Chin Music — Baseball Bench Coach

So much of the first month of this season has been spent on controversies surrounding hit batsmen, brushbacks, and suspensions. It would be easy for me to dispel all of it with the credo “let the players police themselves”; let’s just move on. But I keep thinking back to my little league days when my teammates and I decided that it was cool for a couple seasons just to wear a liner (lightweight plastic lining inside the baseball cap) in the batter’s box. Coming to the plate without an actual helmet was a foolish thought back then, and today’s fallback of “remember the good old days when Gibson and Drysdale just delivered chin music” is a foolish thought now. There are responsible ways to address the overriding issues with which baseball is struggling. Let’s explore the history, review a couple recent events, and discuss ways to move forward.

We can’t start the discussion without acknowledging the safety concern of a pitcher hurling a 95+ mph fastball at a hitter. About 100 years ago, Ray Chapman of the Indians was hit in the head by a pitched ball, and died the next day. Helmets were not required at the time. It’s the only incident of a player death, but there have been other serious injuries. In 1967, Red Sox star Tony Conigliaro was hit in the left eye by a pitch, nearly lost his sight and was never the same player again. At the time, batting helmets were not required to have ear flaps (side protection). Many of us remember Minnesota Twin Kirby Puckett’s last at-bat in the major leagues, in September 1995. A fastball hit Puckett in the cheek, breaking his jaw. During spring training the next season he developed glaucoma, ending his Hall of Fame career. Despite the seriousness of the injuries, the law is pretty clear – stepping into a batter’s box is an “inherent risk” of the sport. Most recently, in 2006, the Supreme Court of California ruled just that.

Baseball’s history is chalk full of batters who take that risk, or maybe better put, take one for the team by getting on base with a hit by pitch (HBP). Ron Hunt, who in 1971 as a Montreal Expo set the modern-day single season record with 50 HBPs, had this motto: “Some people give their bodies to science; I give mine to baseball”. In a game in 1969, Hunt was hit by a pitch in three at-bats, certainly a painful day at the office. At the time of Hunt’s retirement, his 243 career HBPs were a modern day record. That has since been surpassed, first by Don Baylor (267 career HBPs) and then by Craig Biggio of the Astros, who retired with 285. Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs is the leader among active players with 150. From the mound perspective, Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson is the all-time “hitting a batsman” leader with 206 over the course of his career. Two weeks ago, we saw a hit batsman break up a perfect game bid by White Sox lefty Carlos Rodon. Rodon hit the 26th Indians batter in a no-hit performance. Three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer could certainly relate. In a game he pitched for the Nationals in 2015, pinch-hitter Jose Tabata, the 27th batter to face him, leaned into a pitch and was hit, ending Scherzer’s perfect game and raising the issue of an umpire’s role in dealing with hit batsmen.

MLB Rule 5.05(b) provides that a batter is awarded first base if (1) he is touched by a pitched ball outside the strike zone; (2) he attempts to avoid it (or had no opportunity to do so); and (3) he did not swing at the pitch. It seems straightforward, but umpires simply fail to apply the rule. When was the last time you saw an umpire disallow an HBP because the batter did not attempt to avoid a pitch? We need to go back to 1968 when Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale hit Giants batter Dick Dietz with a pitch that would have forced in a run and ended Drysdale’s scoreless innings streak at 44. The umpire ruled that Dietz made no effort to avoid the pitch, called the pitch a ball, and Drysdale’s streak went on for another 14 innings. Importantly, the advent of instant replay hasn’t helped either. An umpire’s application of the rule to a large extent is not subject to replay review.

The ending of an April 8 game between the Marlins and Mets is illustrative of MLB’s dilemma. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, New York’s Michael Conforto appeared to stick out his right elbow pad just enough to get it grazed by a pitch from Miami’s closer Anthony Bass. At first the home plate umpire appeared to be signaling a strike, then pointed to the touching of the ball on the pad, awarded Conforto first base, and allowed the winning run to cross the plate. Marlins manager Don Mattingly asked for a replay review that the umpires accommodated, but the ruling came back in a New York minute – game over! While the touching of the ball on the elbow pad was confirmed, the decision that Conforto didn’t attempt to avoid the pitch or that the ball was in the strike zone (which it clearly was) were judgment calls by the umpire and couldn’t be overruled. It was a crazy result, and one that the Mets themselves admitted was wrong. It remains confounding why some result-changing plays can’t be reviewed, especially when umpires are so hesitant to make on-field calls like this one.

An NL Central rivalry was fueled by the MLB handing down recent suspensions on a play where there was no old-time brushback or bench clearing of any kind. In Milwaukee, the Cubs became weary of catcher Willson Contreras being hit with pitches by Brewers pitchers (7 times in 14 games over the past two seasons, the last one by Brewers ace Brandon Woodruff). Cubs reliever Ryan Tepera threw a message pitch behind Woodruff. Woodruff took umbrage, and the home plate umpire did the right thing by warning both dugouts. After reviewing the footage, MLB determined that Tepera was “intentionally throwing at Woodruff”. Cubs manager David Ross was suspended for one game (a manager can’t appeal a suspension) and Tepera for three games. Tepera has appealed his suspension, claiming there was no malicious intent to hit Woodruff. There was clearly no chin music, but rather a message in support of his catcher for Milwaukee to back off.

When I see batters coming to the plate sometimes wearing what looks to be body armor (pads and leg braces), I find myself resorting to being an old school curmudgeon. Just take that gear off and get in the box like we used to do! The better view is to support protective gear, especially when it comes to helmet apparatus. Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell, currently the longest tenured manager in the National League, was an infielder for the Marlins in 1998 when his season came to an abrupt halt. He was struck in the face by a pitch, causing his mouth to be wired for eight weeks. While after the season Counsell joked that it was a good way to lose 20 pounds, he brought the memory of that incident to the Brewers organization. The team has championed the idea of requiring players to wear protective face flaps on batting helmets. Bottom line, safety first!

Other than enhancing protective equipment and imploring umpires to enforce the rules, what can MLB do? Bill James, noted baseball historian, offered an interesting rule change 20 years ago in his “New Historical Baseball Abstract”. He suggested that the batter’s box be moved back from home plate gradually, perhaps an inch each year, to be four inches away from its current spot. If the umpires would enforce hitters not crossing the line of the box, gone would be the days of batters crowding the plate and daring pitchers to throw inside. The beauty of the rule change would be that it would not only result in fewer hit batsmen, but fewer home runs too. It would be a lot more difficult to try and launch a strike on the outside half of the plate. Batters might be inclined to be contact hitters again and put the ball in play. The rule change could serve as another way to try and speed up the game.

In February 1998 I had the opportunity to be a 16 year-old again by attending the Reds fantasy baseball camp in Sarasota, Florida. It was a glorious week of playing baseball with 70 of my new closest buddies at a big league facility, culminating with a game against former Reds players. Before heading to camp, I received advice from a baseball friend who had attended a Cardinals camp. He said that some of the former MLB players still liked to compete, especially Bob Gibson who could bring the heat (in other words, don’t get too comfortable in the batter’s box with a former MLB pitcher on the hill). Prior to my three innings of fame in the big league Reds vs. the campers game, I saw one of our camp’s hot shot pitchers hit former Reds pitcher Jim Maloney in the leg with a wild, inside pitch. Maloney was a little upset (he was 58 at the time), and looked like he was going to approach the mound, but of course didn’t. When I came to the plate in the next inning, let’s just say I didn’t exactly dig in.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach