In 1987 a sudden increase in home runs produced the “Happy Haitian” explanation: Baseballs were then manufactured in Haiti and the theory was that the fall of the Duvalier regime so inspirited Haitians that they worked with more pep, pulling the stitching tighter, thereby flattening the seams-and flattening curve balls. The smoother balls had less wind resistance to give them movement when pitched, or to slow their subsequent flight over outfielders. Baseballs are now made in Costa Rica for the Rawlings company which stoutly denies that its exacting specifications have changed. If, say, the yarn were wound tighter, either the ball would be smaller or would weigh more. It isn’t and doesn’t. At issue is the ball’s “coefficient of restitution,” which is what folks in the bleachers mean by the ball’s tendency to land in the bleachers-“liveliness.” COR is measured by firing balls from an air cannon at a slab of wood and measuring the rebound. Let’s not do that, lest scientific information inhibit an argument that is jolly fun. But let’s sift some evidence.
Time was when baseball was a seven-month profession. Most players were poorly paid, so they spent their winters operating bowling alleys or tending bars-and sampling the suds. But today long careers are lucrative, so players pump iron year-round and watch what they put into their sculptured bodies so they can produce big offensive numbers that pay off in salary arbitration and free agency A major league locker room looks like Muir Woods-a lot of towering redwoods. When people say the ball must be different because even itsy-bitsy players are crushing home runs, remember: itsy-bitsy is a relative concept. Willie Mays (5’ 10 1/2", 170 lbs) and Mickey Mantle (5’ 11 1/2", 195 lbs) would be little guys on today’s teams that are chock-full of players at least four inches taller and 20 pounds heavier. These Godzillas need a livelier ball? They could hit Jell-O 400 feet.
Bulked-up batters whipping thin-handled bats produce terrific speeds of the batheads through the strike zone. or what is left of it. Disregard the rule book-umpires do. That book says the strike zone extends from the top of the knees to the midpoint between the top of the pants and the shoulders. But today a pitch above the belt is apt to be called a ball. Thus more pitchers are throwing more pitches, and are working behind in the count, and are getting hammered. And assaulted.
Lately there has been a lot of testosterone spilled on infields by batters who prove their manhood by charging the mound when pitchers have hit them or even thrown uncomfortably inside. Lots of pitchers are not skillful at pitching inside, not having done much of that when young. They grew up pitching to aluminum bats. Those bats don’t break when the ball hits on the handle. In fact, aluminum bats can punch inside pitches over infields. So pitchers specialize in pitching outside. As fewer pitches come inside, more are left hanging over the middle of the plate. Furthermore, umpires are among Nature’s conservatives: they want order, so they dislike pitchers coming inside. The result? More of those hefty hitters are “dialing 8” (baseballese for getting long distance).
And distances aren’t what they were. The newer ballpark-s in Baltimore, Cleveland and Texas are hitter-friendly: the outfield fences are closer. These parks also are fan-friendly: fans sit closer to the action, so there is less foul territory, so fewer pop fouls get caught, so batters get more swings. Also, this April was unusually warm in some places. And Ray Miller, the Pirates pitching coach and my guide to baseball’s deepest mysteries. says Houston may be keeping the temperature in the Astrodome higher. Everybody knows balls fly farther when the air is warm. (How does everybody know this? Don’t ask me. Or, in the words of Ring Lardner, “‘Shut up,’ he explained’.”)
Given all this, what of the Conspiracy-to-Juice Theory? Many conspiracy theories, like. those surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy, are insulated from reality by a mind-bending idea: An utter lack of evidence for a conspiracy proves bow diabolically vast and clever the conspiracy was. But most conspiracy theories can be dissolved by a cold splash of common sense. Consider the theory that JFK was killed by a conspiracy involving the FBI, CIA, Military, Secret Service, etc. That theory assumes that our government-the one that can barely deliver the mail and can’t abolish the World War I era helium reserve (it was for blimps) can bring off a conspiracy of exquisite complexity in perfect and perpetual secrecy.
Now, if today’s baseball has been tampered with, that must have been ordered by conspiring owners. But they can’t agree on anything. And they have been fined $280 million for their last conspiracy-collusion against free agents in the 1980s, a conspiracy that was about as secret as a steam calliope.
Here’s a thought. Perhaps hitters are thriving because, for no big reason, we are going through a bad patch of pitching-the reverse of 1968. In 1968 pitching was so dominant that the highest American League player’s average was .301, the Yankees batted .214 and 21 percent of all games were shutouts. But no one then suggested that the ball had been deadened. Instead, the pitcher’s mound was shaved from 15 inches to 10, five teams moved their fences in, and hitting revived.
Peter Gammons, who knows everything worth knowing about baseball, which is almost everything worth knowing, says that almost 30 percent of the pitchers on major league rosters in April had been released by a team at some point in their careers. See, you’d know this stuff if you would quit watching McNeil-Lehrer and Jennings and that bunch and instead tuned in ESPN’s “Sportscenter” every evening like the rest of us who are abreast of current controversies,
