By Jana Dunow
Growing up a Dodger fan, Tommy Lasorda was the ultimate manager in my eyes. He never hesitated to back up his players and get in a scuffle with the umpires or the Phillie Fanatic for that matter. My dad called those words flying out of Tommy’s mouth “motivational buzzwords”. Now MLB managers just aren’t as fired up as Lasorda. Dave Roberts, the current manager of the Dodgers, almost seems polite if he even says anything to the umpires. I miss seeing managers kick dirt on home plate or use those motivational buzzwords. As the 2023 season has started, I find myself lamenting about the bygone days of baseball.
Rob Manfred, commissioner of MLB, has decided that baseball needs to change. MLB says they have done studies and surveys to figure out that the game needs to change. Who are they talking to? They certainly didn’t talk to me. If they had, I would tell them that pitch clocks and bigger bases are not the answer to making baseball great again. Baseball has always been great. Why is it that someone who really doesn’t act like they even like baseball is in charge of the league? I get baseball is a business, but it’s a sport that has been around for 177 years when the first official game took place in Hoboken, New Jersey. Baseball doesn’t need to change because someone who goes to a game maybe once every two years says it does. True fans of the game know that baseball needs to be left alone.
This season the pitch clock made its debut in the major leagues. It has shortened games, but at what cost? Going to a major league baseball game is an experience. Arriving at the ballpark early to walk around the concourse, watch the players working out on the field and stocking up on snacks is all part of the allure of the ballpark. Now, the pitch clock has made everything go faster. Tickets and food are expensive at the ballpark and that experience may only last a couple of hours. Fans don’t get the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere of Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles, Coors Field in Denver or Fenway Park in Boston. It takes away from the game. I am afraid we are stuck with the pitch clock for now. Will it make a difference in the playoffs? Could a game be decided because of a pitch clock violation? Only time will tell.
As a kid, I don’t remember players going through a routine before they stepped into the batter’s box. They stepped in and were ready to go. Then the likes of Juan Soto started playing and he was taking 30 seconds before the first pitch of the at bat was thrown. The pitch clock eliminates all of that. I concede that maybe that is one good thing, but otherwise I don’t see the need for a pitch clock. The pitch clock is an unnecessary distraction. Pitch clocks have been used in the minor leagues for a while now. Pitchers being called up are used to it, but at what cost? Is baseball conditioning pitchers to throw harder and faster? And while I am lamenting, what happened to pitchers throwing a complete game? Complete games are a thing of the past. It used to be that pitchers had 20 complete games. Now pitchers are limited to innings or a pitch count. Keeping pitchers healthy seemed to be the reason, but now the pitch clock may be undoing that reason. It’s definitely a storyline to watch.
Analytics – what can I say? It has taken over the game. I hate seeing players pull out their cheat cards to know if they should move this way or that way. What did Willie Mays or Hank Aaron do when they were playing? They learned with each hitter where they should be. Maybe they shift right or left, but they didn’t need a card tucked in their caps to know this. There is an advantage to knowing which matchups work, but the scorebook can give up that information. The great moments that fans cherish like Kirk Gibson’s home run in the first game of the 1988 World Series would never have happened if analytics were involved. Lineup cards may as well be printed off of the computer in the front office. Are managers truly running the show? I can point to many teams where it seems the managers are just placeholders in the dugout. Analytics has made too big of a dent in baseball for it to just go away, but it seems to be more of a liability and takes away from the game.
Being a baseball fan seems to be a little harder this year. The changes being made go against everything I love as a baseball fan. I have been a fan of the game since I can remember. There was nothing wrong with the game that my grandpa played and watched. There was nothing wrong with the game that I watched growing up. I will always love the game. True fans of the games should have a say in what MLB is proposing. We don’t need a caricature of baseball, we need the baseball of Ruth, Robinson, Aaron and Lasorda. We need all of the feels of the game and that will never come from a computer or a clock.
Jana Dunow is the co-host of the Sibling Rivalry Baseball Podcast along with her brother. She bleeds Dodger Blue and is always ready to talk baseball. When she’s not watching a game or recording a new podcast episode, she is a high school counselor in New Mexico.