Take me out to a well-timed, fast-paced ball game!

By Ed Daniels, Sports
Clarion Herald

It almost seems laughable now.

Thirty-seven years ago, the NCAA implemented the shot clock in college basketball.

It was 45 seconds, and then later trimmed to 30 seconds.

The hue and cry was palpable. It was change, and a change for the better.

Which is exactly what is happening in college baseball and major league baseball.

The game is going faster. Thank goodness for that.

Spring training baseball made national news last Saturday when the Braves vs. Red Sox game ended on an automatic strike call because of a timing violation on Atlanta batter Cal Conley.

With the bases loaded and two outs in a tie game, Conley wasn’t ready to hit, according to the new rules. A strike was called by home plate umpire John Libka.

Game over.

How refreshing.

Among the new rules are that a pitch must be thrown in 15 seconds if the bases are empty and in 20 seconds if there are runners on base.

No more than 30 seconds can elapse between batters.

And, the batter must be alert to the pitcher with 8 seconds on the clock.

In 2022, in minor league baseball, the clock worked wonders.

Games were shortened by 25 minutes. In the first three days of major league spring training in 2023, games were shortened by 23 minutes, to an average of 2 hours, and 38 minutes.

Amen.

In college baseball, the Kansas State vs. LSU game ended when K-State’s Roberto Pena was called for a hitter’s clock violation.

So what happens when such a violation ends an NCAA Tournament game?

“That’s a great question,” said Tulane head coach Jay Uhlman, not a fan of the sped up game.

Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn, who recently won his 800th game, criticized the rules, noting that in a game, TCU stole six bases against his pitchers.

“If it gets down to three, two, one, they know our pitchers have to pitch,” said Van Horn as quoted by USA Today.

Oh, well.

Apparently, gone are the days when a pitcher was lauded for being a “quick worker.”

That, now applies to everyone.

The SEC also implemented a 10-run mercy rule that kicks in after the seventh inning.

Gone are the games when a team trails 15-3 and is on its seventh pitcher of the game.

In the meantime, jog back to 1968.

Game 7 of one of the great World Series matchups was lefty Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers against righthander Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Tigers won, 4-1, in two hours and seven minutes.

If the new rules bring us back closer to 55 years ago, that’s progress.

Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].