Friday, February 12, 2016

Black holes that trap ideas.

Provoked/inspired by:

Gravitational Waves Detected, Confirming Einstein’s Theory
OUT THERE FEB. 11, 2016 The New York Times

LIGO Hears Gravitational Waves Einstein Predicted
By DENNIS OVERBYE, JONATHAN CORUM and JASON DRAKEFORD

it is a ringing confirmation of the nature of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits from which not even light can escape, which were the most foreboding (and unwelcome) part of his theory
_____________________________________

Baseball black holes are those of ideas, which are trapped in our lack of imagination.

- The catching position prevents us from using a simple fixed target as the way strikes are determined. It forces/allows a human being to function as a backstop. Eliminating the catcher, forces base runners to wait until the pitch is hit with a bat before they may advance. Foul territory would, of course, be extended 45 feet towards second from the back of the plate to eliminate dribblers and short bunts. The catcher could be deployed elsewhere, probably close enough to make tag plays at home. Better planetary alignment.

- The pitcher's mound replaced the pitcher's box, which made much more sense. Bring back the pitcher's box. Pitchers now throw from an elevated position and ever closer to the front of home plate, which is 60'6" from the rubber minus the 17 inches from the back of the plate to the front. Six foot ten inch  Randy Johnson, one foot taller than fellow Hall of Fame southpaw Whitey Ford, got to release the ball probably about 18 inches closer to the front of the plate than Ford. Pitchers should release the ball from the same distance,which should be in the center of the diamond, about 63'6", three feet further back from where they now start their leap towards the front of the plate. Johnson warped gravitational waves.

- Non uniform playing areas make home runs both random and unfair. They distort and pervert our normal all American sense of fair play. Home run distances and wall heights should be the same in all directions in all parks. Anything other breaches the space time continuum.

- Not permitting players to re-enter games never made any sense. It could easily be done within the confines of the batting order, i.e., the player may only replace a player in the same batting order position.

- As posted yesterday it makes at least as much sense as the way it has been done for each inning to start with the top of the order, you know, the batters we want to see, not the ones whose appearance warrants a break, possibly including a quick run to the deli.

- A two hour time limit would put games in line with other forms of entertainment. Baseball has clock rules but not for overall time and it does not enforce the ones that it does have. Space and time need balance.

- If lowering and moving the pitchers does not do the trick, rules should be tweaked to establish a balance between pitchers and batters. .500 on base average (percentage) has been achieved only 14 times since 1903 by only five batters.

Rk Player Year OBP Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA SLG OPS Pos
1 Barry Bonds 2004 .609 39 SFG NL 147 617 373 129 135 27 3 45 101 232 120 41 9 0 3 5 6 1 .362 .812 1.422 *7/HD
2 Barry Bonds 2003 .529 38 SFG NL 130 550 390 111 133 22 1 45 90 148 61 58 10 0 2 7 7 0 .341 .749 1.278 *7/DH
3 Barry Bonds 2002 .582 37 SFG NL 143 612 403 117 149 31 2 46 110 198 68 47 9 0 2 4 9 2 .370 .799 1.381 *7/DH
4 Barry Bonds 2001 .515 36 SFG NL 153 664 476 129 156 32 2 73 137 177 35 93 9 0 2 5 13 3 .328 .863 1.379 *7/DH
5 Ted Williams 1957 .526 38 BOS AL 132 547 420 96 163 28 1 38 87 119 33 43 5 0 2 11 0 1 .388 .731 1.257 *7/H
6 Mickey Mantle 1957 .512 25 NYY AL 144 623 474 121 173 28 6 34 94 146 23 75 0 0 3 5 16 3 .365 .665 1.177 *8/H
7 Ted Williams 1954 .513 35 BOS AL 117 526 386 93 133 23 1 29 89 136 32 1 0 3 10 0 0 .345 .635 1.148 *7/H
8 Ted Williams 1941 .553 22 BOS AL 143 606 456 135 185 33 3 37 120 147 27 3 0 10 2 4 .406 .735 1.287 *7H/9
9 Babe Ruth 1926 .516 31 NYY AL 152 652 495 139 184 30 5 47 153 144 76 3 10 11 9 .372 .737 1.253 *79/H3
10 Babe Ruth 1924 .513 29 NYY AL 153 681 529 143 200 39 7 46 124 142 81 4 6 9 13 .378 .739 1.252 *97/8H
11 Rogers Hornsby 1924 .507 28 STL NL 143 642 536 121 227 43 14 25 94 89 32 2 13 5 12 .424 .696 1.203 *4
12 Babe Ruth 1923 .545 28 NYY AL 152 697 522 151 205 45 13 41 130 170 93 4 3 17 21 .393 .764 1.309 97/83
13 Babe Ruth 1921 .512 26 NYY AL 152 693 540 177 204 44 16 59 168 145 81 4 4 17 13 .378 .846 1.359 *78/13
14 Babe Ruth 1920 .532 25 NYY AL 142 616 458 158 172 36 9 54 135 150 80 3 5 14 14 .376 .847 1.379 *978/3H1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/12/2016.

That's ridiculous. League on base average should be .500. Football and basketball do not have such a black hole.

Einstein would approve.

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