Playing areas must be uniform. Constitutional amendment 11.

11. Playing areas must be uniform.
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Friday, June 8, 2012
Constitutional amendments for team sports.

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Baseball is the only one of the three American team sports that continues to defy logic.  I've been beating this drum from the beginning of Radical Baseball.  If the basic logic still eludes you, there's nothing more that I can say.

Now to implementation.  Given the constraints of all those new ball parks that were built since 1990, most under the administration of the redoubtable Major Baseball League (MBL) commissioner Allen Huber "Bud" Selig here is my compromise solution.

1. Establish a set distance and wall height for home runs.  Let's say 380 feet from home plate and a ten foot wall.

2. In center field where the distances are probably longer, just erect a new wall.

3. Elsewhere, either:

    A. put up a screen configured to achieve the same goal.

    B. draw lines in the stands where the goal is achieved and rule that any fly ball hit into the stands short of that is a ground rule double.
4. Establish a set distance and wall height for foul territory and implement as above.

It's not elegant but it's fair.

In last night's Yankee game in Baltimore Yankee batter Curtis Granderson made the final out on a long drive to center that deserved to be a homer.  Batters cannot aim 380 foot drives to particular parts of the stands.  It was just bad luck for Granderson and good luck for the Baltimore closer Jim Johnson who deserved his tenth blown save.

There is a meritocracy is sports.  Rules are based on fairness.  They are intended to reward merit and punish failure.  Non-uniform playing areas fail by definition.  Unfortunately, I am the only baseball fan who sees this.  Shame on the rest of you.