[Ads-l] WSJ covers "batting around"

Tue Apr 21 19:31:27 UTC 2015

http://www.wsj.com/articles/mlb-heres-a-perplexing-question-to-bat-around-1429571356

MLB: Here’s a Perplexing Question to Bat AroundWhat constitutes batting
around in an inning? ‘Niners’ and ‘Team 10’ can’t agree
[image: The Mets sent exactly nine men to the plate in the third inning at
Washington on April 9. Did they bat around?]ENLARGE
The Mets sent exactly nine men to the plate in the third inning at
Washington on April 9. Did they bat around? PHOTO: ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED
PRESS
By
JARED DIAMOND
April 20, 2015 7:09 p.m. ET
19 COMMENTS
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/mlb-heres-a-perplexing-question-to-bat-around-1429571356?tesla=y#livefyre-comment>

The phrase “batting around” has existed in baseball as long as anybody can
remember. It originated more than a century ago and remains a ubiquitous
part of the sport’s lexicon.

But what does it mean? Among baseball’s most ardent fans, players and
officials, there is no consensus about how many hitters must reach the
plate in an inning to constitute batting around.

The debate has been raging for years in the sandlot baseball league of New
York attorney Brian Mangan. Seeking to settle it, Mangan tweeted a question
on March 13: “Batting around—is that when all 9 hitters bat, or does the
first guy need to bat twice?”
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As a contributor to MetsBlog, a popular website, Mangan boasts a
baseball-loving Twitter following. Dozens responded, their views divided
about equally on whether it takes nine or 10 batters to bat around. Some of
the answers included elaborate graphics—diagrams, circles, lines and
arrows—in support of either argument. “Call me when ‘around the clock’
means 25 hours,” wrote a proud Niner.

It turns out that batting around has no official definition and isn’t an
official MLB statistic. Followers of the game tend to assume that their own
interpretation is by-the-book right.
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When the question was posed to New York Mets captain David Wright, he
didn’t hesitate. “Ten,” he said.

As far as Wright was concerned, nobody could disagree. To prove as much, he
called over his teammate, John Mayberry Jr. Mayberry said nine, just as
emphatically. Wright was stunned.

As the debate spread beyond the Mets’ players and fans, so did the divide.
Colorado Rockies relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins, a 42-year-old in his 21st
major-league season, came out in favor of 10. So did Bobby Valentine, who
has spent 16 years as the manager of the Texas Rangers, Mets and Boston Red
Sox. Josh Satin, an infielder in the Cincinnati Reds organization, says the
correct answer is nine.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, stands at odds with Wiktionary, its
online-dictionary sister. “When the player who led off the inning makes a
second plate appearance in the same inning, it is called ‘batting around,’”
says Wikipedia. Wiktionary says batting around means “to have at least nine
batters bat in a half inning.”
[image: The Padres' four-run ninth inning against the Cubs on Saturday—in
which nine came up to the plate, including Wil Myers, left, and Will
Middlebrooks—wouldn’t qualify as batting around to some.]ENLARGE
The Padres' four-run ninth inning against the Cubs on Saturday—in which
nine came up to the plate, including Wil Myers, left, and Will
Middlebrooks—wouldn’t qualify as batting around to some. PHOTO: PAUL
BEATY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Of course, most fans first hear the term from the mouths of their local
announcers. Is it possible that announcers of MLB games share a unified
view of batting around? When the debate spread to the Mets’ radio
broadcast, play-by-play man Howie Rose argued that it took only nine
batters to bat around.

But Vin Scully, the legendary broadcaster who has been calling Dodgers
games since 1950, disagrees. A team spokesman said that Scully belongs to
Team 10, because “the term ‘around’ implies that you’re back to the top.”

Proponents of the 10-batter theory argue that the circle isn’t complete
unless the batter who started the inning (or another batter in that place)
returns to the plate. They equate the nine-batter theory with running a
marathon and stopping at the finish line rather than crossing it.

Niners, meanwhile, argue that a team has batted around when every player in
the order has completed his turn at-bat—even if the ninth batter makes the
final out.

In the record-keeping world, it seems the answer is nine.

Elias Sports Bureau Inc., MLB’s official statistician, says that nine or
more batters in an inning constitute batting around. Stats LLC says that
nine or more complete plate appearances constitutes batting around. Stats
adds that, “This is an ‘unofficial’ stat, so there isn’t an official
definition.”

At stake in the nine-versus-10 debate is the relative rarity of batting
around. Last year in the majors, a team completed nine plate appearances in
an inning 532 times, according to Stats. In the same year, “at least 10
batters for a team reached plate in one inning 226 times,” says Stats.

So batting around appears to be twice as rare if it requires at least 10
batters.
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The lack of an official answer doesn’t help Mangan. It merely confirmed for
him that in this debate there is no middle ground. “Nobody said, ‘Yes, I
can totally understand your opinion,’ ” Mangan said. “It’s, ‘What are you
talking about? You’re crazy!’ ”

Though MLB lacks an official batting-around definition, it does have an
official historian, John Thorn. “The derivation of many of our baseball
terms is cloaked in fog,” said Thorn.

But Thorn believes he has the answer. He said in a recent interview that
the phrase batting around “almost certainly” comes from a game that was a
precursor to baseball called town ball, which was played in North America
in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In this cricket-like game, an entire side batted before an inning was over.
In at least one variation, Thorn said, there was an added stipulation: If
the last player in the order hit a home run, the entire lineup would bat
again—or “bat around.”

Based on that history, the answer should be 10. “It’s what makes sense,”
Thorn said.

Write to Jared Diamond at jared.diamond at wsj.com
DanG

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