Baseball

The essence of existence can be found in a baseball pitch. Every pitch, from the first to the last, is the most important moment in every baseball game, and the outcome of every pitch influences the planning and execution of the next one. Talent, strategy and luck all play equal parts in determining the outcome.

The old adage “it’s only a game” does not refer to professional baseball. That’s what parents tell their kids as a way of hinting to them that childhood failures, shortcomings, difficulties and fears are unreliable indicators of what is in store in their adult life. Children who are told that do not grow up to become professional baseball players.

In baseball, every pitch begins with a pitcher with one foot touching a rubber strip 60’6” from the front of home plate. Except for strategic and psychological help from the manager and baserunners, the batter is essentially alone with his bat in a box beside home plate. The pitcher has eight guys backing him up, but the ball is in his hands. There are a multitude factors for the batter and pitcher to consider on each pitch: the abilities of both players, past encounters between the two, the recent performance of both players, where the fielders are set-up, whether there are baserunners, who they are and where, the batting order, the pitch count, the inning, the score, the mechanics of the pitch and swing, the strike zone according to tonight’s umpire, etc.

The regular baseball season lasts 6 months and, since the early '60's, 162 games. During that time, the best major league batters will fail to get a hit nearly 70% of the time. The measure of a hitter’s percentage of hits relative to at-bats is known as his batting average. Ted Williams, arguably the greatest hitter of all time, managed to succeed in getting a hit just over 40.6% (recorded as .406) of the time in the 143 games he played in 1941, a feat nobody has matched since. That same year, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio set a record for hitting in an unprecedented 56 games in a row. After going one game without a hit, he hit in 16 more consecutive games. Although far below Williams, he finished the season with a very respectable .357 batting average. Baseball’s greatest hitters are notoriously stubborn and arrogant; there are probably no other personality traits that would allow them to retain such focused consistency despite the odds.

On the flip side, out of every nine innings a pitcher pitches, the greatest pitchers give up, on average, 2 earned runs. Baseball statisticians refer to this as a pitcher’s earned run average (ERA). (If a run is accomplished only as the result of a fielding error or a passed ball (a pitch getting by the catcher) it is considered an unearned run.) The average pitcher gives up between 4 and 5 runs per nine innings pitched. In 1973, the American League implemented a new rule, allowing a designated hitter, a player not playing defense, to pinch-hit for the pitcher every time it’s the pitcher’s turn to bat. Since their focus is on pitching and because they do not play consistently enough to get into a batting rhythm, pitchers generally make lousy hitters. The designated hitter rule gives batters more of an advantage in the American League than the National League, so you would expect American League ERA’s to be higher.

The most enjoyable part of a baseball game for me is trying to predict which type of pitch a pitcher will throw next and to which part of the strike zone (an imaginary rectangle bordered by the width of the plate and the batter’s knees and chest) they will try to throw it. Even with all the variables to consider, this can be done with relative success by any observer with an understanding of baseball strategy, awareness of the overall strengths and weaknesses of the batter and pitcher and alertness to the pitcher’s control of his pitches up until the current moment in the game. The latter is accomplished by paying attention to where the catcher sets up in order to know where each pitch is supposed to go and then watching where each pitch actually goes. You can usually discern the type of pitch thrown by its curvature and velocity. As an example of baseball strategy, the pitch counts of 0-0 (meaning 0 balls, 0 strikes), 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 and sometimes 3-0 are known as fastball counts, meaning the pitcher is more likely to throw a fastball and less likely to “nibble” at the plate (cautiously throw at the edges of the strike zone) on these counts. Knowing this, many pitchers, especially those few possessing exceptional control of an off-speed or breaking pitch, will effectively pitch “backwards” by throwing other pitches on fastball counts.


On April 16, 2004, the San Francisco Giants hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers for Major League Baseball’s second greatest rivalry’s first meeting of the season. The game turned out to be a pitcher’s duel. Giant’s ace Jason Schmidt threw well but gave up two runs, both on groundball outs hit by shortstop Milton Bradley that drove in speedster Dave Roberts, who had been moved over by Cesar Izturis. Unbelievably, those same three Dodgers would do the same thing for the third time off relief pitcher Jim Brower (unearned because of a Brower error) in the top of the ninth inning. The Dodger’s starting pitcher Odalis Perez was amazing. He allowed no runs and gave up only two hits, both to Giant’s third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo, and one strategically savvy two-out walk to Barry Bonds in his eight innings of work.

With the score 3-0 in his favor, manager Jim Tracy opted to take out Perez and put in closer Eric Gagne for the ninth and potentially decisive inning. Considering Perez had a low pitch count and was pitching for a shutout, this was a questionable move. However, Gagne, despite being a stocky little guy with goofy goggles, was the best closer in baseball. He was coming off a spectacular season for which he had won the Cy Young Award, baseball’s most prestigious award for pitchers. The classic “power pitcher,” Gagne’s fastball commonly approached 100 mph, making his 78 mph change-up devastating. He had gone 22 1/3 innings without giving up a run and 65 games without losing a save. Also, Tracy knew Barry Bonds was waiting in the hole, and although he was hitless for the day, he had good career numbers against Perez but not against Gagne.

Barry Bonds was coming off a typically incredible MVP year, but during the off-season his trainer dating back to 2000 had been indicted in a national steroids investigation. Now, only ten games into the season, the baseball world was still curious to see if the aging and presumably steroids-free Barry Bonds was going to be a threat. Two games prior, he had reached a personal milestone by hitting his 661st homerun to surpass the career homerun total of his godfather Willie Mays.

Gagne uncharacteristically walked the first batter, Jeffrey Hammonds, but Marquis Grissom flew out to center and did not advance the runner. Barry Bonds strolled up to the plate. The electricity at Giant’s home games was absolutely stimulating whenever Bonds came to bat. You could feel the heart rates of that night’s 42,662 fans increase and imagine the panties of more than a few females getting wet. When Bonds watched the first fastball from Gagne fly past him for a strike at 102 mph, everybody knew that this was going to be an entertaining power-against-power matchup.

With the count in his favor 2-2, Gagne decided to go for the strikeout. He perfectly placed a 101 mph fastball at the lower inside part of the strike zone. Bonds’ only hope was to catch up with the pitch and make enough contact to hit the ball foul down the right field side. But, as only one player in baseball could have done, Bonds not only turned on it in time, he made direct contact, knocking the ball about 500 feet before landing foul. (If Gagne had been a lefty, probably even Bonds wouldn’t have been able to catch up with it, but the only left-hander in baseball at the time that could have even potentially thrown that pitch was Randy “The Big Unit” Johnson.) The long foul ball was exciting to watch, but now Bonds was in trouble. If it were another batter, Gagne could have thrown the same pitch but further inside, hoping the batter would strike out trying to chase it. But Bonds didn’t chase, and Gagne didn’t want the count to go full and risk walking Bonds; bringing the potential tying run to the plate. However, having just forced Bonds’ sightline and mechanics to the inside, Gagne had set up the outside of the plate. He wouldn’t be able to throw a fastball there though, because it was now obvious that Bonds had his fastball timed, and throwing to the outside would effectively straighten out Bonds bat, causing the ball to go fair. However, if Gagne threw his change-up to the outside of the plate, he would throw off Bonds’ balance, and even if Bonds made solid contact, the most likely outcome would be a game ending double-play. This is what Gagne should have done, but he was irritated, because Bonds had just made a mockery of his best pitch. To prove to himself, Bonds and everybody else that that had been a fluke, Gagne decided to ignore sensible strategy and throw the same pitch again. This time, however, the ball was a little more out over the plate, and with his lightning fast but effortless swing, Bonds sent the ball into the centerfield bleachers. Although Bonds had broken up the shutout, Gagne swiftly retired the next two batters and the Dodgers won 3-2.

With that homerun, Bonds sent a clear message to everyone in baseball: “You still can’t fuck with Barry Bonds.” This game was part of an incredible week in which Bonds would bat .733 and homer in six straight games. He would go on to have perhaps the best year of his amazing career. He was walked 232 times, breaking the record he had already set twice. He still managed to hit .362, which was best in the league, giving him a Major League record on-base percentage of .609. He hit 45 homeruns, but had only had 41 strikeouts. He was chosen league MVP for a record setting fourth year in a row.

Eric Gagne would also have a remarkable year, establishing a Major League record of 84 consecutive saves. He finished the season with a 2.19 ERA, allowing only three home runs, including Bonds’. Unfortunately, both Bonds and Gagne would have invasive surgeries in 2005 from which neither fully recovered. Gagne was part of the 2007 World Series champion Boston Red Sox team, but he was now the reliever that made Red Sox fans cringe whenever he stepped on the field. Both Bonds and Gagne were listed as steroid users in the recent Mitchell Report.