108 Stitches — Baseball Bench Coach

When the MLB resumes this summer, it seems that the first slate of games, if not all of them, will be played without spectators in the stands. I’ll miss not being at the ballpark for sure, but there is one sight either at the game or on television I’ll especially miss, the excitement of a fan snagging a foul ball. I love those moments when, once caught or retrieved by a lucky fan, the baseball is given to a young family member or some other kid close by. Oh the absolute joy of getting a baseball at the ballpark and slamming it into your mitt! What is it about this Rawlings, MLB-approved, 108-stitch work of art, which makes it so special? We give it lots of adjectives, “juiced”, “dead”, “spit”, “souvenir”, and “garbage”, but the name itself defines my favorite sport, BASEBALL.

I have to admit that I’ve been watching some of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) games on ESPN. Not only do the games give me a needed boost, but they provide a glimpse of what to expect when MLB is back. KBO is doing a lot of positive things – players and coaches going through fever screenings before entering the ballparks; continuous testing of all team employees; umpires and base coaches wearing protective masks; and prohibiting players from chewing tobacco, eating seeds, and high-fiving teammates with bare hands. Some of the other KBO features I can do without – using murals of fans with protective masks in the stands; throwing out the ceremonial first pitch by rolling a kid in a big plastic ball from the mound to home plate; and cheerleaders (please no). Overall though, it’s wonderful to see that baseball with which we are so familiar being fired to the plate; or are we so familiar?

What surprised me most in the first KBO broadcast was the commentators’ discussion about “juiced” baseballs. Much like the MLB, KBO has been dealing with a controversy about the actual baseball being used. KBO games in 2017 and 2018 showed the highest offensive numbers since the league’s inception in 1982. The collective KBO-wide slugging percentage (total bases divided by at bats) was .450. In response, last year KBO decided to “deaden” the baseballs by making the ball heavier and ever so slightly larger. The 2019 KBO overall slugging percentage dropped 65 points to .385. To put it into “home run” terms we can all understand, in 2018 33 KBO sluggers had 20 or more HRs and in 2019 there were only eleven. The home run rate was down a third and there was about half the number of HRs per game in the KBO compared to MLB numbers.

KBO is certainly ahead of the curve on this issue. It’s not a news flash to report that the MLB had record home run production in 2019. The major league-wide 6,776 HRs hit in 2019 was 671 more than the previous record in 2017 of 6,105, an 11% increase. The 2018 Yankees team record of 267 HRs was obliterated by the Twins in 2019 with 307. Three other MLB teams, the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers, surpassed the prior record as well. Indeed, 14 of the 30 MLB teams set franchise records for HRs! Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the juiced ball at the 2019 All-Star break, downplaying it a little and even suggesting that the MLB has nothing to do with the actual manufacturing of the baseball. Joe Maddon’s reaction to the controversy was priceless, musing that MLB should stamp “Titleist” on the ball, not “Rawlings”.

Will we see a new baseball in the MLB this season? The topic was an issue at baseball’s winter meetings last December in San Diego. Rawlings CEO, Michael Zlaket, said this about the controversy: “We have never been asked to juice or dejuice a baseball, and we’ve never done anything of that sort.” Rawlings has manufactured the official MLB baseball since 1977, and in 2018 became co-owned by MLB. An investigative committee reported that the 2019 MLB home run production was 60% the result of seams being slightly tighter and 40% the result of the emphasis of launch angles by hitters. In addition, pitchers have complained that the game balls are slicker nowadays, perhaps due to to an inconsistent pre-game application of mud to the baseballs. Rawlings is in the testing phases of a baseball that doesn’t require “mudding”.

The importance of the juiced ball issue is that when the baseball isn’t flying out of the ballpark the game becomes more strategy-driven. This was apparent over 100 years ago in the “Dead Ball Era” (1900-1920) when teams relied on hit-and-runs and stolen bases to generate offense. In 13 seasons during that time the league leader in HRs had fewer than 10! There were several factors that helped contribute to a lack of offense: “spitballs” or defacing the baseball in any way for it to move erratically was permissible; the ball had a rubber core, making it softer; the ballpark dimensions were larger compared to today’s parks; and baseballs were used repeatedly throughout the game, sometimes over 100 pitches, causing the ball to soften even more in the later innings (or become “dead”). When Babe Ruth became a fearsome power hitter in 1919 with a whopping total of 29 HRs, there was much excitement generated. The game turned to a livelier ball to promote offensive production, and in turn, ticket sales. And in 1920, when Ray Chapman, a player, was fatally beaned, MLB adopted a rule that the baseball must be replaced every time it got dirty or marked in any way.

Another part of the story is the advent of the “souvenir” baseball. During this same period the Federal League was formed, an eight-team league that served as competition to the National and American Leagues. Charles Weeghman brought his team, first named the Federals and then Whales, to his newly built Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) in 1914. Weeghman wanted his Federal League team to be as fan-friendly as possible, so he allowed fans to keep foul balls they caught. This broke with the tradition, and in many areas of the country the law, of giving the foul balls back to the ballpark ushers so they could be reused in the game. When the Federal League folded and Weeghman was able to purchase the Cubs in 1916 and bring them to Weeghman Park, he continued this practice. Some National League teams protested, arguing that the Cubs owed them money for balls kept by the fans. Finally, in 1921, after the New York Supreme Court ruled against the New York Giants and allowed one of its fans, Reuben Berman, to keep a foul ball and receive monetary damages, MLB adopted “Reuben’s Rule”, fans could now bring those coveted foul balls home.

While the policy of keeping foul balls began at Wrigley Field, so did the tradition of returning to the field home run balls hit by opposing players. In 1969, one of Wrigley’s bleacher fans, Ron Grousl, caught Hank Aaron’s 521st home run, a landmark one tying Ted Williams on the all-time HR list. After the game Grousl apparently approached Aaron with the ball, but Hammerin’ Hank refused it because he was angry about beer dumped on him by bleacher bums during the game. In 1970, Grousl caught another Aaron home run ball, but instead of keeping it, he threw it back onto the playing surface. He didn’t want that “garbage” in his bleachers. Others soon followed, although oftentimes it took some money in a hat to convince someone to throw back a home run ball. “Throw It Back”, the chant you hear in the bleachers when an opponent’s HR is secured by a fan, became increasingly popular in the 1980s when the Cubs appeared everyday on WGN cable television.

Also part of the tradition is for fans to bring a decoy ball to the bleachers in case they catch an opponent’s home run ball and they would rather keep it. One of my favorite memories from last season was a home run hit by then Reds outfielder Yasiel Puig that landed over the left field bleachers of Wrigley onto Waveland Avenue. The ball was beyond the bleachers and couldn’t possibly be thrown back; or could it? After a slight delay, the fans cheered as a baseball flew over the bleachers from the street and landed safely in left field. It turns out that a fan on Waveland Avenue retrieved the ball and was offered $200 and a decoy ball by a “ballhawker”, someone who covets MLB baseballs. The fan refused the offer, and hurled the Rawlings game ball back on the field. That’s fan passion; that’s BASEBALL!

I’ve always wanted to feel the excitement of getting a baseball at a MLB game. There were two close encounters that, but for an injury, I might have snagged one early in life. In 1967 I was at Crosley Field sitting in the second level right behind home, a great perch for a foul ball. One was hit right at me, but since my hand was in a cast, the ball fell under my seat and someone from the aisle grabbed it. Then, in 1977, I was with a dear friend in the first row along the Reds bullpen at Riverfront Stadium, when a ground foul ball came right to me but my right hand was again in a splint. Double, ugh! I couldn’t have been more thrilled a couple years ago when I attended a game with my family at Wrigley and caught a Ben Zobrist foul ball. I finally did it, and boy did I feel like a kid again! After sharing the ball with my family and seeing it soon appear on Facebook, the baseball was returned to me. I smiled at each and every one of the 108 stitches.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach