Saturday, February 9, 2013

Solution to the advantage of lefty batters: run toward the nearest base.

Have righty batters run the bases in the opposite direction, clockwise.  That way all batters get to toward the nearest base.

See my previous post on the advantage that lefties have by standing closer to all the bases, which inherently seems unfair, unAmerican and without precedent in football or basketball.

When I was very young I thought that the batters ran towards the closest base.  I guess it just seemed fair to my kiddie brain.  Well kiddie brain had it right.

It's amazing that this was allowed when baseball started.  There were two options to make it fair:

1. have natters run towards the closest base
2. make all batters bat from the same side: righty.

Option one is pretty easy to implement.  Base runners simply switch their relative positions when needed.  A runner on first goes over to third and runs clockwise when a righty hits the ball.  It makes fielding more balanced, too.

Like most silly baseball things, the solution is best considered in reverse.  Suppose that my change of direction idea had been adopted originally and become the norm for over 100 years.  Suppose then that someone suggested changing to the silliness of allowing one group of batters run towards the closest base but force the other group to run towards the farther base.  People would be outraged.

It's never too late to change for the better.

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