As in life, so in baseball: the object is not earning money

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/

The writer suggests that while WBC is a great idea, it is at best a nuisance, interrupting MLB’s spring training schedule, at worst a danger to players and heavily invested owners, both of whom could suffer financial losses as a result of player injury incurred during the WBC tournament. This seems to be a far too narrow view of the potential of life, in which we look at the amazing unfolding of reality through the pinhole of finance. The writer’s argument from caution could be extended to nearly any activity of daily life, every one of which has the potential to cause bodily injury - walking down the street, driving a car, playing ball with the neighborhood kids, working out at the gym, carrying garbage to the kerb, climbing a ladder to change a lightbulb - the list is endless. I’m sure not even one professional ball player wishes to live in a cocoon during the off-season. I’m also sure most professional ball players relish the challenge of pitting themselves against the world’s best. Many will also prize the opportunity to represent their country in an international forum. Those players fortunate enough to be nominated to the roster ought to take the chance while they have it. The WBC happens only every four years and by the time it rolls around again (if it rolls around again), today’s eligible players may no longer be able. They might even be dead. Life is meant to be lived. Go live it.

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On the commodification of sport

The quaestores of modern times use health, religion, and access to sports and art just like those of the Middle Ages used salvation: to exploit people by pricing what they value too high.

Jonathan R Goodman writes in Aeon:

It was in 2012 that Major League Baseball ran an ad showing generations of parents sharing the beloved American pastime with their kids. But it was already too late: in 2012, the average price for tickets to the World Series was nearly $1,000 – compared with just $2 for the same seats in 1963. Cost for two to attend even a run-of-the mill baseball game in 2016 is nearly $80, what with $6 per beer, almost $5 for a hot dog, and $16 to park the car.

Using baseball’s cultural status to exploit fans is part of a long, dark trend: the tendency to milk the masses for what ostensibly belongs to everyone. In the Middle Ages, quaestores (pardoners) granted followers of the Catholic Church indulgences, which were believed to lessen the punishments of one’s sins. At first, indulgences were given for acts of piety and prayer but, over time, were sold by members of the Church for money. This practice became so common, and the prices so extreme, that the Protestant Reformation was, in part, galvanised by Martin Luther’s outrage at this industry of the Church.

The unaffordability of salvation continues to this day.

Full article here.

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Japanese baseball neologism

Seiya Suzuki @ The Japan Times

From today's Kyodo news feed:

TOKYO — The Hiroshima Carp hit yet another home run as “kamitteru,” a coined word that means being godlike or superhuman which was used to describe the baseball team’s feat this season, was selected as Japan’s top buzzword in 2016, the award’s organizer said Thursday.

The word highlights the Carp’s achievements, including winning their first Central League pennant in 25 years on Sept. 10 and finishing the season with a 17.5-game lead over the runner-up Yomiuri Giants.

Hiroshima manager Koichi Ogata renewed the trend of using the term in June when he described Seiya Suzuki’s performance as “kamitteru” after the outfielder hit sayonara home runs in two consecutive games against the Orix Buffaloes.

The expression, which had already been used mainly among young people for years, became even more popular after Ogata used it and the second-year manager described the entire ballclub as “kamitteru” at the end of the season.

This is the second straight year in which a top buzzword in Japan was related to baseball, with last year’s co-winner being “triple three,” used to describe a player posting at least a .300 batting average with 30 steals and 30 homers in a season, after two players achieved the feat in 2015.

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Baseball Time

Whilst verifying a fact presented in Gmelch's Inside Pitch, I ran across this 2013 article from the Wall Street Journal, in which the writer clocked three MLB games to get an idea of how time in the average three-hour-plus game is spent.

First, the conclusion:

Huge chunks of inaction that absolutely dwarf everything else that goes on in the game.

The breakdown:

• 0:17:58  Action (or, ball in play)
• 0:33:39  Time between batters
• 0:42:41  Time between innings
• 1:14:49  Time between pitches

Might you know of a similar study with a larger data set?

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