Back to today, Frank Deford was talking about games taking too long: what reasons are there? Could it be too many TV commercials or bad pitching or bad weather-- no, its batters taking pitches. It seemed like a shot at sabermetrics, and it was poorly done. Well, here's the article and here's the audio. and some more Hold Steady. And then my thoughts...
Why Working The Count Doesn't Work For Me
By Frank Deford
May 5, 2010
It was 100 years ago when Franklin P. Adams wrote what is, after Casey At The Bat, sports' most famous poem. It appeared in the New York Evening Mail, titled "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," as Adams lamented how three players on the Chicago Cubs kept thwarting his beloved hometown team.
It went, of course, like this:
These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double —
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
I have heard this before. Its a fun poem. Just for fun, here are some career numbers:
Joe Tinker - .262 BA | 31 HRs | 774 Runs | 783 RBI | .353 Slg | .308 OBP | .661 OPS
Johnny Evers - .270 BA | 12 HRs | 919 Runs | 538 RBI | .334 Slg | .356 OBP | .690 OPS
Frank Chance - .296 BA | 20 HRs | 798 Runs | 596 RBI | .394 Slg | .394 OBP | .788 OPS
While I understand the anguish of your team getting beat repeatedly by the same team, if these guys were nothing but trouble when your team faced them then your team really sucked. I know home runs were rare back then, but these numbers aren't intimidating- even back then.
The three gentlemen who were upsetting the sports-page poet in 1910 were the double-play combination of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance. But today, a century later, in 2010, all baseball faces a much more serious scourge –– the dreadful strategy of what is called "working the count."
Yeah, Baseball is being ruined by... working the count? huh? What is Frank Deford Talking about?" (Hold for applause).
That means that the idea is no longer to swing away, but to fight a battle of attrition, make the pitcher throw more pitches, stall, wait him out.
Yeah, I'm tired of all these selfish players trying to hit pitches they can handle. Why don't they just swing at everything like they were at the batting cage. The games would be over in about an hour and a half and Frank Deford and I could get to bed at a reasonable hour.
So the pitcher retaliates by taking more time and the catcher makes serial trips to the mound, and the batters call time out constantly, incessantly monkeying with their batting gloves, delaying, loitering, dragging out every at-bat. Hitters who can take pitches and get walks now seem more valued than hitters who can actually ... hit.
As long as I can remember, there's been trips to the mound and batters fixing their batting gloves. And hitters work counts to get better pitches to hit, not necessarily to get a walk. I don't recall a guy signing a huge contract for just being patient at the plate.
Last year's league leader in walks was Adrian Gonzalez-- who also hit 40 hrs. A guy named Albert Pujols was #3. Most players who walk a lot are good hitters. 5 players in the top 20 walks for 2009 hit fewer than 20 Hrs:
Chone Figgins hit 5 -- but he had 42 sbs and can play multiple positions.
Nick Johnson hit 8 -- but he's not exactly a highly coveted player.
Kosuke Fukudome hit 11 -- Not worth the money but not exactly highly valued anymore
Marco Scutaro hit 12 -- Plays short and hits .282. Not a highly desired player.
Todd Helton hit 18 -- He also hit .325, so he actually hits the ball.
I'm not quite sure who these players desired for their ability to take pitches are.
Come back, steroids: All is forgiven.
If I ignore the steroids part of it: Barry Bonds-- all time walks leader. #2 is a mere 368 walks behind. He wasn't quite free swinging.
So the games get longer. The average time now approaches three hours. Our hero is Cowboy Joe West, an umpire who dared publicly call out the Yankees and Red Sox for being the worst offenders –– which they are, year after year.
They've also been really good year after year. I wonder if scoring more runs thus having more plate appearances means a longer game?
The Yankees' old manager, Joe Torre, has carried the virus to his new team, the Dodgers. Now L.A. is the slowest team in the National League ... working the count.
They've also been winning since Torre got out there.
And, of course, we spectators are the big losers, down for the count.
Defenders of baseball always get very sensitive when critics snort that the game is too slow. Yes, part of baseball's charm is that by taking its time, it enjoys an intellectual suspense other sports don't. A slow dance is more romantic.
At a certain point, though, the obsession for working the count is twisting the game's cherished rhythm into stultifying sluggishness.
I'm for the game going faster-- but not by telling batters to swing at more pitches. If you want the game to go faster, have the pitcher work fast and throw strikes. Pitchers like Mark Buehrle and Greg Maddux did that and, win or lose, usually played in shorter games. If you want to speed up the game, go after the guys who hold the ball at the beginning of each play, not the ones who are partly dependent on the ability of the pitcher.
And so, a century on from Tinker to Evers to Chance, we have, this year, "Baseball's Sadder Lexicon":
These are the saddest of possible words:
"Working the count."
Hopelessly boring, slower than curds,
Working the count.
Strategically destroying the grace of the game,
Turning each at-bat into a pain,
Words that are heavy with nothing but shame:
"Working the count."
Okay, walks aren't as exciting as home runs. But then neither is 3 ground outs on 3 pitches. The best players take pitches-- that's what they do.
If you look at the top 40 pitches/at bat from 2009, there's quality hitters like Jayson Werth (36 HR), Kevin Youkilis (27 HR), Adam Dunn (38 HR), Todd Helton (see above), Nick Swisher (29 HR), Jack Cust (25 HR), Luis Castillo (.302 BA), Brad Hawpe (.285 BA/23 HR) in the top 10.
Others in the top 40 include Joe Mauer, Bobby Abreau, Dan Uggla, David Wright, Chase Utley, Joey Votto, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Zimmerman, Johnny Damen, Ben Zobrist, Victor Martinez, Justin Upton, BJ Upton. Not exactly "walks over hitting" players.
So I don't know what Frank Deford is talking about.
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