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Rule change, please [Baseball collisions at home plate]
Mccovey Chronicles ^ | 5/26/11 | Grant Brisbee

Posted on 05/26/2011 11:57:37 AM PDT by ZGuy

[Buster Posey, last year's Rookie of the Year is out for the season with a broken leg sustained on a collision at the plate last night. This is a major loss to the S.F. Giants. This blog post is in response to that hit.]

Barreling into a catcher adds nothing to the game of baseball. It never has. Every time I'd watch Pete Rose barrel into Ray Fosse, I'd think how messed up it was. It never really hit home until now, but it's the only element of contact in a non-contact sport. It's like the NFL using Scrabble to decide games that are tied after regulation -- it's the exact opposite of how the rest of the game is played.

Take-out slides at second can cause an injury, but there's something more organic about sliding a little late or wide. A player putting his head down and leveling a catcher is legal, and it's nonsense. I understand the logistical aspect -- you can't run through second or third base, so you have to slide,and first base is a force out, so there's no reason to knock the ball out of the first baseman's hands.

But there has to be a way to eliminate crazy-violent collisions at home plate. You can't decimate a catcher in college. They're able to enforce that somehow. There's no way to eliminate contact altogether, but there's a way to eliminate the strategy of plowing into a catcher so hard that he drops the ball. We're storming the administration building, folks. We're going to burn bras and draft cards and effigies, and we'll get this fixed.

After we stop openly weeping.

(Excerpt) Read more at mccoveychronicles.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: baseball; busterposey; giants; mlb
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1 posted on 05/26/2011 11:57:39 AM PDT by ZGuy
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To: ZGuy

Maybe they should just hit the ball off a tee.


2 posted on 05/26/2011 12:01:05 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: ZGuy

So lets put dresses on em and give a big fuzzy ball to hit so no one gets hurt.


3 posted on 05/26/2011 12:01:16 PM PDT by slumber1 (Don't taze me bro!)
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To: ZGuy

This kills my fantasy team.


4 posted on 05/26/2011 12:02:38 PM PDT by conservativebuckeye
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To: ZGuy
Barreling into a catcher adds nothing to the game of baseball. ....It never really hit home until now, but it's the only element of contact in a non-contact sport.

Not quite. Baserunners routinely barrel into 2nd basemen and/or shortstops in hopes of breaking up double plays. And pitchers have been throwing 90+ mph fastballs into the sides (and occasionally the heads) of batters since the game began.

5 posted on 05/26/2011 12:03:01 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: ZGuy

“The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault.” — Ty Cobb


6 posted on 05/26/2011 12:03:29 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The USSR spent itself into bankruptcy and collapsed -- and aren't we on the same path now?)
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To: nutmeg

bookmark


7 posted on 05/26/2011 12:04:00 PM PDT by nutmeg
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To: ZGuy

I wonder, if Grant knows about Ty Cobb?


8 posted on 05/26/2011 12:04:03 PM PDT by razorback-bert (Some days it's not worth chewing through the straps.)
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To: ZGuy

Intended for author of article, not poster. Here it goes.

Take the skirt off Mary.

Use to be fun yelling that out of the dugout back in college.


9 posted on 05/26/2011 12:04:44 PM PDT by gusty
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To: ZGuy

I was in the stadium when Bob Gibson got his leg broken by a return of a fast-ball when he was at the top of his game. There’s a lot of things that can happen in baseball and Pete Rose was just a jerk anyway.


10 posted on 05/26/2011 12:05:04 PM PDT by bkepley
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To: Mr. Mojo
Yes, Baseball IS a contact sport and always has been.

And a dangerous sport to boot.

11 posted on 05/26/2011 12:05:21 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: ZGuy

“Barreling into a catcher adds nothing to the game of baseball. It never has”

What a moronic statement.Sorry pal this is the way baseball among highly paid major league physical specimens are supposed to play the game. Maybe the author should confine himelf to watching senior citizen softball games.


12 posted on 05/26/2011 12:05:38 PM PDT by kenmcg (pROBLEM)
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To: ZGuy
"...it's the only element of contact in a non-contact sport."

Um, plenty of collisions on 1st base (pitchers trying to cover) and 2nd (breaking up a double-play).
Then there's all of the crashing into outfield walls (and outfielders).
If they wanted kid-glove treatment they would have become NFL quaterbacks....

13 posted on 05/26/2011 12:05:59 PM PDT by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: ZGuy
Agree. But while you're at it:

1. Stop batters from rubbing out the back of the batter's box line. If your foot is out of the box during play YOU'RE OUT. That's the rule. Honor it. These guys are now so far out they are actually getting an interference call on the catcher!!

2. The phantom step-on-second. At least have the balls to call the guy safe! Sheesh!

3. Ask Marlon Byrd how he likes getting beaned,...ON PURPOSE! How about some ejections, massive fines and suspensions!

4. Anyone know where the strike zone is?????? Most umps haven't seen it in years.

5. Who told 2nd basemen that it's easier to catch a fly GOING BACK on it than allowing the Right Fielder to come in on a ball???????????? Pedroia thinks every ball hit in the air is his!!

14 posted on 05/26/2011 12:06:17 PM PDT by Doc Savage ("I've shot people I like a lot more,...for a lot less!" Raylan Givins)
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To: cripplecreek

...wear skirts too!


15 posted on 05/26/2011 12:06:32 PM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: slumber1

You’re not in slumber,...you’re in a COMA!


16 posted on 05/26/2011 12:07:30 PM PDT by Doc Savage ("I've shot people I like a lot more,...for a lot less!" Raylan Givins)
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To: ZGuy

The catcher can always try not BLOCKING the plate.

So if a fielder obstructs the baseline, a base runner is supposed to yield in this author’s view?


17 posted on 05/26/2011 12:07:47 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: ZGuy
it's the only element of contact in a non-contact sport.

Clearly, the writer has never been hit by a pitch.

18 posted on 05/26/2011 12:09:17 PM PDT by Colonel_Flagg ("It's hard to take the president seriously." - Jim DeMint)
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To: ZGuy

If internet blowhards would shut their yaps, listen and learn from baseball professionals, they’d know how blocking and sliding works, both from a rules standpoint and a practical playing standpoint.

All other leagues besides the majors have a slightly different concern, they want to teach players and also preserve the ability of players to someday make the majors, and in the case of college, most will not, but they will go on to other careers. The major leagues is where one plays for all the marbles, i.e., it’s the “real deal”. Consequently, in the majors players make the supreme effort out of respect for the game, meaning, don’t be lazy and glamorous like Manny Ramirez, but play for all your worth like Joe DiMaggio. You made it to the big leagues, the pinnacle of baseball, you’re paid more than any other ball players, people all over the nation look to you to go out and really try, not sandbag. Otherwise, quit and let a guy who’s going to give it his all have a shot.

Baseball - sports - if played at the highest level, is not bubble-boy game. People get hurt in professional sports.

For once and for all, I wish the whiners of America would get ignored. The ones who want us living in a foam-padded world with government baby-bottles hanging out of our mouths.

I did not see the video yet; maybe player A did something wrong, mabye player B, maybe neither. In any case, changing the rules to avoid the dangers of sliding would be political correctness that will start to render the game not worth watching, IMHO.

Please leave baseball alone.


19 posted on 05/26/2011 12:11:31 PM PDT by PieterCasparzen (Huguenot)
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To: ZGuy

And would it hurt anyone if they just let the Twins win a game? I’d mean a lot to the guys. I worry about their self esteem.


20 posted on 05/26/2011 12:12:19 PM PDT by DManA
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