Craig Robinson from www.flipflopflyball.com has a great infographic showing all the leagues and teams in Mexico. You can see it below:
Perhaps this explains the current 17 major leaguers of Mexican nationality!
Recent Posts
Monday, January 6, 2014
Mexican Baseball
Our neighbors to the south are typically thought of to be a soccer nation; however, that doesn't mean they aren't huge baseball fans as well!
Craig Robinson from www.flipflopflyball.com has a great infographic showing all the leagues and teams in Mexico. You can see it below:
Perhaps this explains the current 17 major leaguers of Mexican nationality!
Craig Robinson from www.flipflopflyball.com has a great infographic showing all the leagues and teams in Mexico. You can see it below:
Perhaps this explains the current 17 major leaguers of Mexican nationality!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Home Plate
Happy New Year! Very eager for the beginning of the 2014 baseball season. On that note, isn't great that this sport is not split into two years, like all other major sports? There is something beautiful about being able to bookmark each season in one year.
For this week's post, we will delve back into an official MLB baseball rule that was recently brought to my attention.
That looks something like this:
The rule doesn't explicitly state that the angle between the two sides that are 12 inches in length has to be a 90 degree, right angle, but it does state that baselines at first base and third base should be 90 degree, as well as at second base, thus necessitating that this angle be 90 degree at home plate. This is IMPOSSIBLE!
Thinking back to our geometry days, the Pythagorean theorem tells us that a2 + b2 = c2. Here, "a" equals 12 inches, "b" equals 12 inches, and "c" equals 17 inches. This is where it falls apart. 122 + 122 = 288, but 172 = 289! It just doesn't work!
It's definitely amusing to think that the official MLB rule book specifies a home plate shape that is impossible!
For this week's post, we will delve back into an official MLB baseball rule that was recently brought to my attention.
1.05 Home base shall be marked by a five-sided slab of whitened rubber. It shall be a 17-inch square with two of the corners removed so that one edge is 17 inches long, two adjacent sides are 8 1/2 inches and the remaining two sides are 12 inches and set at an angle to make a point. It shall be set in the ground with the point at the intersection of the lines extending from home base to first base and to third base; with the 17-inch edge facing the pitcher’s plate, and the two 12-inch edges coinciding with the first and third base lines. The top edges of home base shall be beveled and the base shall be fixed in the ground level with the ground surface
That looks something like this:
The rule doesn't explicitly state that the angle between the two sides that are 12 inches in length has to be a 90 degree, right angle, but it does state that baselines at first base and third base should be 90 degree, as well as at second base, thus necessitating that this angle be 90 degree at home plate. This is IMPOSSIBLE!
Thinking back to our geometry days, the Pythagorean theorem tells us that a2 + b2 = c2. Here, "a" equals 12 inches, "b" equals 12 inches, and "c" equals 17 inches. This is where it falls apart. 122 + 122 = 288, but 172 = 289! It just doesn't work!
It's definitely amusing to think that the official MLB rule book specifies a home plate shape that is impossible!
Monday, December 23, 2013
Astrodome
Earlier this month, demolition of Houston, Texas's Astrodome began. While too outdated to be renovated now, when it opened on April 9, 1965, it was a state-of-the-art facility, the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium. It's home team baseball team, the Houston Astros, has changed their name from Colt .45s upon moving into the Astrodome. Their old name played a large part in why the honorees decided rather than to use a traditional shovel for the ground breaking ceremonies, a different...tool, would be more appropriate.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Disaster Draft
It's something you may (or may not) have thought about before. What would happen in the catastrophic event that a Major League Baseball team were to lose a large portion of their team? A charter bus goes off the road, a plane loses an engine, or some other terrible event? Well that, my friends, would call for a "disaster draft."
In the event that a team disaster ever occurred in which at least five players were dismembered, disabled, or killed, MLB has a contingency plan, built around some sort of "disaster draft" designed to restock the team in the event of such a tragedy. This plan is covered in Rule 29 of its official rules. The way it would work would be that each team has to make five players available for a draft taken from its active list (or if it's during the off-season, during its reserve list.) This list would include a pitcher, a catcher, an outfielder, and infielder, and one more player of any position. A player with a no-trade clause in its contract would not be made available, unless the player waives that clause.
It makes sense to have a plan in place, but it would be a heavy undertaking to do. How would players moving to the new team feel, knowing their are replacing deceased players? Let's hope we never have to find out.
In the event that a team disaster ever occurred in which at least five players were dismembered, disabled, or killed, MLB has a contingency plan, built around some sort of "disaster draft" designed to restock the team in the event of such a tragedy. This plan is covered in Rule 29 of its official rules. The way it would work would be that each team has to make five players available for a draft taken from its active list (or if it's during the off-season, during its reserve list.) This list would include a pitcher, a catcher, an outfielder, and infielder, and one more player of any position. A player with a no-trade clause in its contract would not be made available, unless the player waives that clause.
It makes sense to have a plan in place, but it would be a heavy undertaking to do. How would players moving to the new team feel, knowing their are replacing deceased players? Let's hope we never have to find out.