Reese Kaplan -- What Do You Miss Most About Baseball?

What are you most anticipating to see in the new-fangled 60-game baseball season?  For some, it’s the reprise of baseball in any fashion whatsoever after a 102 game absence.  For others it is the opportunity to see some of the minor leaguers who will fill out the rest of the roster for the first several weeks of play.  For still others it is whether or not fans will attend games, players who may or may not kneel for the national anthem, and what some of the oddities of rules like the DH, the expanded playoffs, the extra innings rule with a runner at 2B to start the 10th and the ever expanding and contracting roster will have on the potential for a playoff appearance.  

For me, it’s the simple parts of the game that often go unnoticed during the regular season.  I intensely miss the sound of the ball smacking a leather glove when it’s fielded successfully.  When I’m close enough to the field, it’s the scent of the leather itself.  That is forever burned into my brain as reminiscent of the game itself.

Of course, as long as we’re talking about sounds of the game, there’s the crack of a horsehide covered baseball colliding at 95+ mph with a wooden bat when the hitter is fortunate enough to make contact.  Nothing is worse than attending a college game and hearing the cacophonous “ping” of the ball colliding with a metal bat.  

The other thing I miss more than almost anything is an animated argument between players and the manager when an umpire blows a call on a close play.  Granted, we have instant replay to help the boys in blue, but there’s nothing forcing them to overturn mistakes and admitting they were wrong.  The old Tommy Lasorda and Wally Backman style of confronting the umpires will never go out of style, even if it’s seldom employed anymore.

Who can forget the spectacle of an impressive defensive play?  While people talk about pitching and hitting as the major elements of the game, the fact remains that a well executed play on the infield with a diving fielder recovering in time to make the throw across the diamond for a single out, or even more so when multiple players are gunned down on the same batted ball.  Perhaps even more amazing are the outfield catches made with the fielder sprinting at full bore to make his own dive to keep a short fly from landing on the grass or leaping against the wall to corral a batted ball from becoming a game-changing home run.  What about the fielders who dive into the stands to sacrifice their own health to try to snag a ball, converting a foul into an out?

You can’t minimize pitching as a large part of the equation.  Who can’t remember being absolutely spellbound watching a Sid Fernandez, a Tom Seaver, an R.A. Dickey, a Johan Santana or a Jacob deGrom making batters flail helplessly at the best of what they have to offer?  Let’s not forget the relievers who can come into a crucial bases-loaded situation and fan the best hitter on the opposing team to preserve the win.

Finally, there are the hitters.  Many gush over the long ball exploits of a Pete Alonso and others who have power as a part of their arsenal.  That’s a crucial part of the game, but let’s not forget the drama when a batted ball goes through the first basemen’s legs, or a bunted ball lands in no-man’s-land between the pitcher’s mound and the corner infielders, or the baserunner who deeks an outfielder into relaxing a bit and then grabs an extra base on his drive to the gap.  Those offensive contributions are etched into your brain far longer than the ball clearing the fence (despite the game’s disdain for small ball).  

Whatever it is that you find most appealing, let’s just be glad the game is back in whatever fashion for the remainder of the 2020 season.