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Tangotiger Blog

A blog about baseball, hockey, life, and whatever else there is.

Monday, June 09, 2014

When does tradition begin?

Here's a timeline of MLB rule changes, with some tiny excerpts:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rulechng.shtml

In 1891: "Substitutions were permitted at any point in the game."

I don't know what that means prior to 1891, but clearly, sub rules were a point of discussion.

In 1893: "Pitching distance increased from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches."

When does tradition start?  How about 1909?  Because in 1910:

"The cork center was added to the official baseball."

Technological advances would seem a good reason to abandon tradition.

How about how far the fences had to be?  Because starting in 1925, it was only:

"The minimum home-run distance was set at 250 feet."

Tradition broke again in 1959:

"Regulations were set up for minimum boundaries for all new parks, 325-400-325 feet."

How about redefining the strike zone?  In 1969:

"The strike zone was shrunken to the area from the armpits to the top of the batter's knees."

Or in 1971:

"All major-league players were ordered to wear protective helmets."

***

As far as I can tell, the only thing sacrosanct in baseball is the EXISTENCE of three bases, a plate, a strike zone, a batter, a bat, a pitcher, and a ball.

The configuration, dimension, or anything else about baseball is all up for potential change.  ?Number of feet between bases?  Maybe each park should set that.  The distance not being equal between bases?  Sure, why not.  Must we have 4-balls 3-strikes?  I don't know why we must (CFL has 3-down football, which is its own kind of excitement compared to NFL with 4-down football).

I think the only thing we'd want standardized is the mound of the pitcher and the distance, if only because we don't want to increase likelihood of injury.  Of course, it doesn't have to be 60 feet and 6 inches.  If pitchers are throwing 5-10% faster than when it was last set at 60 feet 6 inches (1893), maybe it should be set 5-10% farther?  That's say 65 feet.

Hiding in the straight jacket of tradition doesn't make its use desirable, and leads to inertial reasoning.

If you aren't tinkering, you aren't trying.

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June 09, 2014
When does tradition begin?