Handbags at the baseball

[Gob]

Four points;
a) Who throws away a baseball bat when going to smack someone?
b) I though hitting the guy with the ball was legal?
c) Have they ever thought of using their fists?
d) That commentator is on serious sedatives!

[Guinevere]

I'm not sure any of those "comments" deserve a response. It's baseball not rugby.

I'll merely say that Ellis did a poor job of protecting his pitcher - Greinke is now out for 8 weeks after needing surgery for a broken collarbone.

[Joe Guy]

Four points;

a) Who throws away a baseball bat when going to smack someone?
A baseball player that gets paid millions of dollars and wants to keep his job.

b) I though hitting the guy with the ball was legal?
Then you thought wrong!!

c) Have they ever thought of using their fists?
See answer to 'a'

d) That commentator is on serious sedatives!
He is 85 yrs old

[Gob]

b) I though hitting the guy with the ball was legal?
Then you thought wrong!!

With respect Joe, I'm sure in debates involving the relative merits of cricket and baseball, that someone, I cannot remember who, but I think it was dales, indicated that in baseball as in cricket hitting the batsman with the ball is legal.

[Crackpot]

Hitting the batsman = the batter gets first base

[Gob]

With who, a cheerleader?

[Joe Guy]

With respect Joe, I'm sure in debates involving the relative merits of cricket and baseball, that someone, I cannot remember who, but I think it was dales, indicated that in baseball as in cricket hitting the batsman with the ball is legal.

And with much respect right back at you, whoever told you that a pitcher (or anyone else) hitting a batter with the ball is doing something "legal" in baseball was wrong. Many years ago a batter was killed after being hit by a pitch. Another batter lost an eye when he was hit by a pitch.

Baseball rules don't allow it.

The rule is that when a pitcher hits a batter he has violated a rule of baseball and the result is the batter is awarded first base. Depending on the circumstance, the pitcher (and even the team's manager) could also be thrown out of the game and/or suspended for a period of time.

There is also an unwritten "rule" among baseball players that when a team believes that their batter has been hit intentionally by an opposing pitcher, they will respond 'in-kind' and their pitcher will come back and hit one of the opposing team's players with a pitch.

None of that is allowed in baseball rules but it happens often enough and is the cause of may fights like the one you've linked.

I have no understanding of cricket rules. When is it "legal" to hit someone with the ball and what is the purpose and result?

[Gob]

Ah, I think I see the leeway here, "intent" has to be proved for it to be illegal!

Ok, that sounds fair.

[dales]

What one must remember, Gob is that most times baseball players are unarmed (having left their firearms in the locker room).

[Joe Guy]

Ah, I think I see the leeway here, "intent" has to be proved for it to be illegal!

Ok, that sounds fair.

Not quite. And I don't think "illegal" is an appropriate word to describe this.

It is a breach of the rules of baseball for a pitcher to hit a batter with a pitch. So, the batter gets to go to first base any time it happens.

An intentional hitting of a batter has the same result for the batter. He gets first base. But if it is determined that he hit the batter on purpose, there are penalties that can affect more than the game currently being played.

I think dales may be on to something though.

If they were to allow firearms to be used in baseball those of you who say it''s a boring sport might change your minds.

[Gob]

d) That commentator is on serious sedatives!
He is 85 yrs old

Is that true?

[Gob]

Joe, I think one of the differences comes from the fact that a cricketer has a wicket to defend.



so anything between the bowler and the wicket is open to attack.



Oh, and the ball can arrive at the batsman's end at any height between head high, or at his feet, and can be spinning one way or other, and can be at speeds between 70 - 150 kmph.

[Jarlaxle]

With respect Joe, I'm sure in debates involving the relative merits of cricket and baseball, that someone, I cannot remember who, but I think it was dales, indicated that in baseball as in cricket hitting the batsman with the ball is legal.

And with much respect right back at you, whoever told you that a pitcher (or anyone else) hitting a batter with the ball is doing something "legal" in baseball was wrong. Many years ago a batter was killed after being hit by a pitch. Another batter lost an eye when he was hit by a pitch.

It ruined the career of someone who had the potential to be the best ever: Tony Conigliaro. There have also been many less-spectacular injuries...Curtis Granderson (Yankee outfielder) is out with a broken forearm after being hit with the first pitch he saw in spring training. Will Middlebrooks (Red Sox third baseman) had a spectacular rookie season cut short when a pitch hit him & broke his hand last year. Steven Drew (Red Sox shortstop) missed the first week of the season & most of spring training with a concussion after taking a pitch off his helmet.

[Jarlaxle]

An MLB pitch is often faster than that. Daniel Bard had been clocked at 102MPH/165kmph, Randy Johnson has thrown 104 (at age 40, with a bad back!), Ardolis Chapman has been clocked at 106, Bob Feller 107 (!), and Nolan Ryan at a near-superhuman 108MPH.

(Note: MLB pitchers are on the ragged edge of tearing tendons, literally, every pitch. They have pretty much reached the edge of the envelope of human ability)

[Lord Jim]

Joe has explained it exactly correctly regarding hitting batters, the rules, and the likely consequences of batters being hit intentionally...

As for the fights, they are usually pretty much just shoving matches, with no one getting hurt (with the big money they make, nobody wants to risk a career ending injury...)

As for the commentator sounding like he's "on sedatives"....

I've seen footage of cricket matches where the announcers make Leonard Cohen sound like a meth head....

[Gob]

Ah ha, so my cunning plan is working... I've got Jim tuning into cricket matches...

[Joe Guy]

d) That commentator is on serious sedatives!
He is 85 yrs old

Is that true?

Yes. His name is Vin Scully

[Gob]

Dear god, is he the only person who can stay awake through one?

[Joe Guy]

Vin Scully has been the Los Angeles Dodgers announcer for 64 years.

He's pretty good at it.

[dgs49]

Please note: Not only is "pitching inside" a common strategy in baseball, many players - including the assaulter in the above video - employ a concerted strategy of allowing themselves to be hit by a pitched ball, any time it comes inside (between his torso and the plate). This is a huge irritation to the pitcher, as it often happens when he is "ahead in the count," thus nullifying his effort on previous pitches.

This batter could easily have evaded the pitch, but chose not to do it. Indeed he has taught himself over years of play to suppress his natural flinch reflex, to take advantage of the situation, in exchange for a modicum of immediate physical pain. He has, I believe, more HBP's than any other player in MLB right now.

A pitcher who wants to HURT an opposing player throws the ball behind the batter's head, either hitting him in the helmet or causing the batter to drop to the ground, with great embarrassment (batters are taught to wait until the last split second before ducking from such a pitch, because it is often a curve that might break over the plate for a strike). But it is foolish for a pitcher to intentionally put an opposing batter on base, and it is only done ritually when a pitcher is "protecting his teammate" who was hit in the previous inning. In such cases, the batter generally allows himself to be hit with the ball, taking the blow on a soft part of his anatomy, and the game goes on.

This batter is an asshole who intentionally allowed himself to be hit with the ball, then used it as a pretext to harm the opposing pitcher. If it were not bad PR, the guy would (and should) be fined and suspended.