Page 35 - SAFFER Magazine 01

Baseball

a breather at the non-striker’s end. Yet, like how cricket has With that said, that’s probably not even my favorite part about
changed with the introduction of the IPL and emphasis on T20 the sport.
cricket, the game is getting easier for batters in baseball. With Since I became a bandwagon Yankees fan, I promised myself to
smaller stadium sizes, “corked balls”, better bats etc. the game is not become a bandwagon fan, i.e, one that watches the playoff
seeing record breaking home-runs (HR) every season but bat- season and that’s about it. I’ve gone to nearly 50 games since
ting averages are consistently at the .220-.350 mark every year, I’ve been in NYC, more than any of my American friends and
similar to how batting averages in cricket have never drastically a lot of “diehard” fans. Partly because I love watching the game
increased, rather how quickly the rate of scoring has increased. but also due to the atmosphere created at Yankee Stadium, one
That brings me to pitching and fielding. With more and more of my favorite atmospheres I’ve experienced while being a NYC
HR’s, the best pitchers in the MLB have never been in such native.
demand. As an example, my beloved Yankees (yes, I am a band-
wagon fan) have just signed Gerrit Cole as their ace, (arguably If you remove the incredibly overpriced beer, there is nothing
the best pitcher in the MLB over the last two years) to a $324 quite like being at a Yankees/Red Sox game (one of the greatest
MILLION dollar contract for 9 years. Yes, you read that cor- rivalries in sport). There’s also nothing quite like feeling the
rectly. roar of the crowd when you hear the explosion off the bat when
someone hits a HR or when a pitcher catches fire and it seems
impossible for anyone to lay a bat on him. But that crack off the
bat is one of the sweetest sounds in sport.

I vividly remember seeing my first walk-off home run. The
Yankees had trailed most of the game and it reached the bottom
of the 9th inning when Giancarlo Stanton arrived at the plate.
2 runs behind with 2 runners on base, we heard that crack off
the bat and the stadium erupted as we watched the ball sail deep
into the bleachers in right field and the Yankees had come from
behind to win an absolute classic.

Link again: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/
yankees/2019/12/18/gerrit-cole-new-york-yankees-sign-free-
agent/2687353001/

One (including myself) may feel that no one is worth that sort
of money, but in a sport that has 162 regular game per team per
seasons, you have GOT to have that ace in place that can win
you 20+ games a season with an ERA (earned-runs-against)
that’s less than 3.00. That means a pitcher will concede less than
3 runs for every 9 innings pitched. You may think: “Well, that
should be pretty easy considering a typical batter will only hit
1 in every four pitches”, but again, not that straightforward – https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybeach/2018/06/21/gi-
particularly with how the game is changing as mentioned above ancarlo-stanton-and-the-yankees-send-the-mariners-and-
and that is why these pitches like Cole can command those every-other-al-playoff-contender-a-message/#1e3940d47205
ridiculous $ figures. – (Photographer is Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Back to the technicalities. The strategy of a pitcher is to out- Following the walk-off HR, I was high-fiving strangers, hugging
smart the batter. Find their weaknesses, pitch to that weakness strangers, screaming and roaring with strangers as if they were
and constantly keep the batter guessing. Sounds familiar, right? best friends of mine. That’s an experience I’ve only really had
This is also the concept with fielding too. Batters tend to have at a baseball game. The passion for baseball is instilled from a
preferred zones when hitting, just like being off-side/leg-side young age and it runs deep. They call it “America’s pastime” for
dominant as a batsman. They’re not just closing their eyes and a reason!
hoping for the best, they are stronger in certain areas and this
is where field shifts come in. Again, just like a captain adjusts So, as much as I love and miss cricket, I have found a similar
his fielding placements in cricket, it’s an ongoing strategy in love and passion for a sport that is pretty much brand new to
finding those weaknesses to remove whoever is at the crease/at me. And that love and passion has resulted in me embracing
the plate. the fact that you can’t be a proper New Yorker without loving
America’s pastime!
Anyway… that’s a fundamental breakdown of the basics of the
game and how I found the comparisons between the two sports For SAFFER Worldwide by NRV – our Man in New York
so appealing which piqued my interest in baseball so quickly.

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