They had umpcam behind the plate in like 1998 but stopped doing it for some reason
Yankees trade
Oswaldo Cabrera
Anthony Volpe
Jason Dominguez
Oswald Peraza
Nestor Cortes
Clay Holmes
Angels trade
Shohei Ohtani
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Whatever happened to Gary Sanchez? I thought he was supposed to be the next Yogi Berra.
Apu was a more believable Mets fan.
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The ump cam and having Bergman mic’d up with an earpiece so people could ask him questions during the game were two pretty cool new features that I hope stick around.
VoLpE uNtRaDeAbLe
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What’s surprising about trying to hit a fastball is how deadly important bat speed is. I was a good hitter in high school. No power, but had a good eye, made solid contact, and rarely struck out. When I got to varsity, though, my coach didn’t let pitchers hit unless they could sock dingers, so I didn’t hit and also didn’t take batting practice. Senior year, we scrimmaged and I was allowed to hit (OH THANK YOU COACH FOR SUCH A BLESSING). My eye was still there, I could pick up the ball just fine, but my bat speed was gone. I had to sell out and start swinging way early and just hope I could adjust to the location.
Several years ago, I hit in a batting cage, maybe 70 MPH. I hit most of them, but I was swinging extremely early. That would have been easy batting practice when I played.
I can’t imagine going up against a 97 MPH fastball. I’d shit my pants and cry.
EDIT: When I say “surprising,” I mean bat speed compared to the ability to see and locate the pitch.
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It was cool up until the TV announcer ruined it at the end.
Do you mean Herb?
This is the same reason why BaBe RuTh being considered a goat is comical. Dude was swinging a telephone pole to mash 77 mph meatballs, whereas hitters now are using bats that are lighter than ever. Here’s an article about the biggest bat in the majors from several years ago:
Angels third baseman Yunel Escobar wields a 36-inch, 34-ounce slab of wood cut from a maple tree, a relic of an earlier era, a monstrosity marveled at by teammates and opponents alike.
Early in his career, Ruth allegedly used bats as large as 38 / 44.
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ESPN has been talking to mic’d up fielders for years now.
Maybe the biggest LOL about him being the GOAT is that he only played against other white people.
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I’m expecting to see a lot of ESPN headlines where the first word is Ohtani, the middle is something awesome, and the last two words are Angels loss.
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Ohtani ends world hunger in Angels loss
Ohtani cures cancer in Angels loss
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Ah ok, guess I haven’t watched much ESPN baseball recently.
And yet he hit more home runs than entire teams during an era when football and basketball were fringe sports. Makes you think. Well, not you, but people.
There’s always a statistic to tell the story of Ohtani and the Angels: According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, there have been 25 previous times an Opening Day pitcher struck out 10 and allowed 0 runs. In those games, the pitchers’ teams were 25-0
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Seems irresponsible to trade 6 prospects when you can wait 3 months and just sign him