Blog: Ace

Baseball - I just don't get it - and I'm a cricket fan.

A few years ago when my third child was born - I used to do the middle of the night feed. This was at about 4.00 in the morning I think when all my senses were on snooze. To pass the time I would put on the TV - Channel 5 and would watch Baseball. It was always the Red Sox v the Yankees or the Rockies v the Tigers. And although I was not too sure about the rules - in fact totally clueless - I anticipated being drawn in. Now the one thing you can say about the American commentators is that they know how to talk. They could rabbit for hours on the technical proficency of a pitcher hitching up his trousers. I was bombarded with information and stats. "Hey Larry I think that's the thirteenth time this season that Troy has hitched his left trouser leg with his right pinkie - what do you say. You're right Chuck - that technique is just awesome and the fans love him for it." And so on.

Now I am a long time cricket fan and I like all that stats stuff and even all the technical burble about the corridor of uncertainty and bowling in right areas - but I just don't get Baseball. Nothing seems to happen. In fact I think that I went feeding my child through 6 months of nights and never once did I see a Home Run - and I think I might have been watching the highlights!

There was plenty of Strike 1 and plenty of scuffs over the back of the wicket-keeper's head. I knew that the bowler was the pitcher and where first base was. I saw an awful lot of shots of guys sitting in the dug out and jumping up and swinging a club but very few seemed to connect. There were lots of crowd shots and lots of agitated Managers chewing gum and cuts to commentary box position where Larry and Chuck were chewing the fat about the bunt or the flyball stats.
But I accept that in the USA where they like their sports gripping - that Baseball is the king of all sports there. But tell me what are they actually getting excited about. Is it constant action like I suppose decent games of football - no. Can it compare to say 20-20 cricket where the ball is disappearing over the boundary (that's a Home run) on a constant basis - er no.
I Googled - as you do - the word Baseball and up came 120 million results. That's a lot. I did the same for football and it came up with 218 million but I suspect half of those were American football. But what I am saying is that there is a decent size of the planet who are consumed by Baseball. So if there is anyone out there that could explain why - then certainly me and my daughter would like to know.

by Ace on 08:32 on 4th October 2007