Old School and Proud
I love the game of baseball. Have since I first picked up a bat at the age of 7. That was 70 years ago, and oh how the game has changed. I like to think that I saw the game when it was still in its purest form. No DH, starters went 9. Strikeouts were a bad thing, and players BA…
I love the game of baseball. Have since I first picked up a bat at the age of 7. That was 70 years ago, and oh how the game has changed. I like to think that I saw the game when it was still in its purest form. No DH, starters went 9. Strikeouts were a bad thing, and players BA, and pitchers win totals mattered. They were the standard by which players got paid.
They wore those wool uniforms and played on fields that were not as manicured as the ones today. When the Giants were in New York, they played at the Polo Grounds, a massive place where balls hit to center field went to die.
When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, they played in the LA Coliseum, built for the 1932 Olympics, it was the home of the USC Trojans football team. The Dodgers played there for four years until the moved into their new home., Dodger Stadium. Too bad Roy Campanella never got the chance to hit in a park where it was only 251 feet down the left field line.
There have always been subtle rules changes in the majors like outlawing the spit ball. They lowered the pitcher’s mound in 1968. The reason behind that was trying to make the game more hitter friendly since pitching had dominated the league for several seasons. Not sure that worked well in the AL since Yaz won the batting title with a .301 average.
The next big change came in 1973 when the AL adopted the Designated Hitter. Baseball purists hated it. The NL’s mantra was we play the game the way it was invented. One could not argue with the results though. In 1972, the AL as a league hit .239 with 1175 home runs, an average of 98 per team. Half of the teams hit less than 98. The Rangers hit just 56. In 1973 the league average was .259. There were 1552 homers hit, an average of 129 per team. Only one team hit less than 100, the Angels with 93. The Indians led the league with 158.
In 1972, the NL team average was .248. There were 1339 homers. Of the 12 teams, only four had fewer than 100. The Dodgers were one of the four. In 1973, even without the DH, the NL almost matched the AL’s 1552 homers, they hit 1550. The leagues’ batting average was .254. Atlanta led all of baseball with 206 homers. The Cardinals and the Mets were the only teams under 100.
There were changes as far as ballparks go. Artificial turf arrived in 1966 when the Astrodome opened. Some of the older stadiums began to be demolished to be replaced by what I called, cookie cutter stadiums. They all looked alike.
Also in the 70’s, Bill James introduced the concept of sabermetrics. That emphasized objective analysis beyond traditional stats. It did not happen overnight, but stats like BA, wins, suddenly were not as important as quality starts and OBP. I can’t remember the first time I heard the term WAR or wins above replacement. I do remember I had no clue what they were talking about.
Here we are in the 26th year of the 2000’s and I still think BA and wins mean something. Some old bears never change, I guess. I despise strikeouts, but today they do not have the stigma they carried when I first started following the game. The chances of us seeing a hitter have as few Ks as Joe DiMaggio had, 369 over a 13-year career are infinitesimal. Joe D walked twice as many times as he struck out. Yogi Berra struck out just 404 times in his 19-year career. That equals 21.26 times a year! Shohei passed that number in a month last year.
The game has changed a lot. We have pitch clocks now, this season a challenge system will be in place for ball and strike calls. Relievers have to face at least 3 hitters. Four mound visits are all that can be made in a game. Plays can be checked by video; a lot of close calls have been overturned.
During the pandemic year, all teams used the DH. The NL finally adopted the DH full time in 2022. This of course is one of the reasons LA signed Ohtani when he became a free agent. He wanted to pitch and hit when he first came from Japan. He could not do that with the Dodgers.
You look at a stat sheet today, and I cannot tell you what half of those stats are. rOBA? Expanded stats are even harder to translate, at least for me. I am pretty sure there are some young stat geeks out there who really love digging deep. I watch MLB.TV a lot. But I can’t watch Brian Kenny since I usually do not understand what the hell he is talking about.
I judge players by what I see. Always have trusted my eyes more than some stat sheet. You can tell when a player is being consistent. Just look at his BA. .200 hitters are consistently bad. Oh, they might have some moments, best example of that is Kike.
Kike hit .203 overall last season. He had 10 homers and hit just .195 in the first half, but 8 of his homers were hit then. He hit .222 in the second half and then had a decent postseason until the World Series where he struck out 15 times. His most valuable contribution in that series came in game six when he came running in catching a fly ball and firing to second for a double play.
Kike is a career .236 hitter. But in a couple of the important stats according to the stat people, he falls short of even being MLB average during the regular season. His OBP is just .305. His OPS is .707 and his OPS+ is just 91. He strikes out more than twice as much as he walks. His value lies in his clubhouse presence and his versatility on the field.
I know many will not agree with the way I look at the game, and that is absolutely fine. We all look through different lenses. My eyes tell me one thing, and the stats say another.
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Discussion (60)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Same here. Game has changed a lot. I haven’t. LOL.
Mark, there are a few videos on line if you can pull one up of Delio Centeno.
Glad to hear Dodgerdad it wasn’t cancer. My wife went through two years of breast cancer with aggressive chemo treatments, surgery and radiation treatments.. It was a scary time in our lives to say the least. We now try to live life to the fullest. Every day we consider a gift.
Arizona resigned Zac Gallen for one year. Spring training for LA officially opened. Saw some video of Dodger pitchers throwing their first bullpens.
Check his post season stats for this year on Baseball Reference. Not that inspiring, especially in the World Series. 15Ks in 29 at bats. More than 50%. Yes, he did make a nice catch and throw to end game six. But he is 35 now. Sorry he is just blocking some youth making an impact.
On Friday, September 11th, 1959, the Dodgers beat Pittsburgh 5-4 at the coliseum. The Pirates were up 4-2 in the 8th. LA scored 1 run in the 8th and 2 in the 9th off of Face for the win. He was 17-0 at the time. He had 4 wins over LA at the time. Winning pitcher was Chuck Churn. Ever hear of a one game series? On Monday, April 27th of 1959, the Dodgers played the Pirates in Pittsburgh winning 9-5 behind Drysdale. They beat a guy named Red Witt. They next played on Wednesday in Philadelphia. My only explanation is that Tuesday’s game was rained out. They played a couple of two game series that year with the Pennsylvania teams.
We all know that. But here is a fact, Kike playing is not a best-case scenario. He is at best a bench piece. If he is playing every day the starter is injured or not performing. In Kike’s case last year, it was because Conforto had such a bad year.
Chris Taylor back with the Halos. Sure hope he has an injury-free season. The contrast between the Dodgers and the Angels just keeps getting starker.
Kid these days…. Sheesh.
I got a sense of old school vs. new with my youngest son’s baseball adventure. The crafty southpaw is 16 now, but when he started in “coach pitch” ball at age 7, one kid delayed a game because he’d forgotten to put on his batting gloves. Batting gloves at age 7. I played into my teens without such luxury. But a few years later, my wife ordered some batting gloves for our lad. Every boy had ’em. (The Bolt brand starts at about $80 and can run up to $400.) Now my boy is back to using calloused flesh like Vlad Sr. It helps that he is trying to teach himself the guitar and wants his hands to be tough.
I remember being amazed at his record in 1959. He was 18-1 that year as a reliever and I think that his 1 loss was to the Dodgers. I also remember he won something like 15 games before he lost his first game. (Bear would probably know if that is correct). Wow! What a season. R.I.P. Elroy.
Kike has some of the worst AB’s I’ve ever seen. Quite frustrating to watch him pull off the ball. However, I’m always happy he’s on our team come postseason. When I was in college I practically had the Bill James handbook memorized for our strato-matic baseball draft.
Maybe this is a good omen. I have been having chest pains and shortness of breath. Went for a stress test today. I don’t think pneumonia, but Dr. thinks maybe COPD. At my age (78) my dad was getting ready for heart bypass surgery
Kike played injured in WS
Godspeed!
This team as currently constructed is complete. Rotation is top shelf and deep in reserves. Lineup is long and varied with some concerns about age but maybe they get more rest. Bullpen is potentially strong with a closer unlike last two years. Bench has options and may not be great but whose bench is? Management is superb. Owners are loaded. Farm system is stacked. Stay healthy and run the fucking table.
Thanks my friend!
Great news about your wife DD.
This is definitely Kike’s last hurrah. He is 35, coming off of an injury and won’t even play until June. Personally, this was a signing that was not needed. I know AF said Kike could come back if he wanted too, but LA has at least 3 players who can do the same thing he can, and a little better. He sucked in the World Series striking out 15 times. His heroics came on one play in game six. That was his big contribution.
Brewers signed Luis Rengifo to a one-year deal, and the Cubs signed Shelby Miller.
Nope. Call is a contact first type player and LA does not have many of those.
Kike is back for his last, no wait a minute, we can’t ever say last until kike says last season! His defensive versatility is amazing. His offense? It keeps going the wrong direction every year. But you are spot on Bear! His biggest value is in the dugout. Let’s face it .These Dodgers for the most part are pretty boring guys! Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Their play on the field isn’t boring. But some of them are almost statuesque! But that’s ok ! So Kike livens up the joint, gets the blood pumping, and oh yeah, sometimes he gets hot at the right times! Glad he’s back! Now the Max thing. Good move! I believe he has a good year! Next year might find him in a platoon position with someone not on this year’s roster. With Rojas gone next season he could become more of a “part time “ player in 27. I finally learned to never underestimate Max. He may be at 3rd most of the time next season. So part time may be another year off. I agree. Alex call probably isn’t a Dodger for too much longer. Like him but he has very little power. Doesn’t hit for a high average, and plays decent defense. Although I just remember reading somewhere today that we’re not to expect Kike back till later in the season or maybe not at all. I’m not sure how accurate that is, it would certainly keep Call around longer. My wife had a scan yesterday for possible cancer but we just got a call saying it was pneumonia. Never been so happy for someone to have pneumonia!!!!
With Kike back (officially), I see Alex Coal being traded to another team when Kike returns to the team.
Anytime John. I just prefer the game the way it was. I mean the DH has added a lot of offense, but the strikeout totals are totally out of control.