Great story! I have often wondered about spitball history.
It kinds of sums up how baseball players can be humorously petty in their enduring effort to find loopholes when confronted with change. Intentionally obtuse to suit an agenda or to simply pushback against authority.
This is part of the forever cat and mouse game in baseball. From sandpaper to pine tar, HGH to sign stealing. That little edge is sought until it becomes a mountain. Then the rules rein it in. Rinse and repeat. :)
Thanks Doug! Thinking that 25% of guys were still using a spitter in 1968 is amazing. Either Gene Mauch was prone to hyperbole or the measures for trying to contain it were woefully ineffective...or intentionally obtuse!
From everything I've seen in the past and the present, baseball players are like water. If there is a crack, they will find it, get through, and cause havoc until someone finally calls a competent plumber.
But I think you have to have one universal sign that all three potential challengers can make. I suppose we could issue the pitchers and catchers mini giveaway bats for challenge purposes.
Paul, I’m reminded of a Dick Van Dyke Show episode in which the gang attends a live auction and ends up unwittingly buying several items via hand signals - perhaps ABS engenders similar confusion.
How about this: keep the ABS but ditch the challenges. Tennis used to make players challenge line calls wherever the Hawkeye/Shotspot technology was available. Now the lines are judged by the tech in the first instance. The calls are more consistent (and I hope more accurate), and there is no waste of time while the cartoon gets pulled up to show on the jumbotron.
I think this is the road we are on. We've essentially moved to a conception of the strike zone that a human can't regulate. The zone used to be kind of a personal construct for each umpire, guided by some general language. We've moved to a zone that is so precisely defined that pitches millimeters outside of it are now expected to be called balls. This is a job for the robots, and I think the challenge system is easing us into that paradigm.
I have no idea what I just watched but I do see a resemblance between John Boozer and the man in the striped suit. I didn't stick around long enough to see if that guy liked to eat bugs, too.
Maybe the signal could be holding a hand on top of your head until noticed. Or maybe they could tug on an ear (à la Carole Burnett) if anyone remembers! I actually heard a couple of commentators discussing this because a player had touched the top of his head without meaning to signal a challenge. They were laughing about the old fake out when someone would quickly slide their hand over their head and look like “who,me?” This definitely needs more discussion by the powers that be!
Why not a double or even a triple tap of the head to challenge? This would eliminate the accidental adjustment of the hat or helmet.
I think you are on to something here. Pat somewhere between once and the concussion protocol threshold, and leave no doubt.
Great story! I have often wondered about spitball history.
It kinds of sums up how baseball players can be humorously petty in their enduring effort to find loopholes when confronted with change. Intentionally obtuse to suit an agenda or to simply pushback against authority.
This is part of the forever cat and mouse game in baseball. From sandpaper to pine tar, HGH to sign stealing. That little edge is sought until it becomes a mountain. Then the rules rein it in. Rinse and repeat. :)
Thanks Doug! Thinking that 25% of guys were still using a spitter in 1968 is amazing. Either Gene Mauch was prone to hyperbole or the measures for trying to contain it were woefully ineffective...or intentionally obtuse!
From everything I've seen in the past and the present, baseball players are like water. If there is a crack, they will find it, get through, and cause havoc until someone finally calls a competent plumber.
Ha thanks Paul. Most thoughts on a new way to signal ABS would fall under the NSFW category. Or at least my thoughts.
There are probably more rude gestures out there than kind ones, sadly.
I think the batter should toss the bat on home plate or the batter should tap the plate in the center or perhaps on two corners.
But I think you have to have one universal sign that all three potential challengers can make. I suppose we could issue the pitchers and catchers mini giveaway bats for challenge purposes.
Paul, I’m reminded of a Dick Van Dyke Show episode in which the gang attends a live auction and ends up unwittingly buying several items via hand signals - perhaps ABS engenders similar confusion.
Who knew umpires had such a penchant for comedy? At the players' expense, of course.
How about this: keep the ABS but ditch the challenges. Tennis used to make players challenge line calls wherever the Hawkeye/Shotspot technology was available. Now the lines are judged by the tech in the first instance. The calls are more consistent (and I hope more accurate), and there is no waste of time while the cartoon gets pulled up to show on the jumbotron.
Well, I won’t miss Eric Gregg’s interpretation: https://www.tiktok.com/@pitchingninja/video/7591886494353132855
That's the difference between the art and science of umpiring right there. Eric Gregg must have been a surrealist.
I think this is the road we are on. We've essentially moved to a conception of the strike zone that a human can't regulate. The zone used to be kind of a personal construct for each umpire, guided by some general language. We've moved to a zone that is so precisely defined that pitches millimeters outside of it are now expected to be called balls. This is a job for the robots, and I think the challenge system is easing us into that paradigm.
Wonderful story Paul. For some unknown reason Soupy Sales popped into my head but it wasn’t him who sang the Jelly Beaner song eons ago:
https://youtu.be/BVfcyNh1mtM?si=g0H89bBeq3lzCpnb
What do you think?
I have no idea what I just watched but I do see a resemblance between John Boozer and the man in the striped suit. I didn't stick around long enough to see if that guy liked to eat bugs, too.
Only insects. Not spiders
Maybe the signal could be holding a hand on top of your head until noticed. Or maybe they could tug on an ear (à la Carole Burnett) if anyone remembers! I actually heard a couple of commentators discussing this because a player had touched the top of his head without meaning to signal a challenge. They were laughing about the old fake out when someone would quickly slide their hand over their head and look like “who,me?” This definitely needs more discussion by the powers that be!
It needs to be bold, demonstrative. No take-backs. Own it if you're going to second-guess the umpire.