Moral Situation Involving Baseball

[MHalsey]

What BillSanders said.

And he’s said a lot.

I think there is quite a bit of judgment going on here. I don’t think batters intentionally get hit as often a people are saying. It takes a fraction of a second for a 90 mph fastball to reach home plate. Even the most confident player is going to flinch at it. Why? Because it hurts like he**.

But how is it cheating? If the ump says take your base, take your base. The decision is his, not the batter’s. Would you think it cheating if the umpire called a strike on a pitch the pitcher knows should have been a ball? Guys like Greg Maddux have made a career on painting the outside part of the plate, and I have seen where these guys have been given as much as 4-5 inches off the plate. Is this cheating? Or how about another example: when an infielder turns a double play, he is rarely on 2nd base and still the out is recorded because he is “in the vicinity” of the bag. Is this also cheating?

This is exactly the point. We are taught at a young age to break the rules when we can. We grow up thinking that it is not only OK to break the rules thusly, it is expected, and if you don’t get called for cheating by the umpire, it is just a part of the game. When you were trained to spin away, it wasn’t to protect you, it was to show you the proper way to cheat and minimize injury. Ever hear the phrase “take one for the team”?

As someone who coaches little league, I find this comment rather insulting. I would never teach my kids to break the rules. And it is smart to turn away. That way, IF it hits you, it hits your back. As someone mentioned the kid ducking into a curve ball. Ducking is not smart, it can be very dangerous. As for backing away, try it. Stand in a batter’s stance and lean forward anticipating an outside pitch. It’s quicker to turn away, than to back out.

Much in the same way it is not the Police Department’s responsibility to police themselves if no prosecutor is going to take them to court. If the prosecutor blows the call, it’s OK for the police to be bad cops.

This is not a fair analogy. procesutors will try to win. They are one side of the case, they are not impartial, like a judge.

 

[MHalsey]

So, you are saying it is morally OK to intentionally throw a pitch at a batter who stands in the wrong place? …two wrongs make a right? That’s like saying if an Irish-Protestant bombs a Catholic Church in Belfast, it is OK for the Irish-Catholic to bomb a Protestant Church?

Gotta love the real world analogies for situations in a kid’s game. We’re talking about getting hit by a pitch, and you’re talking about blowing up churches.

Is the batter not entitled to expect you to attempt to pitch over the plate? If you attempt to pitch over the plate and miss to the inside, the batter accepts the risk of being hit if he stands too close. If you intentionally throw inside in an effort to hit him, you assume the risk when it is the batter who suffers the consequences. Would it not be better to throw strikes to get the batter out?

No, the batter in not entitled to expect you to throw strikes. Which is why there are balls. As I said much earlier in this discussion, hitting is about timing, a pitcher’s job is to disrupt that timing in a effort to get the batter out. A pitcher who only throws strikes will get hammered.

This emphasizes a problem common to sports. Rules are often pushed to the edge in an effort to win at all costs. Cheating becomes so common, it is often expected–much like an unwritten rule.

It is kind of like paying taxes–is it OK to cheat on your taxes if you are not caught? A lot of people have regressed so far morally that not only do they think it is morally acceptable to cheat, they consider honest taxpayers as fools.

Another analogy that doesn’t work.

Like was said earlier, doing something that gives you an UNFAIR advantage is cheating. Such as scuffing the ball, corking your bat or taking steroids. These are definitely cheating. Doing something the umpire allows for ALL players is not gaining an unfair advantage. That’s why the decision ultimately rests with the umpire.

 

[Julian_Peters]

Thank you to all who have participated. This thread is now closed.