More Baseball

We were over other folks' house the other evening. A ball game was on the tube--I, by and large, no longer watch professional sports. A runner was on 1st base, being held. The hitter drilled a ball the first baseman just missed; he came close. The replay showed the first baseman never moved off of the bag until the ball was hit. That is, he didn't come off the bag when the pitcher delivered to the plate. Had he, it's likely, not only that he would have caught the ball, but wouldn't even have had to dive. Then, he would have started an inning-ending double play. At the least, there would have been a force at 2nd base. The next batter hit a fly which would have ended the inning regardless. But without catching the grounder, it opened the door to two runs, runs that wouldn't have scored. I don't know the final score or even what two teams were playing. I just know what passes for Major League Baseball isn't very good--or at least not as good as it once was. No doubt, the players are bigger, stronger, faster--better athletes. But they are not better baseball players. Of course, who even noted that play, other than I? Or the play I blogged about Sat? I heard a sports talk show on the way home from class the other night. The topic was baseball, namely how "boring" it is, esp for young kids. Au contraire! One thing baseball isn't is "boring." Now, people might have shorter attention spans, they might not understand or see the nuances of the game (and there are many on every play!), they might not be capable of foreseeing possible outcomes, etc. People might not even be smart enough any more to understand the intracacies of baseball. I don't know. But baseball isn't boring. Far from it. That's not why I don't watch it much any more.