In a spring exhibition game on March 23, 1934, Babe Didrikson pitched the first inning for the St. Louis Cardinals. The female track and field Olympian gave up three runs against the Red Sox in Bradenton, Florida.
Congratulations to Japan on winning the World Baseball Classic championship! And congrats, as well, to Shohei Ohtani on earning MVP honors. As a United States citizen and resident, I was naturally rooting for the USA to repeat, but I certainly can’t be mad about Japan taking the title. The whole nation is so passionate about baseball, and they produce some amazing ballplayers.
Undefeated Team Japan secures its 3rd #WorldBaseballClassic title! pic.twitter.com/ehM62luyw9
— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 22, 2023
🥇🇯🇵🔥
— ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) March 22, 2023
ファンの皆様、本当におめでとうございます！#WBC2023#TeamJapan pic.twitter.com/h6dRzF0nTT
Another MVP award to add to Ohtani’s mantel. #WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/obVbw01vjv
— MLB (@MLB) March 22, 2023
This is pretty much a postseason atmosphere, and we’re getting it right in the middle of Spring Training. It’s a great team over there, and it almost makes me kind of want to go play in winter ball a little bit and see how rowdy these fans get. It looks really fun, and I was glad to be a part of it.
~Trea Turner, on the experience of playing in the World Baseball Classic
I haven’t done the research to determine just how far back the tradition of baseball teams wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day truly goes, but some believe that it may go back quite a ways. The 1899 Philadelphia Phillies introduced their new, green-trimmed uniforms on March 17th, a move that garnered headlines. Considering the Phillies wore these uniforms for the rest of the season, there remains some debate as to whether this could truly be considered a nod to St. Patrick’s Day. The modern tradition of wearing green on this day wouldn’t emerge until 1978, beginning with the Cincinnati Reds.
A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.
~Wade Boggs
This haiku was first published in Full Count: The Book of Mets Poetry. One of the fun things about haiku is that a writer can cram a lot of imagery into three very short lines, and this piece does just that.
*
Sun shines on diamond,
two birds on a citrus limb
ball meets bat, a crack!
Insomnia has struck tonight, but the plus side of it is that I was able to listen to the last 3.5 innings of the first official game of the World Baseball Classic. The Netherlands has defeated Cuba to kick things off, and in just a few short hours, Chinese Taipei will be taking on Panama.
If you’re interested in following along, the list of teams and the intended schedule for the tournament can be found here.
If you want to know who from each Major League team is participating in the Classic and which country they will be representing, those lists can be found here.
And you can find the complete roster for each country here.
And so it begins. Cuba 🇨🇺 vs Netherlands 🇳🇱. Let’s play some international baseball pic.twitter.com/wm47ZPiRbH
— Matt Monagan (@MattMonagan) March 8, 2023
Team Netherlands gets the first W of the #WorldBaseballClassic! pic.twitter.com/8QitNH5eIc
— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 8, 2023
During World War II, Philadelphia Athletics catcher Harry O’Neill was killed by a sniper at Iwo Jima on March 6, 1945. O’Neill had only appeared in one game for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1939. O’Neill and Elmer Gedeon were the only two Major League Baseball players killed during World War II.
On the first day of spring training, March 1, 1954, Ted Williams broke his collarbone running after a line drive. Williams would be out for six weeks, and in April he wrote an article with Joe Reichler of the Saturday Evening Post saying that he intended to retire at the end of the season. Williams instead returned to the Red Sox lineup on May 7th, and during the 1954 season he hit .345 with 386 at bats in 117 games.
There’s been a lot of talk about the new rules going into effect for Major League Baseball’s 2023 season. With Opening Day just over a month away, it seems like a good time to take a look at these updates here.
Bigger bases
This year, the size of first base, second base, and third base is increasing from 15 inches to 18 inches square. This, in effect, decreases the distance between bases by 4.5 inches. One argument in favor of this change is that it will create more excitement, with closer plays at each base. The league believes that the larger bases will also decrease injuries, which seems like a more plausible explanation.
My thoughts: I can’t help but wonder how necessary this really is. I have heard the new bases getting compared to pizza boxes, which seems a bit excessive to me. When I played softball in high school, there was a “safety base” at first base — a double base that allowed the runner to run through the exterior base while the first baseman fielded the throw from the interior base. I think I would rather see the double base implemented at first over the bigger bases all around the infield. Is there a greater injury risk with the smaller bases? Sure, I agree that’s probably true. I guess I’m opposed to this change in the same way I oppose the restriction on sliding into fielders to break up a double play. It takes away from the game, in a way.
On the other hand, some proponents point out this could mean an increase in stolen bases. As a fan of small ball, if this turns out to be true and the game becomes more exciting as a result, I might become a convert.
Restrictions on defensive shifts
Going forward, we will no longer see defensive shifts where the shortstop or the third baseman plays on the first base side of second base. With the new restrictions, two infielders are required to remain positioned on each side of second base. Furthermore, infielders must have both feet situated within the boundaries of the infield — no more second basemen playing shallow right field. What’s more, players cannot switch positions unless a substitution is made. Therefore, a team’s second baseman and shortstop must stay in their positions — they are not interchangeable for the sake of putting the better defender in position to field a batted ball.
My thoughts: At first, I was very much against this. In his book, The Science of Hitting, Ted Williams argues that it is up to the batter to adjust to the shift, and that made perfect sense to me. But then I saw this tweet about the decline of batting averages in recent years, and I realize that perhaps the shift has become a little too effective, and maybe it is time to bring a little bit of a spark back to small ball.
The pitch clock
In the same way that basketball has a shot clock and football has a play clock, baseball now has a pitch clock. Between batters, the pitch clock is set to 30 seconds before the pitcher must begin his motion. When bases are empty, the clock sets a limit of 15 seconds between pitches. When runners are on base, this limit is 20 seconds. If there is a delay that is determined to be the pitcher’s fault, a ball is added to the batter’s count. If umpires determine a delay is the batter’s fault, then a strike is added to the count.
The rule also limits hitters to one timeout per plate appearance and allows pitchers to step off the rubber twice per plate appearance, at which point the clock resets. This essentially puts a limit on the number of pickoff attempts a pitcher can make, which will hinder pitchers’ ability to prevent stolen bases. You’re able to make a third pickoff attempt, but if you don’t get the runner out, it’s a balk, and the runner advances automatically.
My thoughts: I am a bigger fan of this change than I thought I would be. As much as I love baseball, even I can find the 3 1/2-hour games a bit cumbersome. Maybe that’s just my millennial attention span speaking, but I don’t think so. Back in the day, baseball games were played in as little as 51 minutes. Granted, a lot of the delay in today’s games are due to commercials, ballpark entertainment, and other advertising bull, but I do think that it is a good time to inject a little pickup into the pace of the game itself.