to be able to mess with the hitter’s timing.”