Author: Timothy J. Frohlick
Date: 13:05:31 12/18/00
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Greeaat Photo Bruce! I don't even like baseball. I do like those home-run derby matches from the 1960's however. I have an uncle Stan "the man" Frohlick who looks like Casey Stengel but I never did enjoy the game-Uncle Stan is OK though and from what I know about Casey; Casey is an alright guy too. Baseball is not as boring as cricket though. Cricket reminds me of bocce ball or croquet. Tim Frohlick On December 18, 2000 at 02:50:30, Bruce Moreland wrote: >On December 16, 2000 at 15:21:38, Mike S. wrote: > >>P.S. What is a short stop? > >Baseball is a game where a player (the batter) attempts to whack a ball with a >wooden bat, and other people attempt to catch it and throw it to an appropriate >place. The game is played in most developed form in the USA, although it is >also played in the Far East (Japan, Korea, Taiwan), and Latin America (Cuba, >Nicaragua, Dominican Republic), and in these non-US places it is actually played >more enthusiastically than it is played here. > >It is extremely hard for the batter to hit the ball. If the ball is hit long, >hard, and high, there are people (outfielders) whose job it is to catch the >ball. If they catch it, it's a good thing. If they don't catch it, it's not a >good thing, but in most cases there's nothing much that can be done after that >point, they just throw it back with not a high degree of urgency. > >If the ball is hit low and hard, there are people closer to the batter >(infielders) who have the job of catching it. They are fairly near the batter, >so the ball comes at them very hard, and they need to have a high degree of >atheleticism in order to get to the ball before it gets past them. > >If they catch the ball, they have to throw it with a high degree of speed, >urgency, and accuracy to another player. In particular, the shortstop: > >1) Is called upon more frequently than other players to handle an extremely hard >hit ball. >2) Must cover a large area of ground and often is required to fling himself on >his face in order to catch a ball, or occasionally to catch a ball going >approximately 100 mph with his bare hand. >3) Has a long throw to make once he picks himself off the ground after diving >for the ball and catching it. This throw must be made extremely quickly and >extremely accurately. >4) Occasionally finds himself in a position where another player is trying to >break his knees. > >Classic art of a shortstop doing his business: > >http://www.seanet.com/~brucemo/033b.jpg > >In that picture, the guy on the ground has just attempted to assault the >shortstop, who has successfully evaded him. He has the ball in his right hand >and is going to throw it very hard and with a high degree of accuracy, before he >touches the ground. > >The reason that Alex Rodriguez is considered to be a premiere player is that he >is able to do all of the duties described above, with a degree of skill and >talent attained by only a few baseball players in the past hundred years. >Additionally, he is able to hit the ball very well, both with high frequency (a >good thing) and a high degree of power (a good thing). > >The ability to play a position well, and to hit with frequency and power, is >enough to make a player a star. That it is a shortstop doing this is especially >striking. Shortstops tend to be small people who are able to field, or to hit >with frequency, but not both. That one is able to do both of these, and also >hit with power, is extremely uncommon. > >bruce
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