No League for Old Men

I am now the old man who is way behind the times. I realized this a couple of years ago when I started feeling like I was double my age thanks to my brain tumor combined with my complete lack of understanding how in the world many people now think and act the way they do. I always knew this would happen to me, but honestly, it’s happened far quicker than I imagined it would and it’s very scary. It reminds me of Abraham Simpson’s wise words to his son, Homer:

“I used to be “with it,” then they changed what “it” was. Now what I’m “with” isn’t “it” and what’s “it” seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to you!”

I realized I was like this with baseball too recently. I used to be very much into baseball. I’m not anymore, but often times there’s baseball on television (a word that Grammarly informs me younger readers may not understand. Holy Shit!) when I’m at the bar at wing night once a week for an hour and I will watch it then. Several times over the past couple of years I’ve seen a team use “the shift” in the infield, where fielders all shift their position to one side of the field to defend.

This defensive posture used to be very rarely used. When I watched baseball in the ancient times of the 80s and 90s, which was a lot more than I do now, the shift was hardly ever seen. I saw it about once a season across the Major Leagues. There’s a reason it was very rarely used – a batter could simply bunt or check swing a ball to the side of the field where there was no defense and get on base. Thus, it was only used in certain situations where it was virtually guaranteed that the batter would bat the ball towards one side of the field. These situations would factor in a combination of things like the way the batter would historically swing, the score, the inning, and the runners on base combined with an understanding of the skill of the pitcher, and the skill of the infielders for the manager to come to the conclusion to use the shift.

Given that I’ve seen it twice this season when I’ve hardly watched baseball at all leads me to believe it’s being used far more frequently than before. And apparently it is. That article I linked to was from 2014! A recent article in the New York Times discussing the current status of baseball references the shift a number of times and first references it in the second paragraph:

“And yet attendance is down, and more and more balls are being kept out of play. Some longtime observers consider the shifting landscape — hitters swinging for the fences, pitchers throwing everything with maximum effort, fielders standing in unusual spots — and wonder what has happened to their game.”

Indeed. I wondered what the hell had happened to baseball when I repeatedly saw the shift and the article goes on to state that it’s basically a result of all of the statistics number crunching that has fully taken over the game. To me, these number-crunchers must be fools and apparently, it’s changed the entire way players think about the game – those mysterious and sometimes-stupid “unwritten rules.”

Earlier in the season, Chance Sisco of the Orioles bunted against a Twins’ shift to get on base. It was in the ninth inning when the Twins pitcher was throwing a one-hitter. Twins players had a problem with this and according to ESPN,

“Twins second baseman Brian Dozier spoke out about Sisco’s bunt after the game. “I could’ve said something, but they have tremendous veteran leadership over there, with Chris Davis, Adam Jones and those guys,” Dozier told reporters. “I’m sure they’ll address it and move forward.”

Jose Berrios had an issue with it, too:

Granted, a bunt for a base hit in a no-hitter is indeed a violation of baseball’s unwritten rules, or at least it used to be, but it certainly didn’t used to be for a one-hitter. The fact that these Twins players were upset with it boggles my mind. I’ll say it slowly for the young whipper snappers out there that don’t understand where I’m coming from:

Getting. On. Base. To. Score. Runs. Is. The. Entire. Point. Of. The. Game. Of. Baseball. So. Why. Use. A. Shift. When. A. Batter. Can. Easily. Get. On. Base?

Obviously, baseball has completely passed me by, just like many other parts of American society. It used to be that if you have a penis, you’re a boy and if you have a vagina, you’re a girl. Now, it’s reverse. Or something. And with baseball, first base is now third base and left field is now right field. Or something. And apparently the batter is supposed to bat the ball to the location the opposing team wants the batter to bat it to. I’m not “with it” anymore and am now Homer Simpson looking sadly in the mirror recalling what his dad said. For the younger ones reading this: it’ll happen to you!