As the hot stove heats up, what better time to talk about the national pastime as we count down the days to pitchers and catchers reporting to camps in Florida and Arizona.
I start with perhaps the most preposterous idea to be run up the flagpole by commissioner Rob Manfred, the “Golden At-Bat” rule. Keep in mind this is only in the talking phase right now, but the way it would work is simple in how it would devastate the sanctity of the lineup. Each team would be able to bring any hitter to the plate in any situation one time in a game, regardless of the batting order.
Let’s say the Yankees have the bases loaded in the sixth inning and Orioles manager Brandon Hyde brings in Seranthony Domínguez to try to get the third out against Aaron Judge. Domínguez blows him away with high heat at the top of the zone. High fives abound. Adley Rutschman rushes toward the mound to greet Domínguez and gives him a pat on the ass. The Orioles hold on to a one-run lead.
Now it’s the seventh inning and the Yankees load the bases with two outs again. Manager Aaron Boone elects to use his once-per-game Golden At-Bat opportunity. Here comes Judge even though he’s not scheduled to bat.
Look, I know baseball has a swing-and-miss problem. Teams want to save the arms of their starters and don’t want those pitchers facing batters three times per game. Instead, we get bullpen arms covering three or four innings per night, with each reliever throwing 96-100 mph. That’s where some of baseball’s injury issues come from.
The problem is these relief pitchers, when healthy, dominate like nobody’s business. As such, baseball has an all-or-nothing problem, with too little action during games. That’s how a nutty idea like the Golden At-Bat gets floated.
JJ Cooper of Baseball America explained in a recent piece that fans can trust Manfred to not screw this up. He bases his faith on how studious Manfred is about all his rules changes. Thank goodness Manfred had the great foresight to bring in Theo Epstein to pump the brakes on making changes to the game that were too radical. In fact, with Epstein’s expertise, the league ushered itself out of the shift era and the game now has a bit more action. A left-handed batter in particular now has a better chance at a base hit.
Cooper makes the case that the Golden At-Bat rule would impact the sanctity of single-season home run marks. If Judge gets an additional 150-160 at-bats per season, is an 80-homer season possible? And what about hitting for the cycle when the player in question gets an extra at-bat? That cycle would be rendered much closer to meaningless.
Look, the first time I ever heard of the idea of placing a runner on second base in extra innings during the regular season, I thought it was every bit as dumb as the Golden At-Bat rule. While I have grown to really like the nuances of the ghost-runner rule, I can promise you this new rule being floated won’t ever come into being.
Hey, Rob, go fix the Athletics and Rays situations you have been working on so poorly for years. How have both of those worked out for you?
“The Last Manager”
If you are a big baseball fan and like to read baseball books, you may or may not know that there had not been a biography written about Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver until “The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented & Reinvented Baseball.” The book won’t officially be out until March 4, but I met author John W. Miller this past summer for lunch, and as such, I got an early promotional copy.
Miller didn’t just write a book on Weaver’s major league managerial career; the author researched Weaver’s time as a near-can’t-miss prospect for his hometown St. Louis Cardinals. Weaver had a magnificent spring in 1952 but was betrayed by player-manager Eddie Stanky, who gave his last roster spot to himself and sent Weaver back to the minors and defeated him as a player.
Miller then goes into great detail about Weaver’s four years as a manager in Elmira, N.Y., in the Orioles’ minor league system, which led to a two-year stint in Rochester.
Miller portrayed Weaver as part genius, part performer, but mostly a winner who kept pushing the envelope through his early understanding of statistical analysis.
Weaver himself was a magnet wherever he managed, increasing attendance with winning and the antics he might employ with umpires to gain any edge possible.
I don’t have an exact count, but clearly Miller talked to 150 to 200 people in doing his homework. Miller spent lots of time talking to visiting managers at his hometown PNC Park in Pittsburgh. It’s interesting to read the insights of A.J. Hinch, Bob Melvin, Dave Roberts, Derek Shelton and others as to what they owe to The Earl of Baltimore.
Consider checking out the book just before the baseball season gets going.
Photo Credit: Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster
Issue 290: December 2024 / January 2025
Originally published Dec. 18, 2024