Baseball Observations

My better half was a Cubs fan when I married her (with Royko’s George Will's "90% scar tissue"). We’ve lived in Wisconsin for a couple of decades now, and she’s added the Brewers to her repertoire, so there’s about twice as much baseball around the house as there used to be. Along the way I’ve learned a few things about the sport. (I still can’t hit for beans, and my running has gotten worse, if my puffing after running for a bus is any indicator.)

There are a few oddities (infield fly rule, how to tell a balk), and I have to admire umpires who can keep all the rules straight.

Later innings tend to last longer than earlier ones. I remember a few 8’th innings that lasted longer than the first three combined.

And saves. Suppose a pitcher (call him Leroy Paige) leads his team in a 20-0 no-hitter until the last out of the 9’th when he tears his rotator cuff and is carried off the field. The relief pitcher (call him Phillip Wrigley) pitches so badly that 19 runs score, and the game only ends when the second base runner trips and falls on a grounder. Wrigley is credited with a save. Umm...

The commercials have shown an uptick in "insulting my intelligence and/or character" in the past couple of years. But that may be a function of the radio stations.

And it is startling how much the game relies on the pitcher. But more of that in the next.