By the time readers see this column, the 2021 World Series championship will either have gone to the Atlanta Braves or the Houston Astros. As a lifelong fan of baseball and its history, I eagerly anticipate this sports event every October. (Now, with an added wild card qualifying game and a division series, the Series sometimes extends into November).
The World Series was a bit more elite in my childhood. You advanced only if you were the first-place team in the National League and the American League. Two teams from two leagues. Today, each league has three divisions: West, East, Central. The top team in each division advances to the playoffs, as does the victor of a one-game wild-card playoff. Driven by league owners who want to generate more revenue and fans who want to see more, October provides plenty of baseball excitement.
Traditionalists are struggling with recent changes on the playing field, those which do not stem from rules but from strategies. When the designated hitter rule was approved in 1973, most fans—especially in the American League—welcomed the chance to see power hitters take the place of pitchers batting. The new rule rested the pitcher between innings and had the potential to provide more offense.
Today, however, technology has influenced strategies more than rules ever could.
Statistics generated immediately for everything are at a manager’s fingertips: percentage of fast balls thrown on the second pitch in the third inning, number of times a batter steps out of the plate to adjust his batting gloves, a hitter’s inability to hit opposite field. All of these lead to player and manager chess moves. If you’ve watched a major league game recently, you have seen infielders shift for some hitters. One side of the field is left wide open because statistics show the batter seldom if ever hits to that side. Shortstops and second basemen rotate over, placing themselves in mathematically/theoretically just the right place to make a play.
Also, the days of the starting pitcher going all nine innings have all but disappeared. In 1991, the Minnesota Twins’ Jack Morris went ten innings through a 1–0 shutout win over the Braves in the seventh and deciding game of the World Series. Nolan Ryan, as real Texans can quote, threw two complete game no-hitters in his forties. Today, teams incorporate middle-inning relief pitchers and closers—and in some cases this year, starting pitchers have stepped in to throw to certain batters in a game, batters whom statistics show struggle with contacting certain pitches.
Some of these managerial decisions have always been a part of the game, which is why I enjoy watching it so much. The timing of decisions is crucial in baseball. Having immediate, accessible player information only adds to the drama that can unfold on the field. Still, such changes have lengthened the game: Tuesday’s first matchup in Houston went over four hours.
I suspect a young coach has the managerial advantage, as for most of his life this new way of coaching has been the norm. The Astros’ manager Dusty Baker, conversely, is 72. He was hired two years ago to clean up someone else’s mess. I have to admire the fact that he has chosen to adapt to the changes in his sport. He remains old school, making gut decisions, and is smart enough to know when to tap into the stats.
Since my Yankees are not playing, I guess I have no dog in the hunt for the 2021 World Series title. However, I will be pulling for the guy who played back in the day when Atlanta Brave Hank Aaron was belting home runs, without batting gloves. Guess who was on deck when #44 Hammerin’ Hank hit number 715 to break Babe Ruth’s record?
#12, Dusty Baker.
That was 1974. Here Baker is, 47 years later, coaching against the team who signed him as a 17-year-old out of Sacramento, California. Guess who called to reassure Baker’s mom about her teenage son signing with the Braves organization, telling her he would look after her kid straight out of high school?
#44, Hank Aaron.
The game of baseball may be undergoing trendy changes, but the legends and lore attached to its history remain locked in time, forever ours to enjoy.
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