Journalism in Baseball

Baseball is very different than the other three major sports in America. Nobody really knows the exact history of how it started. Many think some white men watched the Indians play stickball and decided to make some changes. Others believe that Abner Doubleday, a Major General of the Union Army, was the first to create baseball. As time went on, baseball soon became the biggest sport in America and became what is known as America’s past time. 

Baseball has come a long way since it first started. So, has the reporting of baseball. At the time, newspaper was the only way for people to get their news. As new teams started to pop up, more and more reporters were needed to cover games, news, and much more. 

In the early days, journalists worked for individual teams much like they do today but rather than working from home or for a newspaper, they traveled with the team and was paid by said team. It was the team’s way of making sure nothing was in the newspaper that they didn’t approve of. 

As time moved on, the Negro League came along and black reporters were eager to be a part of a team. However once Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, black journalists weren’t allowed in press boxes during the MLB games. They had to sit in the colored seating just like the rest of the fans. For them to get their stories out on time, they had to sit with their typewriters on their knees and write from the stands. It wasn’t until the 1948 season that Wendell Smith worked for the African American-owned Pittsburgh Courier and was the first black baseball journalists that could join the BBWAA. From that point on, all baseball reporters regardless of their skin color could use tables and desks to wright their stories.

Baseball journalism has come a long way since the 1940s. Today anybody can be a “journalist” for any sport they want. All you need is some way to connect to any social media site and a way to type, but you are now a blogger with no set accountability. A lot of people are so biased to their team and they can’t accept the fact that bad things happen. A well-respected writer will write about the good and the bad, the popular and unpopular opinions, and ins and outs of their team.

That's Nasty

It will throw you off guard. It will make you think you have a chance at hitting it and just like that you take a giant swing and miss. You'll give the pitcher a look of disbelief and he''ll look back at you with the biggest grin one can make.

The origin of the knuckleball is pretty unclear but most have dated it back to Toad Ramsey of the Louisville Colonel of the old American Association. Others have dated the knuckleball back to Eddie Cicotte of the 1908 Chicago White Sox. Eddie was given the proper nickname of "knuckles" for his pitch that seemed to lack spin. 

What makes the knuckleball so hard to hit is that a conventional pitch contains a natural spin of the ball when leaving the pitchers hand. When the ball doesn't have the conventional spin, it will move in an awkward path on the way to the catcher making it nearly impossible for the hitter to determine where the ball will end up. 

For pitchers it is one of the hardest pitches to throw. That being said, it takes years to master the knuckleball and even then it can't really be perfected. Most of the time, a knuckleball pitcher will have only one or two pitches at most. 

One of the best to ever throw the pitch is R.A. Dickey. He strictly became a knuckleball pitcher during the 2006 season while earning a spot on the Rangers rotation as the fifth starter. He was strictly a knuckleball pitcher. He struggled in his first couple games and was sent down to play in the Rangers Triple-A program. In January of 2007, he signed a deal with the Milwaukee minor league program and put together a 12-6 record with a 3.80 ERA.

R.A. Dickey and Steven Wright are the only known current Major League pitchers that are strictly knuckleball pitchers. That's not to say that other pitchers don't know how to throw the knuckleball. Rather than throwing it ever pitch, they may throw it a total of ten percent of their four or five pitches in their stock. Throwing it consistently can severely mess up your arm if you don't throw it correctly every single time.



The pitch that can get anybody, Nobody is immune from looking like giant idiot when facing this pitch and that's just the way it is. You really can't say i'm going to work on batting against this pitch because its that inconsistent. The best you can do it stare it down, pray and hope you get even the slightest bit of wood on the ball. 

Twice as Nice

Your 2016 World Series champs are the long-cursed Chicago Cubs. The cubs just snapped a 108-year streak of not winning a major championship. The longest such streak on any of the four major sports that have previously won. They did it with the help of some youth, skill, and great management. Some are calling it the greatest thing to ever happen to the city of Chicago.

On their way to snapping their 108-year streak, the Cubs had a regular season record of 103-58 and winning the NL Central division by 17.5 games. They did it with the talent of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Jason Hammel, Jason Heyword, Ben Zobrist and more. The team had a .343 BA and a league leading 3.15 ERA.

 It’s a new year and much has changed. The cubs are still expected to be the front runners and repeat. While the Cubs have made some off-season trades and changes, their main core is still the same. The pitching staff has changed a little but nothing that they shouldn’t be able to overcome.

Can you imagine if the Cubs repeated after nothing for so long? I think most would speculated the world would be coming to an end. People wouldn't know how to handle themselves. You could almost forget about Steve Bartman (lets be honest, nobody will forget about Steve) and what that infamous night.  

The Cubs will repeat due to one position. The manager Joe Maddon will have that team more focused than ever. They just snapped “the curse” and everybody knows they don’t want to go another losing streak. Joe has been in the game for a long time and knows what it takes to keep his guys positive. He’s surrounded himself with a great staff and players that want to be coached.

Baseball has a rich history in Chicago and the people won’t accept anything less at this point. The Cubs will repeat for one simple reason, the city of Chicago won't let another one slip away. They haven’t seen the likes of greatness since Michael Jordan left for retirement. Although the 90s weren’t all that long ago, 20 years can seem like forever in the sports world. 

It doesn't matter if you're a Cubs fan or not, if they were to repeat, you would have to celebrate. When people think of baseball, the Cubs are one of the first teams they think of. But I guess that's what happens when you eat, sleep and breath Wrigley Field. It doesn't matter if you like them or absolutely despise them, you know it will help the game of baseball if they repeat. 

The Full Count

Major League Baseball is trying to add yet another rule to their illustrious rule book. This time they're testing an extra inning rule where a runner would be automatically start off on second base. The rule is being proposed to help increase the pace of the game.

Minor League Baseball will be testing the rule for the upcoming season. If you think about it, it should be very interesting considering that Minor league baseball isn't aired on national television just like slow pitch beer softball isn't on national television.

Today people are so worried about how fast something can go and how quickly they can be done with something. If you ask me, MLB is doing way too much to try and please fans rather than just playing baseball. They're so worried about pumping up the pace of the game that they seem to be forgetting about why people attend America's past time.

Last year the MLB implemented a rule that said batters must leave on foot inside the batters box at all times or else the player would be punished with an automatic strike. The rule seemed to work for about half of the year but later seemed to be worthless. Players seemed to not care and umpires weren't enforcing it.

Now I understand that there are times where it seems like a baseball game can take forever. Some pitchers have a knack for taking their sweet time on the mound and some batters seem to take a million practice swings. All in all, yes baseball is a slow game but if you think about it, it wasn't made to be a fast paced game. It is a very mental sport and requires a lot of thought and focus. Not everybody can through an 85 mph slider in a space smaller than the human body and not everybody can hit a ball the size of an apple coming at them at 100+ mph.

Peanuts and cracker jacks, ice cream in fun sized helmets, the smell of fresh cut grass, why would anybody want to hurry and leave? If that can't make you want to stay, lets not forget about the beautiful sunsets baseball fields always seem to provide. The authenticity of the game is unlike any other. Baseball has been around longer than any of the other four major sports in America and has some of the oldest stadiums around.

If you can't be convinced that baseball is fine the way it is, than you should leave that seat for someone who can fully appreciate the game. Nobody will judge you if you don't like the game but someone out there loves the game more than they love their own mother and would love to have that ticket.

Hall of explain yourself?

The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame has made it so their voters will have to make their votes public as of 2018. Finally, we get to see as to why players such as Ken Griffey Jr. weren't unanimously selected in.

There are many players becoming eligible for the HOF that played in what is known as the dark ages of baseball. The baseball world has been riddled with steroids and steroid like substances. It not only ruins athlete’s bodies, it ruins the name of the game.

Players such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire are the two huge controversial discussions that not only make writers question their decisions but also the everyday fan. Many think they should be in and many think they should be banned for life. It’s hard to decide but maybe the votes should go public. The writers must explain their thinking and reasoning. Some people will like it and some won't. 

The argument for Bonds is that he clearly used steroids. when he first entered the league in 1986 as a skronny kid and just kept getting bigger and bigger while gaining more and more power. There was always suspicion but nothing really until the end of his career. His frame started getting bigger and his skin tone started to get darker. 

The problem with McGwire is that everybody knew he was doing steroids. At the time, it was completely legal to do so. He consistently had bottles out in the open in the locker room and never tried to hide it. People at the time seemed to have no problem with it. Suddenly as he's working to get into the HoF, people seem to be so disgruntled about him using PEDs. 

The thing about baseball writers is that they study the game so closely. They eat, breath, and sleep baseball. They can give any argument and for the most part will be right with whatever they say. Players and coaches trust them to make fair and accurate statements. They earn the respect and the right to be in the locker rooms. 

At the end of the day, it’s up to the writers to decide and quite frankly, the public must deal with it. These are professional writers and their life basically revolves around baseball so they know what they’re doing. If someone decides to not say why they voted or didn’t vote for someone, it’s their choice. If you don’t like it, maybe you should become a writer and make your own decisions. 

Way too young

January 22, 2017, The day the baseball community comes together and mourns the loss of two different players. Yordano Ventura and Andy Marte both died today in separate car wrecks in their home country of the Dominican Republic.

Andy Marte was a seven year veteran who debuted in 2005 for the Atlanta Braves. Marte played for several different teams in his seven year career. He last played for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014.

Yordano Ventura played four years for the Kansas City Royals. In that period he racked up a 38-31 record with a 3.89 ERA. Ventura was given the nickname "ACE" which seemed to be fitting. As a young Royals fan who has seen nothing but heartbreak and turmoil for most of my life, he seemed to be one of the young leaders who was quickly turning around the Royals franchise. 

In the 2014 World Series, Ventura was considered to have his best game of his short career by many. Ventura pitched seven scoreless innings while allowing only three hits. His performance sent the Royals to a crucial game seven. At the time, his best childhood friend had just passed away from a car accident. Oscar Taveras and Yordano Ventura had dreamed of playing under those big league lights and they had finally done it. Ventura was a big reason they had made it to the World Series and played a major role in winning it all in 2015. He gave much of his thanks to the people of Kansas City, the D.R. and many more but mostly gave it all to Oscar. 

Ventura was such a small guy but boy could he throw some heat. He constantly amazed fans and experts with his numerous 100 MPH pitches. Batters would stand in the box after being struck out and you could see the look on their face, the look of "how the h@#! did he just do that?"

 At times he struck the nerve of opposing players and he was by no means afraid of anybody. A couple incidents proved him to be bigger than his body said he was and was involved in many on field altercations. The rising star didn't seem to care what others thought of him and would stand up to defend him and his teammates any day of the week.

The Dominican Republic is considered to be one of the worst countries when it comes to driving and vehicle related deaths. although the toxicology report wont be known for weeks, both of these young deaths come night of/morning after celebrating the national holiday of Dia de la Altagracia, a holiday of feasting for the protector of the people of the Dominican Republic. 

Although Ventura may have been a hothead and a little unpredictable at times, yes he may have had a slight temper, he was family to the Royals and its fan base. Nobody played with passion like he did and nobody was a better cheerleader than he was. He may have only been 25 but his name will be forever Royal.

About me

I was born in a small town in SW Kansas. I moved to Enid, OK when I was in fifth grade and had to quickly make new friends. While living in Kansas, my dad was a sportswriter for the local newspaper. He covered the the local community college and reported for every sport. I attended every home game and begged my mom like crazy to let me go to the away games. She mostly said yes but school nights always seemed to get in the way during the week. Being around that environment I really started paying more attention to sports myself. I quickly found that I love to play golf and watch baseball. I started playing golf when I was five and have watched baseball as long as I could remember.

I am a big Royals fan and have been since I was young. It's been a rough few years but it finally seems to be turning around. I hope to work for a professional baseball team someday and would love to be a columnist. I hope to have a hall of fame vote and help decide who makes their way to Cooperstown.