Major League Baseball announced today that they're going to implement a rules change banning home plate collisions, potentially as early as next season. There's been talk about this for a while, but the powers that be were finally able to get their way and push it across. If the players' union approves it, the rules change goes into effect next year. Otherwise, it'll be implemented in 2015.
All of the delays in this rule being put into place got me optimistic. I was hoping they wouldn't actually do it. Because I think it's a mistake. It's an unnecessary overreaction to some freak injuries, most notably Buster Posey's season-ending broken leg in 2011. But mostly, you're changing the way the game is played. That's why I think it's the wrong move.
The whole point of baseball is trying to score more runs than the other team. Runners on third base are still going to round for home and try to score. Fielders are still going to throw home so that they can't. Collisions are inevitable. Especially when the ball and the runner get there at the same time.
Catchers are taught to block the plate. The good ones know how to do it right without getting hurt. Likewise, base runners are taught to try and knock the ball out of the catcher's glove, in addition to making sure they touch the plate. That's the way baseball is played. What's the alternative? Just letting the guy score?
Now you're telling them that they suddenly have to play the game differently. Under the new rule, catchers won't be allowed to block the plate and base runners won't be allowed to target catchers. And evidently the umpires will be able to immediately go to replay to determine whether or not either of those things occurred. The most ridiculous part is that catchers or runners who break the new rules will be subject to "disciplinary action." What that means exactly, who knows? Are they ejected from the game? Fined? Suspended?
Injury concerns are obviously a big reason why people pushed for this rules change. After Posey got hurt, everybody starting freaking out. You had GMs and managers telling their catchers not to block the plate, going against everything they've ever been taught since Little League. You had runners saying they were going to slide differently so that they wouldn't get hurt. If a catcher or base runner wants to take it upon himself to change the way he plays, that's his prerogative. But it's something different entirely to mandate it. Whether you're the team or the league.
They claim that concussions are another big worry that has led to this new rule. Well, guess what? There are plenty of other ways you can get a concussion playing baseball. Catchers can get a concussion from getting hit by a foul ball. Same thing with batters getting hit by a pitch. And runners can be sliding head first into second, get kneed in the head by the shortstop, and end up with a concussion that way (a la Justin Morneau). Then there are the two fielders from one team who run into each other, with one (or both) having to leave the game concussed. Or the outfielder trying to rob a home run who runs into the wall or gets hit in the head by the ball. Not to mention the line drives back to the mound, which opens up a whole other ball of wax.
I get what they're trying to do here, and I admire that their biggest concern is player safety. Before there was Posey, there was the most famous home plate collision of all-time, Pete Rose knocking out Ray Fosse to win the 1970 All-Star Game. Even though he played a few more years, Fosse's career was never the same. And that was the All-Star Game! It just goes to show the intensity that goes into the game. You had guys doing everything it took to win. That's the way baseball is supposed to be played.
That's the biggest reason why I'm opposed to a rules change banning plays at the plate. Plays at the plate are a part of baseball. It's been that way for 150 years. Sure, they're not banning plays at the plate per se, but in reality, that's what they're doing. And that's wrong. The worst part, too, is that this will inevitably trickle down into all levels of baseball, changing the sport completely. And not in a good way.
And if you didn't like a World Series game ending on a (correct) obstruction call, just wait until Game 7 of the World Series is decided when the winning run scored easily because the catcher wasn't allowed to block the plate. Yeah, great rule.
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