2021 MLB Regular Season thread

The company that published the video mentioned in the YouTube comments that it was at L.A.'s Wrigley Field. And someone in a Facebook post where I first saw it said that Wagner had a long post-playing career with the Pirates as what we'd probably call a special instructor today -- coming to spring training, working with players, giving pointers, etc.

 

That photo is on Catalina Island, owned by Wrigley, where the Cubs trained many times.

Wrigley Field was at 44th and Avalon. No hills like that.

 

The NL East is a giant garbage fire. Although currently in Denver, the Braves can still breathe easy because they know that their challengers are atrocious. Phillies can't beat the Marlins and the Mets can't sweep the Washington Baseball Team.
Braves will prevail and then probably win their division series just to prove how goofy things can get.

 

People in general back then looked older than they were. Teddy Roosevelt was one of our youngest presidents and he was a virtual logo for Diabeetus.

But I can't eat up these old colorized videos fast enough.This is awesome stuff.

 

I know the past sucked for a lot of people, but if I could go back in time, I’d love to experience an old-time baseball season.

 

The 10 years between 1907 and 1916 was when urban America was truly obsessed with the game. Day games. Train travel. Newspaper wars in every major city.

Those players are now mythical figures in our collective consciousness. Merkle. Snodgrass. The Miracle Braves. Home Run Baker. The $100,000 Infield.

 

Been watching the Seattle-Arizona series all weekend (yeah, I have no life, but the M's are in playoff contention finally). The home-plate umpiring has been atrocious. I know the K box isn't 100% accurate but just in the last half-inning M's starter Chris Flexen had six strikes taken away at the bottom of the zone. Last night it was just as bad.

It's past time for electronic umpiring. Every player gets a profile of his strike zone, the profile is downloaded each time he comes to bat, and we go from there. It might not be 100% perfect, but it has to be better than the 80-85% (or so it seems) most of the current umps are getting right.

PS: Agree with maumann. The players are far better today, but the old game had to be far better to watch. More balls in play, more action, in about 2/3 the time.

 

Good Twitter follow to grade umpires

 

Wow that's not what I was seeing on TV.

 

Wow. Joe West and Laz Diaz miss one out of every 11 pitches. And Angel misses one out of every 12.

The bottom seven as far as pitches called wrong:

West 345
Fairchild 316
Gibson 312
Barber 309
Timmons 308
Meals 303
Barrett 302

Surprisingly, Hernandez and Bucknor are at only 277 and 276. I would have guessed that to be "per game."

Umpire Scorecards | Umpires (umpscorecards.com)

 

Cardinals’ 5-1 lead cut to 5-2 in the 9th.

Then this …

 

I loved that guy when he played for Seattle. Talk about a player who would be right at home in the 1930s and 1940s.