![\"Ernie](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/credit-gannett.jpg\")
<\/a>Ernie Banks, who passed away last Fri\u00adday, helped build a lega\u00adcy that for\u00admer Com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00ader Bud Selig pissed away. Recov\u00ader\u00ading from the Selig era will require big changes to the game. [Cred\u00adit: Gannett]<\/p><\/div>Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, whose prodi\u00adgious tal\u00adents were over\u00adshad\u00adowed by his irre\u00adpress\u00adible good cheer, passed away last Fri\u00adday, two days before Bud Selig stepped down as base\u00adball commissioner.\n
Mr. Banks will be missed.<\/p>\n
He was part of the gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan play\u00aders who trans\u00adformed the sport dur\u00ading the 1950s and 1960s, help\u00ading build a fan base that dete\u00adri\u00ado\u00adrat\u00aded dur\u00ading Selig\u2019s seem\u00ading\u00adly inter\u00adminable 23-year tenure. The task of restor\u00ading that fan base and sav\u00ading Mr. Banks\u2019 game now falls to Selig\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n
Banks began his pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal play\u00ading days at age 19<\/a> with the Kansas City Mon\u00adarchs of the Negro Leagues. He joined the Cubs in 1953 as part of the first gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan play\u00aders in major league base\u00adball. With the notable excep\u00adtion of Willie Mays, most of the play\u00aders in that gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion fol\u00adlowed Robinson\u2019s exam\u00adple of going about their busi\u00adness sto\u00adical\u00adly, sup\u00adpress\u00ading their emo\u00adtions and let\u00adting their per\u00adfor\u00admance on the field dis\u00adcred\u00adit racis\u00adm\u2019s hate\u00adful dogmas.<\/p>\n Banks was dif\u00adfer\u00adent, a man of unbri\u00addled ebul\u00adlience. Base\u00adball, with its grind of 162 games over the course of six months, gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly favors men of even tem\u00adpera\u00adment. Banks was not of that dis\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion. He rev\u00adeled in the game, par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly when played in what he called \u201cthe friend\u00adly con\u00adfines of Wrigley Field.\u201d<\/p>\n Those con\u00adfines were not so friend\u00adly to the home team. Through\u00adout his 19-year career, Banks played for some Cubs teams that were dread\u00adful and one that came heart\u00adbreak\u00ading\u00adly close to suc\u00adcess. The Cubs lost 1544<\/a> games dur\u00ading the 18 sea\u00adsons in which he played reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly, an aver\u00adage of near\u00adly 86 times per year. No man played in more major league games (2528<\/a>) with\u00adout ever appear\u00ading in the post-sea\u00adson. But that nev\u00ader damp\u00adened Banks\u2019 enthu\u00adsi\u00adasm. Through\u00adout long and dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00ading years that might have wound\u00aded a less\u00ader soul, the man known as Mr. Cub lived by the mot\u00adto of \u201cLet\u2019s play two!\u201d<\/p>\n Banks is remem\u00adbered more for that boy\u00adish fer\u00advor than for his accom\u00adplish\u00adments on the field. That is too bad. He was the sev\u00adenth<\/a> most pro\u00adduc\u00adtive play\u00ader of the 1950s as mea\u00adsured by a sta\u00adtis\u00adtic called Wins Above Replace\u00adment (WAR<\/span>), despite the fact that he didn\u2019t play reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly until 1954. His career WAR<\/span> ranks him 15th<\/sup><\/a> all-time among short\u00adstops, but that is deceiv\u00ading. Banks played just eight full sea\u00adsons (1954\u20131961) at that posi\u00adtion, before shift\u00ading to first base. Com\u00adpar\u00ading those eight sea\u00adsons against the first eight sea\u00adsons of oth\u00ader great short\u00adstops, Banks ranks third in WAR<\/span>, behind only Honus Wag\u00adn\u00ader and Alex Rodriguez, and ahead of Derek Jeter, Cal Rip\u00adken, Ozzie Smith, Lou Boudreau, Arky Vaugh\u00adan and every oth\u00ader short\u00adstop in the game\u2019s history.<\/p>\n He was twice MVP<\/span>, four\u00adteen times an All-Star, led the league in home runs and RBI<\/span> twice each, and won a Gold Glove. In 1955, he became the first short\u00adstop in his\u00adto\u00adry to hit 40 home runs, a mile\u00adstone he would sur\u00adpass four more times over the next five sea\u00adsons. In 1957, Hank Aaron won the Nation\u00adal League home run crown with 44; Banks hit 43. Banks would go on to lead the league in homers in two of the next three sea\u00adsons. Between 1954 and 1961, Banks hit 296 homers to Aaron\u2019s 253. A knee injury stunt\u00aded his offen\u00adsive out\u00adput and lim\u00adit\u00aded him defen\u00adsive\u00adly, result\u00ading in his shift to first base in 1962. But he remains one of the game\u2019s all-time slug\u00adgers, in 1970 becom\u00ading just the ninth<\/a> play\u00ader in his\u00adto\u00adry to hit 500 homers. He retired with 512.<\/p>\n Dur\u00ading Banks\u2019 gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, base\u00adball was inar\u00adguably the country\u2019s most pop\u00adu\u00adlar sport. He, Aaron, Mays, Frank Robin\u00adson and oth\u00aders became role mod\u00adels for the next gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan stars like Reg\u00adgie Jack\u00adson, Eddie Mur\u00adray, Dave Win\u00adfield and Willie Stargell.<\/p>\n Under Selig, whose tenure includ\u00aded a can\u00adceled World Series, a sus\u00adpend\u00aded All-Star game, two strikes and a lock\u00adout, and the worst scan\u00addal in the his\u00adto\u00adry of Amer\u00adi\u00adcan sport, the game\u2019s pop\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adi\u00adty declined, its TV<\/span> rat\u00adings cratered and Domini\u00adcans came to out\u00adnum\u00adber African Amer\u00adi\u00adcans on major league ros\u00adters. Baseball\u2019s fan base now con\u00adsists pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly of cau\u00adcasians who became acquaint\u00aded with the game dur\u00ading the 1950s and 1960s, the era of Banks, Aaron, Mays and Mantle.<\/p>\n The new com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00ader can\u00adnot hope to restore base\u00adball to its pre\u00advi\u00adous stature, but must get on with the work of remov\u00ading some of the rot of Selig\u2019s tenure. He should begin by address\u00ading the game\u2019s length and pace. In 1954, Banks\u2019 first full sea\u00adson in the big leagues, it took an aver\u00adage<\/a> of 2:23 to com\u00adplete a game. Last year, that had risen to 3:09. That is an extra 46 min\u00adutes of bat\u00adters step\u00adping out of the box, pitch\u00aders rub\u00adbing base\u00adballs while star\u00ading off into the dis\u00adtance, calls to the bullpen and litigation\u2019s lat\u00adest incur\u00adsion into Amer\u00adi\u00adcan cul\u00adture: appeals neces\u00adsi\u00adtat\u00ading end\u00adless replays.<\/p>\n Reduc\u00ading the length of games is eas\u00adi\u00adly accom\u00adplished by enforc\u00ading the rules. Rule 8.04<\/a> requires the pitch\u00ader to deliv\u00ader the ball with\u00adin 12 sec\u00adonds of receiv\u00ading it from the catch\u00ader, if the bases are emp\u00adty. In 2014, the game paused for an aver\u00adage of 23 sec\u00adonds<\/a> between pitch\u00ades, near\u00adly twice as long as the rules prescribe.<\/p>\n MLB<\/span> will begin to address this issue with the intro\u00adduc\u00adtion of a pitch clock in minor league games. Pitch\u00aders will be required to come set with\u00adin 20 sec\u00adonds of receiv\u00ading the ball from the catch\u00ader. The rules also would place a time lim\u00adit on pitch\u00ading changes, short\u00aden the break between innings, and require a hit\u00adter to keep one foot in the bat\u00adters box at all times. If those changes improve the pace of minor league games, own\u00aders may approve their incor\u00adpo\u00adra\u00adtion into major league base\u00adball by 2016.<\/p>\n A sec\u00adond tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy-based rule change would improve the game\u2019s integri\u00adty and per\u00adhaps short\u00aden games as well. That is the mat\u00adter of call\u00ading balls and strikes. A year ago, Scott Lind\u00adholm <\/a>of Beyond the Boxs\u00adcore pub\u00adlished an intrigu\u00ading study of how accu\u00adrate\u00adly umpires call ball and strikes. His con\u00adclu\u00adsion: not very accu\u00adrate\u00adly at all.<\/p>\n Using PITCHf\/x<\/a> tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy to exam\u00adine the near\u00adly 2.3 mil\u00adlion pitch\u00ades at which bat\u00adters did not swing over six sea\u00adsons, Lind\u00adholm found that umpires made the wrong call about 15 per\u00adcent of the time. That is more than 342,000 incor\u00adrect calls over the course of six sea\u00adsons, an aver\u00adage of more than 57,000 per year, or rough\u00adly 31 per game.<\/p>\n Those missed calls can pro\u00adfound\u00adly affect out\u00adcomes. One recent study<\/a> found that hit\u00adters bat\u00adted .338 with a 2\u20131 count, but just .178 with a 1\u20132 count. The dif\u00adfer\u00adence between call\u00ading a strike and call\u00ading a ball with a 1\u20131 count has enor\u00admous and poten\u00adtial\u00adly game-chang\u00ading impli\u00adca\u00adtions. The cumu\u00adla\u00adtive effect of 31 erro\u00adneous calls over the course of a game almost cer\u00adtain\u00adly out\u00adweighs the effect of plays that are sub\u00adject to time-con\u00adsum\u00ading reviews.<\/p>\n Lind\u00adholm found that the umpire with the worst per\u00adfor\u00admance erred 17 per\u00adcent of the time, while the best missed on 12.6 per\u00adcent of pitch\u00ades, about one pitch in eight. This sug\u00adgests that accu\u00adrate\u00adly call\u00ading balls and strikes is beyond the capac\u00adi\u00adty of even the most high\u00adly-trained and capa\u00adble umpires.<\/p>\n Research by Etan Green<\/a> of FiveThir\u00adtyEight Sports found evi\u00addence of psy\u00adcho\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal pat\u00adterns that con\u00adtribute to this inac\u00adcu\u00adra\u00adcy. His data show that umpires are far less like\u00adly to call a third strike or a fourth ball, a bias that results in longer plate appear\u00adances, more pitch\u00ades and longer games.<\/p>\n So why not relieve umpires of that respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty, Lind\u00adholm and Green argue? Tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy has advanced to the point that com\u00adput\u00aders can call balls and strikes quick\u00adly, with\u00adout emo\u00adtion and with near-per\u00adfect accu\u00adra\u00adcy. Imple\u00adment\u00ading this tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy would make the game more fair and calls more con\u00adsis\u00adtent, with\u00adout the dead\u00aden\u00ading side effects of replays and appeals.<\/p>\n Such a change would offend the sen\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties of most tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adists, of whom I am one. But we are not the peo\u00adple the new com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00ader should wor\u00adry much about. If we stayed with the game through the ghast\u00adly Selig era, we won\u2019t be dri\u00adven away by changes that short\u00aden games and adju\u00addi\u00adcate them more fair\u00adly. The chal\u00adlenge is to bring a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion raised on Insta\u00adgram and smart\u00adphones to a game that flour\u00adished in the age of radio and black-and-white television.<\/p>\n Base\u00adball will nev\u00ader recov\u00ader the stature it held when Ernie Banks played in the friend\u00adly con\u00adfines. But the new com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00ader can per\u00adhaps make some sen\u00adsi\u00adble changes that can save Mr. Banks\u2019 game from becom\u00ading a muse\u00adum piece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, whose prodi\u00adgious tal\u00adents were over\u00adshad\u00adowed by his irre\u00adpress\u00adible good cheer, passed away last Fri\u00adday, two days before Bud Selig stepped down as base\u00adball com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00ader. Mr. Banks will be missed. He was part of the gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading