Where Have All The Hitters Gone?

Was talking to Mild Bill the other day, my contact for all things sports (and others) on the West Coast.

Mild Bill and I go back quite a ways, to 1984 and the Opelousas (LA) Daily World, where I took a job as sports editor and he was the staff photographer -- always, at the insistence of our managing editor, to be on the lookout for a shot of "a pretty girl and a flower". (And I'm serious on that count, right Bill?)

We managed to cover the Chicago Bears' Super Bowl win over New England back then, a 24-hour-day. Mild Bill was a big Bears fan back then -- Cubs fan, too. He's gotten over both faults now, pulling for the San Francisco 49ers and the San Francisco Giants.

Anyhow, we were talking about the lack of hitting in Major League Baseball, and I joked that I thought there should be pictures of baseball bats on milk cartons in MLB cities with the plea "HAVE YOU SEEN ME? PLEASE CALL..."

When the Milwaukee Brewers, currently tied for first in the National League Central, are hitting an NL-last .213, you know you're in trouble.

The overall league-wide average is around .237. That's 17 points lower than in 2015 and the absolute LOWEST SINCE 1968! That's when baseball, trying to put some offense back into the game, lowered the mound from 15 inches to 10 because pitchers were seen as too dominant.

As Mild Bill pointed out, at least in 1968 there were 6,567 more hits than strikeouts. This year, the hit-to-strikeout ratio is 13,862 to 15,886.

And why is that?

I think we can trace it to two factors. First, hitters encouraged to go after that over-used launch angle and try for home runs. Second, the over-use of the defensive shift, with an infielder playing like a rover from softball.

Granted, the shift has been around forever. Babe Ruth faced it during his heyday, and when asked why he just didn't go the other way for the base hit, replied "I could and hit .600, but that's not what I'm getting paid for..."

Until hitters decide to take advantage of that shift and go the opposite field OR baseball figures out a way to modify the rule (limit the use or specify where on the field players may line up) we're still going to face this issue.

In Green Bay, "The Wheel Of Cheese Gets Moldy!"

 Was chatting with Rocky, my brother-from-another-mother, over the Memorial Day Weekend. We didn't solve the world's problems, but we sure talked about a lot of them.

At one point, Rock asks "So, what do you think is going to happen with (Aaron) Rodgers?"

I said that I think he's still going to be the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers in 2021, that there's blame on both sides for all this kerfuffle, and that, I'm sure, there's a lot of talking going on in background. While there's not much being said by either party, I think that's a good thing. And keep in mind, y'all, that Aaron has NOT come out and publically said TRADE ME!!! All the speculation is generated by people who are ONLY offering opinions, not facts.

His comment? "Well, the sports talking heads have to have something to rail about. I think they're the ones who keep blowing this up over and over."

True. True. True.