CBOS Logo Critical Baseball Observations and Strategy

Author: Alt Sports

a meltdown

Categories:
1980 Playoffs
Written by:
on April 27, 2021

What you are about to witness is a meltdown.

Here is the context:

  • it is Game 4 of the Best-of-5* 1980 National League Championship Series
  • the Houston Astros are leading the Philadelphia Phillies two games to one, and therefore need one more win to go on to their first ever World Series
  • Houston is the home team, playing in the cavernous astro-turf lined Astrodome
  • the game is scoreless going into the 4th inning
  • during the 4th inning, a meltdown occurs

Please feel free to watch the game in its entirity.

In fact, if you have roughly 15 hours to spare, you can watch games one through three to get the entire context of the series.

We have attempted to set the embedded video here to begin playing in the 4th inning so you can jump right into the precursor to the events.

If the video does not start in the 4th inning, you can fast-forward to the 43-minute mark and begin watching.

The scene pretty much comes to an end around the 1:08:30 mark (approximately 25 minutes total).

You might want to be sitting down for this.

Please note there is a bit of a spoiler below the video – some details about what you will see in the scene if you are still deciding whether you want to watch it or not.

Last word of advice: as of the writing of this article, the attached video seems to have low audio levels, so you may need to crank the audio – the commentary is vital to the full appreciation of this scene.

*the League Championship Series switched to the current (as of writing) format of Best-of-7 in 1985

******* SPOILER ALERT *******

Here are some more details of what this scene contains:

  • potentially the first triple-play in MLB Playoff History
  • the umpires have some uncertain and possibly conflicting calls and confusion ensues
  • the poor quality video feed renders the announcers unable to determine what actually occurred on the play
  • a decision to consult the National League President for guidance on the play who happens to be sitting in the front row on the 3rd base line (smoking a cigar, of course)
  • the emergence of a telephone with a long cord that is somehow taken to the National League President
  • a decision to overturn the play
  • a decision to overturn the overturning of the play
  • the umpires deciding that their initial incorrect call led to further outs and deciding to withdraw those outs
  • the sideline reporter attempting to put a microphone in between a private conversation between the National League President and the Umpire Crew Chief
  • the decision by the Phillies that they would protest the game
  • the decision by the Astros that they would also protest the game

There is a lot to unpack here.

We may need to watch it another 10 times.

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Rich “Goose” Gossage – 1983 Cardboard Multimedia Baseball Information Unit

Categories:
Cardboard Multimedia Information Units
Written by:
on April 22, 2021

In 1983, the Donruss / Leaf company featured an issue in their annual collection of Cardboard Multimedia Baseball Information Units of to-be-Hall-of-Fame pitcher Rich “Goose” Gossage which gave us a look behind the scenes.

Whether this was intentional or not, we do not know.

Anybody familiar with these Cardboard Multimedia Information Units will be familiar with the approaches that are taken with the photographs of the players. The types of photos can be broken down into two general categories:

  1. Action shots
  2. Poses

For a good part of the 1980s (and possibly earlier), it seems apparent that there was not a layer of intense scrutiny involved in the process of deciding which photo should ultimately be chosen to be printed as a part of that year’s issue.

This resulted in photos that some may describe as objectively “bad”.

Some issues such as lighting or contrast issues could have likely been fixed in editing, but issues with the actual content of the photo itself are a different type of challenge.

Our assumption can only be that if the photographer took 10 photos of a player and all of them are bad or mediocre, there is really no choice but to pick the best of the lot.

The interesting part about this particular Rich “Goose” Gossage 1983 issue is that the reflection off of his sunglasses gives us a glimpse of what is going on behind the scenes.

This was not an impromptu, serendipitous moment where Goose was unaware of being captured on film – perhaps sitting there, reflecting on the game, daydreaming and staring off into the distance.

No, instead Goose was sitting there, letting a camera person set-up and do their thing.

In Goose’s glasses lens on the left (therefore on Goose’s right), we see another person – possibly a teammate? Perhaps this suggests it was a lineup for photos and the players were simply shuffling through?

In the glasses lens on the right (Goose’s left), we see the culprit behind this piece of work: there is the photographer (shall we say ‘the artist’?) apparently peering into their camera to snap their award-winning shot.

Goose’s expression is not one of youthful enthusiasm. This is not Goose’s first go-round in this rodeo. At this stage in his career, Goose has likely had his photo taken thousands of times.

What this card says is “are we done yet?”

Was this the photographer’s best work?

Did the photographer feel a sense of pride when this was sent to print and the card was ultimately issued?

“I call this one ‘Goose doesn’t care about photo day’,” the photographer says to their friends at the bar.

But did the photographer notice that Goose flipped the script?

The photographer got caught in-the-action of catching Goose not-in-the-action.

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Re-Framing the 7-Inning Game

Categories:
Rules and Standards
Written by:
on April 21, 2021

Here at CBOS Headquarters, we are putting forth a formal motion to Major League Baseball to re-frame the way 7-inning games are described and considered.

These “shortened” games were introduced last year and are frequently being used for days when teams have been forced to play a double-header for whatever reason (weather delays, games that need to be re-scheduled for pandemic reasons, etc).

The trouble with 7-inning games is that it is difficult at first glance to know what games are 7-inning games and which are not, and therefore it is impossible to understand at what ‘stage of the game’ two teams are in.

If you take a look a a scoreboard on any given day, you may see a game indicating that it is in the 5th-inning.

If it is a “7-inning game”, then the teams’ playbooks for being in the 5th inning would be far different from teams that are in the 5th-inning of a 9-inning game.

The proposed solution to this is very straightforward:

Rather than declaring a game to be a 7-inning game, simply re-frame the way the game is described, and state that the game will start in the 3rd-inning as a scoreless tie.

A scoreless game in the 3rd-inning is a fairly common occurrence, and based on early trials at CBOS, we suggest that taking this approach will make it easier for people to wrap their heads around and stay in context with the flow of standard 9-Inning games.

Switching from “7-Inning Games” to “Games Starting in the 3rd Inning” is a difference in name and description only, but will have many cognitive benefits for viewers and fans.

Here are some screenshots that accentuate the dilemma we are looking at here:

Which of these games is a 7-inning game?
Is the game at the top a 7-inning game that is tied and went into ‘extra innings’?
Which of the two games at the top is in its final inning?
What can you see here that suggests the Diamondbacks v Braves game in the middle is a 7-inning game, aside from the presence of the final score of their previous 7-inning game.

As you can see, the proposed re-framing of the 7-inning game removes the ambiguity and allows us observers to understand what is going on at-a-glance.

For your consideration.

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A Baserunner

Categories:
2021 Regular Season,Vignettes
Written by:
on April 20, 2021

this is the story of three pitches

the pitcher and first baseman ask the baserunner to return to the base

the batter seems to point at the outside pitch and seems to indicate it is time to run… he will hack at the next one

the batter takes a hack – the runner is running at full tilt

full tilt

get down

get down and get in there

what?????!!!!!! where did he go???!!!

ricochet

happy at third

what the???!!!… wait?

get back!!! even if no one is there…

next pitch

pitcher hears the ball whistle by

jog in from third

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Tales of Broadcasts Past: In 1982, the Players Announced Their Own Starting Lineups

Categories:
1982 Regular Season
Written by:
on April 20, 2021

From the archives:

Saturday, May 29, 1982 – NBC broadcasts their Games-of-the-week.

This particular Saturday features the Cincinnati Reds travelling to Montreal to play the Expos.

A superb pitching match-up as Hall-of-Famer Tom Seaver takes the mound for Cincinnati vs Expos ace Steve Rogers.

One of the features of this broadcast consists of players from each team announcing their team’s starting-lineup, with an opposing player chiming in and providing a little color-commentary along the way.

In this scene, we have Hall-of-Famers Johnny Bench (announcing the lineup for the Reds) and Gary Carter (announcing the lineup for the Expos).

This is an awkward and hilarious idea.

Although you can tell neither player wants to say anything negative about anybody aside from some self-deprecating humor, it’s an interesting insight as to how the players viewed the capabilities of their own teams.

Here is Johnny Bench going through the Reds’ lineup:

Johnny Bench announces the Cincinnati Reds’ starting lineup

And Gary Carter doing likewise for the Expos:

Gary Carter announces the Montreal Expos’ starting lineup

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an ode to noone around here

Categories:
2021 Regular Season
Written by:
on April 14, 2021

confused times we live in

a pitcher deliberately tips his pitches and is angry when he misses
the umpire consoles the distressed batsman
the next pitcher lobs a 51mph pitch for strike
the manager is thrown out of the game before he left the dugout
the catcher is hit-by-pitch by both teams
the video replay disagreed with the call that agreed with the replay
17 walks in one game and the commissioner is writing a report to the training system
the bull pen door opened and noone came out.

what has the world come to?

© ecbs april 14, 2021

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“Oil Can” Boyd – 1986 Cardboard Multimedia Baseball Information Unit

Categories:
Cardboard Multimedia Information Units
Written by:
on April 13, 2021

In 1986, the Donruss / Leaf Company captured this photograph of then-Boston-Red-Sox pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd to be a part of their annual set of Cardboard Multimedia Baseball Information Units.

This photograph feels like it captures many elements beyond just the sport of baseball.

It feels like it lets you in a little bit to what Oil Can may have been like as a person.

This photo features many characteristics that one may aspire to:

  • sunglasses
  • personalized jacket
  • towel around the neck
  • tilted cap

You can see somebody laughing in the background – perhaps caught in some jovial discussion with some of the other Boston Red Sox teammates.

Not Oil Can, though.

Oil Can is sitting there, stoic behind those glasses.

What is he thinking about?

Maybe he is thinking about how good it feels to strike people out.

He seems like one cool dude.

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Don’t Worry – I’m Coming Back For It

Categories:
Stories
Written by:
on April 8, 2021

During a work outing we went to a ball park to play softball.

(Cut me off if you’ve heard this one before)

In right field there was an indoor hockey rink just beyond the fence.

Everyone was having a few beers and having fun and I was pretty confident in my ball skills back in the day.

So I step up to the plate, set my beer down in the middle of the plate.

Everyone was like “hey! hey! you can’t put that there!”

I said “don’t worry – I’m coming back for it.”

Pitch comes in and I launched it onto the roof on this nearby building, and it was a good-sized park.

Trotted around the bases, picked up the beer.

It was one of those moments when you wished “if only I hit a homerun”, but I actually did and it was a monster shot.

Contributed by STC – 2021
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