Thinking Baseball

 I’m thinking baseball again. It is a rich topic full of stories, statistics, and players. After running across a baseball story that made me laugh out loud, I decided to pass it along and add a few more. This one adds comic relief in the serious business of pennant pursuit. Here’s the story.

Hard throwing Nolan Ryan pitched 27 seasons for four different teams and earned the record for pitching the all-time high of seven no-hit games.  During that career he tallied another all-time  record of 5,714 strike-outs. Feared by batters who knew he was capable of throwing inside pitches to brush them back from the plate, some even accused him of intentionally hitting batters. 

Ryan ended his career with an injury on September 22, 1993, and our story here took place a scant six weeks before that. Facing the White Sox batter Robin Ventura, Ryan’s pitch hit him on the arm. It prompted Ventura to charge the mound with the apparent intent of paying him back. Ryan, 20 years older than his opponent, grabbed him in a neck hold and commenced pounding him on the top of the head. As is the way of baseball, both benches rushed out and piled into the fray.

I found it humorous after reading the line from a sportswriter, “Ventura was the only person to get five straight hits off Nolan Ryan.” The blows were called the equivalent of “noogies.” Ryan wasn’t much fazed by the affair and went on to get more strikeouts that game. But he added, “I’m not going to be passive about it when they’re coming out to hurt me.” Ventura himself went on to play 16 seasons in the major leagues.

George W. Bush, a team owner and not yet a politician, was at the game and felt tempted to enter the fray on the field, but when he saw Bo Jackson come out he said "I thought about it, but then I saw Bo coming out and decided to stay where I was.” For those who don’t know, Jackson stood over six feet and weighed about 230 pounds. By the way, the brouhaha can be seen on Youtube.

One of Yogi Berra’s famous pearls of wisdom said you can observe a lot by just watching; it’s fun to observe pitchers throw good “stuff” on any given day. But how does he work that wonder and make the ball act differently on its way to a batter. They masterfully hide the ball in their glove as they apply their finger grip and you really can’t observe how they hold it.

Tyler Kepner, the national baseball writer for the New York Times, wrote a book that helps us understand a bit more. “K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches” does just as its title suggests by talking about ten different pitches that includes slider, fastball, curveball, knuckleball, splitter, screwball, sinker, changeup, spitball, and cutter. 

Space here won’t permit a comprehensive summary of his book, but it’s fun paging through to pick up interesting items. For instance, I like watching the knuckleball baffle batters. Kepner’s chapter on “The Knuckleball” starts with his meeting with Jim Bouton when the old player was 78 years old. He died a year later in 2019. Even though he had had a stroke and was suffering dementia, he was still throwing pitches a couple times a week against a backdrop in his backyard. 

The knuckleball is unique because it is thrown without any spin that makes the ball subject to air currents on its way to the plate. It moves erratically and makes it difficult for the hitter. I’ve seen the catchers having difficulty in catching it, too, because it often ends up in unintended spots.

The author suggests that the first pitcher to use the pitch Eddie Cicotte. His reputation probably rests though on his being banned from baseball for life for conspiring with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series. 

Only two “fingertip” knuckleballers have gotten to the Hall of Fame: Hoyt Wilhelm and Phil Niekro. Wilhelm thought the specialty pitch could not be taught. He said, “You have to have a knack to throw it to start with.” There are those who disagree with Wilhelm on that matter, but nevertheless he used it to be the first pitcher to appear in 1000 games. Ted Williams said he was one of the toughest pitchers he faced.

Phil Niekro earned 208 victories after the age of 35 using the pitch. Jim Bouton said when he first met Niekro, he felt sorry for him because he only had this one pitch in his arsenal. Even so his career total was 318 wins over 24 seasons. Again, films of him and others are available on Youtube.

Already I’ve reached my self-imposed word limit for an article, but it’s fun to muse over a pastime like baseball. I’m always amazed the way statisticians love working numbers for players and teams. I didn’t care for the classes in statistics I suffered through in graduate school, but for those that like it, more power to them.

We teased the readers here with talks about a book dealing with ten different pitches, but all we’ve done is discuss Nolan Ryan’s fight and knuckleballs. Maybe we’ll take a run at the other nine next week.