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The post was getting too long and the data is easily available, but what the heck. The more granular data shows a greater degree of stability of everything except Ks that I would have expected:
BA 2010s .254 2000s .265 1990s .265 1980s .259 1970s .256 1960s .249 1950s .260
2B&3B/G 2010s 1.9 2000s 2.0 1990s 1.9 1980s 1.7 1970s 1.6 1960s 1.…
The post was getting too long and the data is easily available, but what the heck. The more granular data shows a greater degree of stability of everything except Ks that I would have expected:
BA
2010s .254
2000s .265
1990s .265
1980s .259
1970s .256
1960s .249
1950s .260
2B&3B/G
2010s 1.9
2000s 2.0
1990s 1.9
1980s 1.7
1970s 1.6
1960s 1.5
1950s 1.7
HR/G
2010s 1.1
2000s 1.1
1990s 1.0
1980s 0.8
1970s 0.7
1960s 0.8
1950s 0.8
SB/G
2010s 0.6
2000s 0.6
1990s 0.7
1980s 0.8
1970s 0.6
1960s 0.4
1950s 0.3
BB/G
2010s 3.1
2000s 3.3
1990s 3.4
1980s 3.2
1970s 3.3
1960s 3.1
1950s 3.6
SO/G
2010s 7.8
2000s 6.6
1990s 6.1
1980s 5.3
1970s 5.1
1960s 5.7
1950s 4.4
Wow, this is great. But I really think you buried the lede with “other than Ks”. That increase in strikeouts is enormous, and I assume it’s over 8 if you look at the past 2-3 years. There’s only 27 outs in a game, and we went from 16% via K in the 1950s to 30%+ in today’s game.
The obvious way to reduce strikeouts is to make MLB use a softball instead of a baseball.
Exactly!
When rec softball leagues need to move games quickly (like in tournaments), you come up with a count if one-and-one. That gets them swinging! (I was a pitcher and loved it!)
Abortive tourney was our spring opener in March, the One Pitch Don’t Bitch tournament. One pitch; hit it, or take it, and either walk or strike out. Action!!! 😊
Read my favorite in place of abortive and it might make sense...
Man with three balls should walk proudly.
Man with more than two should apply for extra welfare to feed all the little bastards.
You want greater granularity?!?! Well, you've got it: K/9 by year:
2021 9.3
2020 8.7
2019 8.8
2018 8.5
2017 8.3
2016 8.0
2015 7.7
2014 7.7
2013 7.6
2012 7.5
2011 7.1
2010 7.1
Just an FYI: All this and more is available via bb-ref. All hail Sean!
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/pitch.shtml
Wow. 9.3? I realize it’s early in the year, but holy crap that’s bad. Just going from 7.1 to 8.7 over 10 years is pretty nuts.
In terms of aesthetics, I loved 80's style baseball, though I doubt that's ever coming back. I would trade in homers and K's for a few 100-SB guys in a millisecond.
As someone who turned 13 in 1980, I believe that I am legally required to say that the best era for baseball was the 1980s.
The artificial turf of those years was really ugly. So too were the multi-purpose stadiums with deep OF gaps and large foul ground. But it encouraged line drive hitting and fast outfielders.
The turf was ugly and a knee-killer, but boy were those teams with speedy outfielders like the Cards and Royals fun.
And at the same time, you had the dramatic contrast with the slugging Orioles, Red Sox, and Harvey's Wallbanger Brewers. More than any one style, I enjoyed to multitude of styles available during my youth. It was perhaps best exemplified in the Big Red Machine, that had guys who could fly (Griffey), guys who could slug (Bench, Perez), guys who slapped singles (Rose), and guys who did it all (Morgan).
Agreed, the diversity of styles was a big plus.
Absolutely. As I mentioned earlier, I spent last year's pandemic Frankenseason ignoring the universal Neanderthal hitterball games and reading a stack of books about baseball from the 1880s onward, including biographies of Ty Cobb, George Sisler, Honus Wagner, Home Run Baker, Bob Feller, Cy Young - you get the idea. I loved the hardscrabble game those guys player and would love to see it come back. The description of the game so vividly portrayed in "A Terrible Beauty," THE best of the Cobb biographies, totally captivated me. I would trade my little brother for a time machine to go back and watch just one of them.
But then, I would trade my little brother for a bottle of sinus rinse.
I know I’m in the minority of all the baseball takes people but I prefer the game today to the game in the 80’s. And I started watching baseball in 1979 at the age of 7 so I’m trying to give the 80’s all the nostalgia feels. I think the running game actually slows the game down. More pick offs etc. Plus aesthetically I don’t want to go back to at least 3 spots in a lineup (4 in the NL) with ops under .700. I don’t know if the cure to today’s baseball problem is bringing back a fleet of .240 hitting middle infielders and catchers with no power. But as I said I’m in the minority and I accept that.
If you think nothing ever happens in baseball, you should try working as a transmissions monitor at SETI.
If you want something to happen while you've got the game on, do what I do: get up and go to the bathroom. (or go make yourself a sandwich, get a beverage or whatnot)
Works for me every time.
At my age, going to the bathroom is probably less results-oriented than it is for you. I go thaw out some frozen mice and feed my tegu.
Tengu, you say?
Maybe it's recency bias, and I don't have the data handy, but I feel that there are more pickoff attempts now. Game pace in the 80's was quicker than today, though there are lots of reasons for that.
For balance, things I like about the modern game. Batters with extremely quick bats who stalk their pitch like it is prey. Bonds and Sheffield were the pioneers in my mind, and I love how modern stars do that. I also like *angry* pitchers like Scherzer who seem to be channeling the dark side to get batters out.
Does your post break off and wiggle, giving you time to reach the dense underbrush?