Trouble With The Nerds

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Looking for that perfect gift for the uniformed Nerd on the Boston Red Sox hitting staff who admonished Hall of Famer Jim Rice after a young Red Sox player quietly asked Rice for some hitting advice?

Here at BallNine, we are here to help.

And if anyone has a sense of humor in the Red Sox organization, I hope they listen. Get that Bat Nerd a replica Jim Rice Hall of Fame plaque.

Better yet, on an off day, simply drive from Fenway to Cooperstown, stop in the Hall of Fame store, which is soon going to be expanded, and buy a bunch of Jim Rice Hall of Fame postcards for only 99 cents apiece. Or just order them online. The postcard includes a photo of Rice and the plaque that reads:

JAMES EDWARD RICE

“JIM’’

BOSTON, A.L. 1974-1989

WITH TITANIC STRENGTH AND AN INNATE ABILITY TO HIT TO ALL FIELDS. BATTED .298 WITH 382 HOME RUNS AND 1,451 RBI. ONLY PLAYER WITH THREE STRAIGHT 35-HOME RUN, 100-RBI AND 200-HIT SEASONS. HIT 20 OR MORE HOME RUNS 11 TIMES AND TOTALED EIGHT 100-RBI SEASONS. THE 1978 A.L. MVP, LED LEAGUE IN HOME RUNS (46), RBI (139), HITS (213) AND AN ASTONISHING 406 TOTAL BASES. AN EIGHT-TIME ALL-STAR, LED THE A.L. IN TOTAL BASES FOUR TIMES, HOME RUNS THREE TIMES AND TWICE IN RBI AND SLUGGING PERCENTAGE.

There you have it. That is the man who was chastised by a Hitting Nerd when Rice, as reported by the Boston Globe, was merely talking hitting to a young player who asked for Rice’s advice. In relating to the Globe what happened, Rice pointed out that when he talks about the value of hitting line drives, he is told in so many words: “Hey, we don’t teach that … We want to hit the ball in the air and hit it hard.’’

Jim Rice, 72, is just another old man yelling at clouds, according to Nerd World.

The Red Sox could use some sage hitting advice.

So could a lot of teams. Dan Shaughnessy followed the Alex Speier story with an enlightening column. The Red Sox are Driveline Central.

Boston is blessed to have someone who cares about the game as much as Jim Rice, who cares about hitting and passing along wonderful hitting advice from previous generations of Red Sox hitters from when he was a player. That’s a gift he is passing along. He is not pushing it down anyone’s throat. He was asked a question by a young hitter in the indoor batting cage at Fenway South. I have been to that complex many times through the years, and you could tell the tide was turning against former Red Sox players. I remember years ago a frustrated Luis Tiant telling me that they do not let him really talk to the young pitchers.

That is a complaint I hear over and over again from former players in so many organizations – not just the Red Sox. I remember hearing it at the Yankees too, even though they usually have a number of former stars around. Some became so frustrated they stopped coming to Tampa, players like Hall of Famer Goose Gossage.

Just imagine the amount of institutional baseball knowledge that has been lost..

This is nothing new. It seems to happen everywhere these days and helps explain why the game is such a mess in action areas. Only seven teams hit .250 or more last season, 23 teams could not even make it to .250.

Meanwhile, in 1977, the first of three straight years Jim Rice would lead MLB in total bases, 23 of 26 teams hit at least .250. What a dynamic shift – and don’t give me it’s because the pitching is so much better now. It’s not. It’s because the value of hitting line drives, the value of hitting the ball to all fields, the value of making contact and putting the ball in play has been replaced by launch angle, fly ball theatrics even for light-hitting second basemen.

I am happy that Jim Rice’s dust up with the Nerd became news because it shows the public exactly what former players have been dealing with as they visit their teams. On Tuesday, Hall of Famer Jim Kaat told me that is exactly why he doesn’t show up at clubhouses anymore – saying he does not get into uniform, all to “avoid the conflicts.’’

That is a smart move by Kaat, who won 283 games – one of the smartest pitchers to ever pitch in the majors – but it also is a sad comment on the state of the game. I have taken such a hard stance against the Nerds for years because I could see this coming. They do not like to be questioned. It’s either their way or the highway, and again, I have heard this many, many times from baseball people I respect; and some of those people remain in the game but have to stay in their lane so they stay quiet.

Just imagine the amount of institutional baseball knowledge that has been lost. All you have to do is watch a game to see all the issues, yes this is a generation of great athletes on the diamond, but their baseball instincts are dreadful because they are not held accountable by managers and coaches who have been cut off at the knees – or even higher.

I was watching a game the other day and a runner was on third base with one out, a fly ball was hit to right and instead of tagging up and scoring easily, the runner got caught watching the play as he drifted down the line and when the ball was caught it was too late to go back and tag up, a Little League mistake. It’s a small play but it’s a big play. He did not forget the outs; he just made a bonehead play. Back in the day, that would have been what Keith Hernandez calls a top-step moment. A team leader would have been at the top step waiting for that player to come into the dugout to tell him to get his head out of his butt. What I used to hear in those situations when a team leader would actually lead is this: “Don’t be messing with my money.’’

In other words, winning gets you to the playoffs, playoffs get you more money. And in this specific case, the bonehead play at third cost the hitter an RBI. RBIs used to be important, and players were paid who produced RBIs. By taking away an RBI that should have been collected, the bonehead player was “messing’’ with that other player’s money.

Teams self-policed. Now it’s all laughed off or there is that ridiculous “My bad’’ sign made Mr. Bonehead.

Darn right it’s your bad, we all saw it.

And speaking of numbers, Jim Rice in 1978 won the A.L. MVP. He led baseball in all of these categories: 46 home runs, 15 triples, 139 RBIs, 213 hits, 677 at-bats, 746 plate appearances, a .600 slugging percentage, a .970 OPS and a stunning 406 total bases.

That’s the guy who was told to butt out by someone with a monitor and a uniform and Rice – and I love this – told that Nosey Nerd, according to the Globe, “Hey, we weren’t talking to you. This is our conversation.’’

Rice then asked the staffer whether he played and was told no – to which Rice said, “Then you can’t talk to me. Look at the monitor, do what you do, and don’t talk to me.’’

Bravo!

That’s how you do it. Several baseball men still in the game – and a number of baseball men out of the game, because they can’t stand it anymore or have been pushed out – noted that dissent is no longer allowed on teams. It’s an echo chamber.

It’s what I call Bobblehead Nerd Baseball.

They all shake their heads yes, no disagreements allowed. And that is why you have only seven teams hitting .250 or more, the lowest of bars. It’s not working. Fly balls turn into easy outs. But don’t dare question, even if you are Hall of Famer Jim Rice sitting in an indoor batting cage in Fort Myers, enjoying your coffee when an inquisitive young player (good for him) comes over and wants to talk hitting.

The Metric Man, the Bobblehead Baseball Nerd appears and is telling Rice “We don’t do that here.’’

With Rice telling him to go back to his monitor, that brought back to me some classic lines by sage old Braves scout Gus Lobel, played by the Great Clint Eastwood (Amy Adams wasn’t bad either), in the 2012 film Trouble With the Curve: “A computer can’t tell if a kid’s got instincts … The scouts are the heart of the game … Anybody who uses computers doesn’t know a damn thing about the game.’’

I’m not going to go that far. There is a place for computers. There is room in the game for line drives too, but the game is played on the field, and Jim Rice was on that field for a baseball lifetime putting up incredible numbers, thanks in part to lessons learned from past Red Sox players like Johnny Pesky who would implore Rice to hit line drives. He knows what he is talking about. There is Trouble With the Nerds.

Rice was such a good student of the game and so talented he hit line drives out of the park. He was a feared hitter and at 72 he remains a feared baseball man.

Nerds are afraid of pushback.

For the Red Sox’ sake, I can only hope that young player went out to dinner that night with Hall of Famer Jim Rice and they talked the art of hitting, while that uniformed staffer stayed in his hotel room, staring at his monitor.