Having played and watched baseball most of my life, I've developed basic pet peeves over the sport that I see at just about every level of play.
6. Outfielders diving for a ball. As a lifelong outfielder, I can tell you that my best catches were done without a dive. The ONLY time an outfielder should hit the deck is when a ball that is going to be caught is near the ground. Lunging, catching, then losing balance is another matter.
Jim Edmonds is the most notorious needless-diving outfielder I have ever seen - the cameras never seemingly show his poor jump (which, as I've been to quite a few Cardinals games, I can testify to). The better catches that he's made are the ones where he didn't dive. This is why Andruw Jones was amazing - he caught so many balls running that others may have dove for.
5. A runner diving into first base when there is no tag. This one is not number 1 because it is very widely known. I heard Ryan Lefebvre (Kansas City broadcaster) say he was one told that if it was faster to dive into first base, the 100 meter dash runners would wear knee and elbow pads and dive across the finish line every time.
4. Flash photography. These fans actually think their flashes are A) brighter than the stadium lights, B) automatic on their camera, and/or C) will carry 200 feet and light up Manny Ramirez's face. And yes, all tens of thousands of people are wrong, even though it looks cool. I devoted an entire article to this one.
- B/R Ticket Guide
3. "Late movement." The ball does not curve more at the end of a pitch than it did towards the beginning. The perception on TV is because a ball's angle to your eyesight seems to break more as it curves more (like a car going the same speed curving in front of you seems to curve faster as it gets farther a away from you).
The batter's perspective is that the eyes jump ahead to where they think the ball will be, and when it isn't, it looks like the ball jumped very quickly.
2. The pitcher pointing at the sky when there is a pop-up. What fielder is looking at the pitcher when there's a pop-up? If the pitcher was yelling who should take the pop-up that would be something else.
I'm imagining the shortstop watching a batter pop the ball up, he looks to the pitcher, who's pointing to the sky, and the shortstop thinks "oh, THAT'S where the ball goes.
1. Credit given to a player when luck was more of a factor. I blame this mostly on the constant analysis of the color commentator. Poor guys, forced to give an explanation for everything, when sometimes, it is just dumb luck.
In baseball, the higher level you get the more a chance factor is involved. If you absolutely blister a ball, you have a better chance of getting a hit, but it is not guaranteed. You could line-out, fly out to the warning track, hit a one-hopper to thw shortstop, hit one 2 inches foul, etc. As a pitcher, if you could completely fool a batter, you have a better chance of getting an out, but it is not a guaranteed out. The batter could get a swinging bunt, bloop one into the outfield, or just get enough of it to be a foul ball (when they are not being defensive, that's another category).
What I cannnot bear is people giving credit to batters who bloop a base hit but are given the "strong enough to muscle it out to the outfield"
excuse. You cannot be serious. If the batter hit the ball more squarely, it would have been an out. On the reverse side, if a pitcher gives up a hard 6-4-3 double play to end an inning, the credit is given to the pitcher for "getting out of a jam." If the batter had hit the ball 2 feet in either direction, it would have been a hit. If the batter had hit the ball softer, he might have reached on a fielder's choice.
Another one is someone saying that a batter was "right on it" or "had it timed" by fouling the ball straight back.
I would accept that, if they said the same thing when they hit a high pop-up to 2nd base. In that case the batter "had it timed" but got more of the ball. Fouling it straight back means the pitch was higher than you thought. By the same reference, you could "have a ball timed" and not hit it at all.
So there you have it. I will now remove the soapbox and continue my musicology assignment.
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2 months ago
Curt Shilling used to always point to the popups like it was going to help the fielders, so annoying. Same with diving into first, I never understood that either, you're allowed to overrun it which is the ultimate aid to being safe.
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