Few sports are as rooted in history and tradition as baseball. And this means that the game is rife with “Back in my day” sentimentality. As in, “Back in my day, a pitcher would throw 200 pitches in the first game of a doubleheader and then another 100 to close out the second game.”
This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to be able to remember when hot dogs cost a nickel to have that pessimistic nostalgia. In an article that could’ve been titled “Old man yells at ghost-runner-shaped cloud,” Hall of Famer Wade Boggs talked about why he doesn’t watch much baseball these days. Most of his scorn was directed at how analytical things have gotten.
“It’s crazy how the sabermetrics has taken over the game, trying to make it cool, but it just doesn’t fit,” he said. “I think they wanted to make it more interesting for the younger generation kids to where they could tabulate numbers…so it makes watching a baseball game a math equation.”
The five-time batting-title champion and chicken aficionado is also unhappy with broadcasters.
“The announcers start throwing numbers at you: ‘He had 107 exit velocity with a 37% launch angle. And his home run was at 93 degrees.’ Nobody wants to hear that. ‘He hit a bomb. And he hit it hard.’ That’s plain enough for the game. Don’t reinvent the wheel when it’s not flat.”
Boggs also has problems with the new rules, especially the extra inning ghost runner.
“I enjoy aspects of the game. But for me, all the new rules? I’m not a fan. When you have a ghost runner on in the 10th inning for extra innings and you lose the game, I think they’ve missed the boat on that.”
And how does the World Series champion and jet-setting beer drinker think he’d fare in today’s game? Because he would lay off the high pitch, he says, he would walk about 300 times.
“Guys swing at that pitch above the letters and letter high and they can’t catch up to it. That’s the reason that they strike out as much as they do. But every once in a while they run into one. When you have more strikeouts than base hits in a month, there’s a problem in the game. It’s just difficult to watch at times.”
Maybe Boggs will have his chance to relive some of his glory days. With talk of a Legends Home Run Derby during the All-Star festivities, perhaps MLB would also consider a Legends Base on Balls contest, though excitement for that one would probably be a little underwhelming.