Old School Baseball

In the 8^th inning of a 1-0 Red Sox Indians game, Eduardo Nunez swung and missed a pitch from Corey Kluber.

NESN Broadcast and former MLB player, Jonny Gomes said that Nunez took a big swing or swung for the fences or whatever parlance-of-our-time you prefer.

On the next pitch, Nunez was hit in the elbow.

Jonny Gomes said this was “old school baseball.”

This implies that Kluber hit Nunez on purpose.

Which raises questions like:

Was Kluber personally offended that Nunez swung hard?

If so, why?

Would Kluber have been personally offended if Nunez swung medium or light or instead of swinging for the fences (plural) only swung for a fence (singular)?

Or would Kluber have been offended if Nunez swung for a gork or a groundball with eyes to quote Crash Davis?

Why would any kind of swing personally offend Kluber?

Maybe the swing didn’t offend Kluber but instead, disrespected the game?

And this is why, per old school baseball, Kluber intentionally hit Nunez.

How does any kind of swing disrespect the game of baseball?

Is a bunt swing disrespectful? If so why? How?

Does any kind of swing disrespect competition?

I don’t know but I do know this, because Kluber’s intentionally hit batter took first and Brock Holt took second and then scored on a swing of some sort which apparently offended no one and not the game of baseball.

Help me understand how a swing disrespects anyone or anything.

I ask to learn.

Because after Gomes said that this was old school basbeball, implying the bean ball, I thought he was incorrect.

I thought that the competitor in Kluber knew that Nunez’ swing, be it hard or soft or medium or light or tepid or colossal or monstrous or hackneyed or uppercutted or Dave Kingman-like, is irrelevant.

Kluber the competitor knows that the real competition is with himself and locating his pitch, calibrating a baseball, on a level that an infinitesimally small proportion of the world’s population can do, into a catcher’s mitt 60 feet 6 inches away at speeds we mere mortals can’t really fathom.

But I’m wrong.

Kluber hit him on purpose.

And the Indians lost.

Competition Tatters, Competition Matters

I had a couple of sports related conversations with my father in-law (FIL) this past weekend.

1.       Pete Rose

Me: he’s a piece of shit that doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame because he bet on his own team. He was a great hitter.

FIL: He was a great hitter who belongs in the Hall of Fame even though he is a piece of shit who bet on his own team.

2.       Golf Pro retires so as not to break a course record set by Arnold Palmer

FIL: knows a golf pro who is killing it one day on a course and the caddy tells him “by the way, if you keep playing well, you are going to set the course record.” So the pro asks who owns the record and is told Arnold Palmer. So instead of tanking his round, decides to retire as a pro prior to finishing the round…so as not to set the course record.

Now my FIL intimated that this really shows you the pro’s respect for Arnold Palmer.

I think it is just the opposite. And I reference the above mentioned piece of shit in my reasoning.

Now, regarding Pete Rose:

I asked my FIL, “why doesn’t professional wrestling earn as much as the NFL?”

The answer is because the fans, the people who shell out the dough, believe that there is genuine competition in the NFL; that men compete and that the men and team that want and work and toil and bleed and endure the most…win.

While the WWE and the NFL share entertainment value, the income difference alerts you to the fact that the belief in genuine competition, matters, a lot. Billion = a lot.

So this brings me back to Pete Rose, the piece of shit. Baseball, and all of its history, matters, for the same reason, that people believe there is genuine competition.

Pete Rose ensured there wasn’t.

He bet on his own team.

Please don’t be a sap and ask whether to win or lose.

Fair enough, what does this have to do with the golf pro?

Well, the reason a golf course record matters at all, be it held by Arnold Palmer or Saw Palmetto, is again, competition…one man trying his hardest against another man or woman or satyr or whatever.

But now you have Joe Blow “retiring” because of his respect for Arnold Palmer when in fact it is the most disrespectful act.

Imagine (like Kant would have us do) if every golfer that went up against Palmer, tanked or retired or half-assed it. We wouldn’t appreciate Palmer, we wouldn’t think that he was great, that he overcame nerves, that he had mettle or grit or determination or was a winner or anything like that.

Competition matters people.

The Pete Roses of the world and the golf pros who retire when they are about to break a record, do a disservice to competition.

Competitors WANT to earn it, they want nothing handed to them, they need not ill-gained records and shun anything less than the best from their foes.

So don’t be a dick, try your best.

When Losing Is Beautiful

Want to see something beautiful?

Of course you do. 

This is Geno Auriemma, seconds after his UCONN basketball team lost for the first time in 111 games. It was an epic upset. Consider this about the 111 game winning streak:

111

Consecutive wins

867

Days between UConn losses (Nov. 17, 2014, to Stanford in overtime).

80

Consecutive wins in AAC play.

65

Largest margin of victory, 103-37 against No. 20 South Florida on Jan. 10

61

Victories by at least 40 points

23

More wins than the men’s record of 88, by John Wooden’s 197-74 UCLA Bruins

4

Combined margin of defeat in 2 overtime losses sandwiching the streak

2

National titles

Look again at Geno’s face. 

Do you think he places sports in the proper context? 

Do you think he knows that you can give a valiant effort and still lose? 

And that there is absolutely no shame?

None.

Indeed he does.

Competition can be a good thing. Competition can help people achieve things they didn’t think they could.

Competition can get the better of some.

This is Todd Bertuzzi, seconds away from cold-cocking an opponent and inches away from paralyzing him.

This is Draymond Green kicking an opponent in the testicles.

This is Mike Tyson biting the ear of Evander Holyfield in a “boxing” match.

You might be wondering if this is a dude thing. It isn't.

You might be wondering if it is the professional aspect of sports/competition that creates this. 

The money lure is too much and guys go too far for the big contract because winning matters and personal stats matter…all the way to the bank.

You would be wrong. 

Parents got too far.

Here is Lavar Ball. 

He wants his son to be the greatest. Or is it all of his sons? 

And this is Todd Marinovich. 

His dad was stretching his hamstrings as a baby. 

What could go wrong? 

Competition can be a good thing. Part of competition is losing. For everyone.

Losing with grace and perspective is beautiful, especially in regards to a game where you throw a ball into a peach basket.