The casual fan thinks that's where it is now, in the middle of the baseball diamond. But the middle would be about 63 feet from the back of home plate, not the 60 feet, six inches to the FRONT of home plate it really is.
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Replace whining cheaters with pitching machines. Thursday, June 17, 2021 8:36 AM
In MLB, the pitchers in plain sight are throwing downhill! What the heck? Get rid of the damn mound! What's that about? And move the pitching distance back about three feet to the middle of the diamond. And make that the release point, not the launch point. The quarterback must release from no further than the line of scrimmage. The pitcher gets to start his motion from the designated distance and leap downhill at ever increasing distances towards the plate. I think that's why Yankee starter Luis Severino, recovering from major surgery, injured his groin recently in practice. His body wasn't quite ready for the hurtling action.
For a pitcher to add six inches to his fastball, all he has to do is land six inches closer to the front of the plate, which is where the pitching distance is measured, not the back of the plate. MLB distances tend to be backwards of common sense. 90 feet to first base is to the outfield side of the base, so the distance is 90 feet minus the size of first base.
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But there's more. That extra thee feet would significantly increase reaction time for both the batter and pitcher, who is now at the mercy of 119 miles per hour batted balls at ground level.
Best of all, the batter could adjust where to stand in the box, not mindlessly stand as far back from the pitcher as the plate umpire will allow.
A zillion years ago Babe Ruth could stand more towards the front of the box because the pitchers did not throw as fast and he could still handle their fastballs. An added benefit was hitting the breaking pitch before it could break at the front of home plate. Neither of those things are possible today. Increasing the distance between the pitcher's release point and the front of home plate would give the batters the option of standing where they are comfortable instead of being as defensive as possible at maximum distance from the pitcher.
From those thrilling days of yesteryear:
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| Babe Ruth Spring Training 1918 Brown Brothers, NY Public domain via Wikimedia Commons |
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| Babe Ruth 1920 photograph of "First Year Yankee" Public domain via Wikimedia Commons |
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| Babe Ruth circa 1921 The Babe in full swing at batting practice. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons |
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| Babe Ruth 1922 International Newsreel Public domain via Wikimedia Commons |
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| Babe Ruth Babe Ruth at bat, Garret catching 1920 National Photo Company Collection Public domain via Wikimedia Commons |
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| Roger Maris home run #58 September 17, 1961 Tiger Stadium in Detroit (12th inning) Tony Spina Public domain via Wikimedia Commons |
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