Baseball Is Back

 Once upon a time in a planet far, far away there was no bigger fan of Major League Baseball than MJ Hawkeye. If you're a regular reader you'll know I breathed baseball qlike I had a CPAP machine attached to mouth. I slept baseball and I ate baseball. Up until the Milwaukee Braves left for Atlanta the boys from Beer Town had my undivided attention. 

Then in 1974 I became a Cub fan. It's most likely because we lived in Davenport Iowa and it was a mere three hours to Wrigley Field and we always had our radio tuned to 720 AM WGN which was the home of the Cubbies.

In recent years, due to politics taking over the game and the fact that the Cubs are on a pay per view channel which I won't support I've sort of become, well, not such a rabid fan.

As is usually the case with players and management the baseball season had been halted. I don't even know why. It may have been because the players wanted more cash or that the owners had other ideas. Regardless, the season will begin in early April. 

What interested me were some rule changes. Originally, and this was going to be tried in the minors, an extra inning game would begin with a runner on second base. Folks, I'm a baseball purist and that aspect of the game was not in my vocabulary. Thankfully, this nonsensical idea, probably thought up by someone who was in early life a ballet dancer, was designated a no-no. One item on the agenda revolved around the designated hitter. If you're not familiar with this each American League team has ten players in the line up. One of them hits; doesn't play in the field. Typically, this guy bats for the pitcher. In their infinite wisdom the powers to be decided the National League will now have a designated hitter. What this means is we can kiss the art of laying down a sacrifice bunt a big good-bye. Hey, I told you I was a purist so learn to live with it. 

There is a new rule which I believe will change the game for the better. There will be no more infield shifts used against batters. For example, there are many hitters who pull the ball consistently to one side of the infield or the other. The infielders would overload one side of the infield with three or four players or possibly bring in a outfielder as another defender. I'm glad they didn't have this rule when I was playing because I always ran like my feet were nailed to a ten foot plank. If you don't understand then think of me as being as fast a runner as say, Fatty Arbuckle------if you know what I mean. I'm happy baseball is going back to the days before managers got into this shift nonsense. Wee Willie Keeler wouldn't have been bothered by the shift. He played in the 1920's and his nickname was 'Hit 'em where they ain't." Willie must have been pretty good because he was 5'4" in height. 

So, it begins. Another season of baseball. The sad thing for me is I don't know too many of the players these days. Does Mickey Mantle still play? What about Stan Musial. I don't suppose.