This week’s Web Pick is one of the articles that encouraged me to launch this new weekly feature. I stumbled across the highlighted blog post by Tony Massarotti, writer at the Boston Globe, back in July and added it to my Bookmarks while making a mental note to post a link to it here at some point. A fitting opportunity to do just that didn’t arise at the time and so the bookmark was left on the list, occasionally catching my eye and reminding me that I still hadn’t passed it on.
So, thanks to the Web Pick feature, now I will.
While specifically it is an article about the approaches taken by several Red Sox pitchers, more generally it provides a fascinating insight into the cunning craft of a pitcher and the game-within-a-game that takes place between a pitcher and a batter in every at-bat. Any feature that takes the reader into the complexity of the game on the field is always likely to win my favour because I believe they are an invaluable part of convincing sceptical Brits to appreciate baseball.
Every sport can be boiled down to a simple description that threatens to make it seem almost devoid of any skill and interest. Football might be seen by some people as just two teams kicking a bag of wind around, just as rugby could be dismissed as people chucking an oval ball about while trying to whack into each other. Such comments are normally spat out by people deliberately trying to belittle the sport in question and the ‘glorified rounders’ description that plagues baseball in this country is a pointed example. The power of these comments is that there is a kernal of truth to them. From the uninformed standpoint of a complete newcomer, baseball does look like a version of the game played at school with a short wooden bat and poles for bases. We all know that baseball is so much more than that and to convince others of this, we have to educate them (if they want to be educated, that is).Â
Like all the best things in life, baseball appeals to both your head and your heart. The drama of a game-changing home run or the balletic beauty of a perfectly-turned double play are self-evident: they can quickly grab the heart of any willing person. The underlying skill and tactics involved in a ballgame need a bit more explaining so that they can be fully appreciated, just as the cunning of a spin bowler is not obvious to someone who doesn’t know the way variations in line, length, flight, speed and type of delivery can be used to outwit a batsman in cricket.Â
Massarotti’s article provides a great explanation of how pitchers work the strike zone with different pitches, a piece that should be interesting and informative to baseball newcomers and established converts alike.
After a relatively slow start, the trade talk is really starting to pick up now that we are little more than a week away from the non-waiver trade deadline of 31 July. With so many rumours flying around, it’s difficult to keep up with the latest gossip on who may be going where and for whom. Some baseball fans are quite happy to let the ‘noise’ pass them by. If every dead-cert rumour came true then the number of actual deals would increase ten-fold and even well-placed sources can turn out to be off the mark.