BY MARK HALPERN
Baseball isn’t known as America’s pastime for no reason. The game is exciting and over the years from inception till now the game has changed. In the beginning the way teams scored runs by singles, doubles and the occasional triple. The Homerun was considered to be a bonus if you had a player who could do just that. Homeruns in the beginning were so few that in 1920 and 1927 Babe “The Sultan of Swat” Ruth hit more home runs in these seasons then other teams combined. To see a Homerun is exciting but, small ball ruled the way for a long time. So, the question is would you rather have a team built to play Small Ball or a Power team that hits home runs?
Both have ways of getting runs across the board. However, in my humble opinion more teams need to learn small ball then relying on the almighty Homerun. Singles and doubles is how the game should be played. Doesn’t mean having a player who can hit the four-bagger isn’t great but, 10 runs via singles and doubles vs 9 home runs, small ball is going to win it every time. A team that has been doing it all is the Phillies; they are being consistent by putting the ball in play. The move runner around the right way and score runs early and when you can give you starting pitcher a two-run lead in the first inning a lot of stress is off the pitcher.
Another part of small ball is the stolen base and the two best to do was Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson. The act of stealing a base is an art really. As I was a catcher it was a game of “Cat and Mouse” between the runner, the pitcher and myself. The pitcher has to have one eye on the runner but ready to throw the pitch he has communicated with the catcher. The runner has to decide on which pitch is he best chance at stealing the base and then the Catcher has to be ready to throw a strike down to second or a snapshot back to first (I excelled in that department.) That is how it was until this year, a new rule was added that the pitcher may throw over to chase the runner back twice and then if he doesn’t get caught on a third attempt, he gets second automatically. We saw what Ronald Acuna for the Braves, Corbin Carroll for the Diamondbacks, Trea Turner for the Philles and Esteury Ruiz of the Oakland A’s (nice hear something positive about them) all deserve mention. Elly Dela Cruz is positioned to break the 100 stolen base barrier which hasn’t been done since Vince Coleman of the St Louis Cardinals in 1987 so it’s been a while. With the way the Reds use the stolen base makes the game exciting to watch. The reds are another team that are doing it via small ball and winning and probably has the rookie of the year and is on pace for over 110 stolen bases.
I will never say I don’t like seeing a Homerun hit by any of the Mets. It’s part of the game, but watching last night against the Diamondbacks (5/31/2024) besides J.D Martinez homerun the Mets scored 8 of the ten runs via triples, doubles and singles. The advantage of having may it be 3 players in your line up who have the power to hit 30-35 home runs a year but, if there is no one on base it’s only counts as one run when, you are possibly trailing by 2 and that 1 run isn’t going to do it. Teams that utilize more players who “GET ON BASE” (SHOUT OUT TO BILLY BEAN) and move those little ducks around the pond the better chance you have to win then relying on players hired really just to hit the cover off the ball.
The Sports Insanity Network 