Month: February 2018

A STORY FROM FEB 16 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – REGULATION GAME RULES CHANGED

FEBRUARY 16, 2007 | TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US BACK TO 2007 IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. Major League Baseball changed the rules for the first time in 11 years on this date in 2007. The Rules Committee decided that if a “regulation” game is interrupted because weather or some kind mechanical problem that forces the game to stop, and the game is tied, it is a “suspended” game and will resume from that point. A regulation game is “suspended” and resumed from that point if the visiting team has gone ahead but the home team has not completed an equal number of innings.

Under the old rule the game would have to start over and all statistics would be wiped clean if a regulation game was stopped with a tie score.

A “regulation” game is one that has gone at least 4½ innings if the home team is ahead or 5 innings if the home team is behind.

The rules are a little different in the postseason or any games that have significance to the postseason. All games stopped due to weather are suspended and completed later from the point of the termination.

Contributing Sources:
Los Angeles Times, February 17, 2007
Suspended game

A STORY FROM FEB 15 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – BASEBALL PROSPECTUS PICKS NL DIVISION WINNERS FOR 2018

SPRING TRAINING 2018 IS UNDERWAY IN FLORIDA AND ARIZONA. THE NL DIVISION WINNER PREDICTIONS ARE COMING OUT TOO. Among the most eagerly awaited are the predictions from Baseball Prospectus (BP). Check out their in-depth analysis of every team and player in baseball. Here’s who BP predicts will win the National League divisions in 2018.

NL PREDICTIONS FOR 2018
EAST – Washington Nationals
CENTRAL – Chicago Cubs
WEST – Los Angeles Dodgers

How accurate was BP last year? As it turned, pretty accurate. Below are the teams Baseball Prospectus picked to win the National League Divisions in 2017 and who actually won (See Feb 13, 2018 story for AL 2017 predictions):

NL PREDICTIONS FOR 2017 
EAST – Washington Nationals (CORRECT)
CENTRAL – Chicago Cubs (CORRECT)
WEST – Los Angeles Dodgers (CORRECT)

It’a quite remarkable that Baseball Prospectus batted 1000 in correctly predicting all six MLB division winners in 2017.

Contributing Sources:
Baseball Prospectus, February 3, 2018
Baseball Reference

Feb 13 – AL predictions

FEBRUARY 13, 2018: SPRING TRAINING 2018 IS GETTING UNDERWAY IN FLORIDA AND ARIZONA. THE PREDICTIONS ARE COMING OUT TOO. Here’s who Baseball Prospectus (BP) thinks will win the AL Divisions in 2018.

AL PREDICTIONS FOR 2018
EAST – New York Yankees
CENTRAL – Cleveland Indians
WEST – Houston Astros

How accurate was BP last year? As it turned, pretty accurate. Below are the teams Baseball Prospectus picked to win the American League Divisions in 2017 and who actually won:

AMERICAN LEAGUE PREDICTIONS FOR 2017 
EAST – Boston Red Sox (CORRECT)
CENTRAL – Cleveland Indians (CORRECT)
WEST – Houston Astros (CORRECT)

BP batted 1000 predicting AL Division winners in 2017. Tomorrow we’ll look at how well BP did with the National League.

Contributing Sources:
Baseball Prospectus, February 3, 2018
https://www.baseball-reference.com/

Feb 12: Abe Lincoln & base-ball

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US TO FEBRUARY 12, 1809 IN HODGENVILLE, KENTUCKY – THE BIRTHDAY AND BIRTHPLACE ABRAHAM LINCOLN.Some believe the Civil War helped spread the game of Base Ball. The war brought men from all over the country together. In their leisure, they took up the game.

Others, such as Patricia Millen, author of From Pastime to Passion, say the Civil War more likely slowed down the spread of Base Ball, which had already become quite popular in the Northeast in the decades before the war, and spread like wildfire after the war ended.

According to George B. Kirsch, author of Baseball in Blue and Gray, “Abraham Lincoln’s rise to political prominence… occurred during the years when the game was achieving increasing popularity in all regions.

The earliest association between Lincoln and Base Ball appeared in a Currier & Ives political cartoon published in November 1860, shortly after Lincoln defeated three rivals to claim the presidency.

In the cartoon, each has a bat in his hands. Lincoln also has the ball and is saying, “Gentleman, if ever you should take a hand in another match at this game, remember that you must have a good bat to strike a fair ball and make a clean score and a home run.”

Additional reading:
Baseball and American Culture: Across the Diamond, by Edward J. Rielly

Feb 11: SWAP OPERA

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US BACK TO FEBRUARY 11, 1982. Wonder if the San Diego Padres wish they could have a do-over? An Ozzie and Garry swap opera involving two promising young shortstops was finally resolved on this date in 1982. Ozzie Smith officially became a member of the St. Louis Cardinals and Garry Templeton became a San Diego Padre. The trade was announced two months earlier, but seemed dead several times.

While 25-year old Garry Templeton started strong with the Cardinals (a two-time all-star) it was a less than harmonious existence. Templeton was suspended from the team in August of 1981 for flipping off the hometown fans. He demanded to be traded and the Cardinals obliged.

San Diego wanted to make space for Templeton by, believe it or not, trading Ozzie Smith. Smith didn’t want to go. Smith changed his mind and about coming to St. Louis because he felt the Cardinals wanted him and the Padres didn’t, which was exactly the case, “Any ballplayer wants to come to a club where he’s really wanted, and I felt really wanted in St. Louis.”

As it turned out, statistically, there wasn’t a great deal of difference between the careers of Ozzie Smith and Garry Templeton. Here are each player’s seasonal averages:

Ozzie Smith .262 BA, 37 SB, 50 RBI, 79 runs scored, .978 fielding %
Garry Templeton .271 BA, 19 SB, 57 RBI, 70 runs scored, .961 fielding %

But Ozzie Smith became a leader of a powerful National League team. The Cardinals made it to the League Championship Series (NLCS) four times during Smith’s career, winning three. They made it to the World Series three times, winning one (1982). The “Wizard of Oz” was a 13-time all-star, the starting shortstop 11 times in a row. Ozzie Smith was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2002.

Templeton made it to three all-star games and one post-season. They made it to the World Series in 1984, losing to the Detroit Tigers. The Ozzie & Garry swap opera seemed to work out better for the Wizard of Oz.

Contributing Sources:
Associated Press (AP), San Diego/St. Louis, February 12, 1982
MLB team histories