Just Baseball

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Here is my message to baseball, originally written by a Yankee fan named Paul Simon.

Slow down, you move too fast.

You got to make the (ballgame) last.

As technology overwhelms us everywhere in our lives, the beauty of simply going to a baseball game and relaxing becomes that much more inviting.

Unfortunately, baseball is allowing itself to be changed in such drastic technological ways it is losing its base appeal of being the pastoral game. The fan experience now is all about noise from everything from in-game hosts to ear-piercing music, to being told where to look and when to look because it’s Gadget City.

Nothing better at a baseball game these days than a few seconds of solitude with perhaps some accompanying organ music.

Just think about why spring training is so popular with fans. It offers a chance to sit back and relax, watch a game and it really doesn’t matter when the starters go out, it’s the baseball experience that matters. It’s being there that matters with the sun shining, a hot dog and a cold drink and having a baseball conversation with your seatmates.

Relax and watch the game.

However – and this is one monstrous however – in the mad technology dash to “Get it Right,’’ they’ve gotten it all so wrong. More and more, our attention and our eyes are being diverted.

“The pitch clock is running down.’’

“That was a strike, not a ball, what’s the ABS system say?’’

“Did you see the measurement for the horizontal break on that sweeper.”

“Hey, that pitch was 97.’’

“Two throws to first base.’’

“Four mound visits left.’’

“Look at his bWAR.”

All teams must remove this phrase from their President of Baseball Operations’ vocabulary: “If we stay healthy …’’

No team stays healthy.

My friend, author Peter Kerasotis put it perfectly, telling BallNine Wednesday, “Baseball is a thinking man’s game and the beauty of being at the ballpark is being able to think along with the action that’s about to happen. Now it’s constant noise and distractions and sometimes it feels like you’re in a pinball machine.’’

And the silver ball just went through the flippers. Game over.

Instead of playing the old shell game on the massive video board, fans should guess the amount of pitchers in their organization that will undergo Tommy John surgery. This spring they can also guess how many players will suffer oblique injuries.

Let me put it plainly, what the heck are the nerds doing getting everybody hurt? Already my favorite injury of the year belongs to Giancarlo Stanton, somehow he wound up getting double elbow tendinitis without ever swinging a bat in spring training.

All teams must remove this phrase from their President of Baseball Operations’ vocabulary: “If we stay healthy …’’

No team stays healthy.

In this age of super caution and super conditioning science, injuries are booming across the board especially with the fast and furious style of throwing and spinning the baseball. That’s not pitching, by the way, it is more like setting a personal record at the speed gun on the Jersey Boardwalk. I know, I once pulled a hammy on such a throw, much like Yankee pitcher Scott Effross, who pulled his left hamstring after his first pitch of spring training the other day in Fort Myers against the Twins.

Let me put it plainly, what the heck are the nerds doing getting everybody hurt? Already my favorite injury of the year belongs to Giancarlo Stanton, somehow he wound up getting double elbow tendinitis without ever swinging a bat in spring training.

All teams must remove this phrase from their President of Baseball Operations’ vocabulary: “If we stay healthy …’’

No team stays healthy.

In this age of super caution and super conditioning science, injuries are booming across the board especially with the fast and furious style of throwing and spinning the baseball. That’s not pitching, by the way, it is more like setting a personal record at the speed gun on the Jersey Boardwalk. I know, I once pulled a hammy on such a throw, much like Yankee pitcher Scott Effross, who pulled his left hamstring after his first pitch of spring training the other day in Fort Myers against the Twins.

Those who used to be in charge of baseball teams used to know baseball. Baseball people have been replaced by baseball actuaries, and they didn’t come from the ballfield, they pretty much came straight from Strat-O-Matic to the Ivy Leagues to the Big Leagues. At some point they also read Moneyball, which I have noted before. It’s not like they got their pitching wisdom and ability to keep pitchers healthy from Johnny Sain, passed along through baseball generations.

And the game is so much poorer for it.

I think back to the first time I walked into Yankee Stadium as a kid and saw that glorious blue sky and the greenest grass. It was wondrous. After only seeing the Stadium on a black and white TV this was awe-inspiring; and then to take the entire afternoon and just watch batting practice, then fielding practice (did you see how Tony Kubek and Bobby Richardson turned that double play) and then The Game, every little facet of The Game, it was enthralling.

I learned to watch the game. I learned early to follow the baseball, just like I followed it when I played wall ball or stair ball at home, and also I watched to see how the players setup in their positions to be ready to spring into athletic action at a moment’s notice. All the time, they were keeping their eye on the ball. There was so much to see. So much to anticipate, and talk about, and you had the opportunity to go wherever you let your eyes take you. You could go to the shortstop, the pitcher or, of course, centerfielder Mickey Mantle. You created the view. You ran The Show. There were no distractions, no pitch clocks running down, no ABS result, no wait on instant replay, no blaring music or an in-game host screaming at you. What the umpire called, he called, and that was it – and then they would do it all over again on the next pitch.

That was baseball heaven for a young fan.

Hit and run, stolen base, a double play, a line out, hit the ball where it was pitched, not too many strikeouts, and the hitters that were taking that mighty home run swing were true home run hitters, not a second baseman batting .211.

If the umpire messed it up, or at least one team thought he messed up, there was the action of the wild on-field argument and the fan could let it all out too.

Back then, the final word always belonged to the umpire. He was the authority on the field of play. This was baseball’s version of: “Why? Because I said so. That’s why.’’

There was argument action. Just ask anyone who remembers the antics of managers Billy Martin, Lou Piniella, Joe Torre or Bobby Cox. Or spitfire Terry Collins.

Now umpires continue to be replaced by replay, new rules and soon in the majors and now in spring training – the ABS system.

In the year 2525, if man is still alive. If woman can survive.

Technology rules the day in baseball in every way from iPad to ABS. This generation expects technology to solve every baseball problem, but it doesn’t work that way. I was lucky enough to watch games where Yankee announcer Phil Rizzuto would excitedly say, “A Pier-Six brawl just broke out.’’

These were donnybrooks, fistfights between the Yankees’ Graig Nettles and the Royals’ George Brett and at the end of it, no one was thrown out, they just went back to playing hard-nosed baseball.

Now it’s all hug it out theater. Although I will say, Juan Soto does not yet realize it because he is friends with everyone in the game, but the Yankees and Mets games should not be a hug fest this year. The Yankees should be fired up that Soto took a trip to the World Series with them, and then the moment they were eliminated went into free agent mode, eventually signing with the Mets when he could have stayed in Pinstripes. That series should be electric.

Not too long ago, most series were events like that. The first rivalry I saw in person was the Yankees-Tigers battles in 1960.

In baseball, animosity was once a teammate.

Be Kind has been the order of the day for quite a while now.

The other day I saw a tiny collision at home plate, really just a brushing of catcher and baserunner and both runner and catcher were so apologetic after the play. Weak.

Inside tip to a team with something to prove. Be the aggressor on every play these days and you will not be sorry. That will give you a huge advantage on the field.

And for those who love the Pitch Clock, I get it, but back in the day there used to be a human pitch clock, it was called the Home Plate Umpire, “Get in the box, speed it up, let’s go.’’

Until his authority was taken away.

Former GM and former VP of umpiring for MLB, Mike Port made a great suggestion on Wednesday while discussing ABS robot umpires.

“What might be the effect if MLB announced and promoted an in-season ‘Baseball Week’ where games were played the way they were 20 years ago? Think people might tune in and ratings might improve,’’ Port wondered.

That’s gold. I say go back even further than 20 years, Mike.

Think of the success of such events as the Field of Dreams Game, which MLB did a fantastic job of putting together. Remember Tim Anderson’s two-run home run into the cornfield for the White Sox 9-8 win over the Yankees, a game where Aaron Judge homered, too. The White Sox have not won a meaningful game since, hardly any wins, really. The Sox uniforms that day were wonderful as well, and the emotion of the moment was real, prompting Joe Buck to say, “This was some kind of night for baseball.’’

Yes it was, Joe.

My friend Dan Carubia was an usher at that game in Iowa. “What I really enjoyed was seeing all the fans come into the stadium through the cornfield,’’ explained Carubia, who ushers behind home plate at The Joe for the Tri-City ValleyCats of the Frontier League in Troy, NY and also is a docent at the prestigious Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

“I was next to the Chicago dugout, about 20 rows up so I could look down into the cornfield, see the American Flag and in right-field there was a walkway about 20 feet across and the fans were coming in from the parking lot through that cornfield,’’ Carubia recalled. “I remember watching between innings how the fans interacted with each other, it was back and forth, Yankee fans and White Sox fans, there was no crap going on, it was just watching baseball and to me, the way the stands were positioned, everybody was really close to the field. It was something I thought I would never see again at a Major League game. It took me back to Yankee Stadium as a kid when I went to watch batting practice and we could go right by the dugout and watch batting practice and fielding practice.’’

This was the original Yankee Stadium, not the current Yankee Stadium with the moat.

“I remember as a kid watching Rocky Colavito throwing from right field to third base, the gigantic arm he had, just slinging the ball – and this is practice,’’ Carubia said. “The Field of Dreams game took me back to all that, it was such a nice night, the sun was setting, the lights were just perfect, it was what I remember as a kid, people just sat and watched the game, rooting for their team, there was no loud music being played and no craziness between innings. It was just sit there, watch the game and listen to the sounds of the crowd and the sounds of the game.’’

Baseball heaven.

Mike Port has quite the idea. How about a week of Just Baseball.

I already have the promotional name for it, Rob Manfred.

This Week in Baseball.