I don’t go to live MLB games anymore but I do watch some baseball on TV. They block out the Tigers of my youth in this area but I get the Cubs and White Soxs. As I’m not an ardent fan my usual MO is to watch a couple/few early innings and then come back in the 7th or 8th. If the score has remained the same I feel as though I have won something.
However there is one thing about today’s televised baseball that drives me absolutely nuts and brings out my foulest pejoratives hurled at the TV set. Why with today’s marvelous electronics must I watch one highly paid official guess as to whether a given pitch is a ball or a strike while thousands, perhaps millions of other observers with a better view already know which it is, and then if this same single gentleman guesses wrong he’s still considered correct? I feel that the game has evolved to a point that to persist excusing ridiculous calls as tradition is absurd and is making MLB look silly and embarrassing to watch.
As a long time listener, reader and ardent fan, I am emboldened to ask you for your thoughts and insights on this conundrum if you please.
By the by, Bill, one of the main cable carriers (Comcast) in the Detroit area who use to carry the Detroit Tigers on Bally cancelled the contract with the sports channel leaving the faithful fans SOL. I also agree about the strike calling at home plate by the MLB officials. I am totally baffled by the incompetence by these professional overseers.
My husband and I watch sports on TV with the sound turned down and listen to ClassicalWCRB.org, WQZR, SiriusXM Met Opera Radio or Symphony Hall rather than to the stupid sports talk.
I’m still jazzed over your show in Bethesda, Md. You mentioned Fitzgerald during it, but did you know that both Scott and Zelda were buried just a few miles away in Rockville Cemetery? It’s a large cemetery near my son’s old high school. Never asked if they took a field trip there when they read Gatsby.
Hey GK!! Thanks Twelve times for that Leo Kottke clip. I got a Pete Seeger 12-String instructional LP when I bought my big red Gibson sunburst in 1962, and Leo was one of the players Pete cited as exemplary, with a picking / stopping technique that creates that very unique sound. I have your PHC track of Leo and Iris DeMent's duet of Woody's "Banks of Marble". I hadn't heard any vocals from Leo to that point. His voice matches his laid-back 12-String style. Thanks to reader "Frank" for his apt comments. My Gibson was stolen a few years later when I was hospitalized.....snif! The burglar also took two 12-string albums....leaving my wallet and Vega banjo.....I presume a commentary on banjo music. He'd likely have left bagpipes if I had them! Roger Krenkler - L.A.
Thanks for the tape of Leo playing Pamela Brown. Leo inspired me to learn it-on the banjo! It’s the test of a good tune that it sounds good regardless of the accompaniment instrument.
So long, Tom.
GK
I don’t go to live MLB games anymore but I do watch some baseball on TV. They block out the Tigers of my youth in this area but I get the Cubs and White Soxs. As I’m not an ardent fan my usual MO is to watch a couple/few early innings and then come back in the 7th or 8th. If the score has remained the same I feel as though I have won something.
However there is one thing about today’s televised baseball that drives me absolutely nuts and brings out my foulest pejoratives hurled at the TV set. Why with today’s marvelous electronics must I watch one highly paid official guess as to whether a given pitch is a ball or a strike while thousands, perhaps millions of other observers with a better view already know which it is, and then if this same single gentleman guesses wrong he’s still considered correct? I feel that the game has evolved to a point that to persist excusing ridiculous calls as tradition is absurd and is making MLB look silly and embarrassing to watch.
As a long time listener, reader and ardent fan, I am emboldened to ask you for your thoughts and insights on this conundrum if you please.
Thanks,
Bill Juntunen
Middlebury, IN
By the by, Bill, one of the main cable carriers (Comcast) in the Detroit area who use to carry the Detroit Tigers on Bally cancelled the contract with the sports channel leaving the faithful fans SOL. I also agree about the strike calling at home plate by the MLB officials. I am totally baffled by the incompetence by these professional overseers.
My husband and I watch sports on TV with the sound turned down and listen to ClassicalWCRB.org, WQZR, SiriusXM Met Opera Radio or Symphony Hall rather than to the stupid sports talk.
A pitch is a strike if and only if the umpire says it is. Imaginary boxes on your TV screen are irrelevant.
Arguing with the ump is a vital part of baseball. You can't argue with a robot. I want to keep the game on a human level, including mistakes.
Garrison,
I’m still jazzed over your show in Bethesda, Md. You mentioned Fitzgerald during it, but did you know that both Scott and Zelda were buried just a few miles away in Rockville Cemetery? It’s a large cemetery near my son’s old high school. Never asked if they took a field trip there when they read Gatsby.
Jerry Slaff
I was just in St. Paul and my wife took a picture of me with my arrm around the statue of Scott in Rice Park.
Hey GK!! Thanks Twelve times for that Leo Kottke clip. I got a Pete Seeger 12-String instructional LP when I bought my big red Gibson sunburst in 1962, and Leo was one of the players Pete cited as exemplary, with a picking / stopping technique that creates that very unique sound. I have your PHC track of Leo and Iris DeMent's duet of Woody's "Banks of Marble". I hadn't heard any vocals from Leo to that point. His voice matches his laid-back 12-String style. Thanks to reader "Frank" for his apt comments. My Gibson was stolen a few years later when I was hospitalized.....snif! The burglar also took two 12-string albums....leaving my wallet and Vega banjo.....I presume a commentary on banjo music. He'd likely have left bagpipes if I had them! Roger Krenkler - L.A.
Thanks for the tape of Leo playing Pamela Brown. Leo inspired me to learn it-on the banjo! It’s the test of a good tune that it sounds good regardless of the accompaniment instrument.
I agree with you Mr.Juntunen about having/needing a human being to call balls and strikes,but what about plays at the plate?
Well nigh, Garson !
Another Papist boits th' dooest!! FYI : "Moderation in all things" : Pope Benedict IX
Relaxin Rog - L.A.