[Ads-l] WSJ covers "batting around"

Tue Apr 21 21:02:42 UTC 2015

Neat.  I've been using that term for 60 years (well, not all that often, I concede) without ever realizing the tension between these two possible senses. And I have no idea which one is more intuitive.  I feel sort of like I have the deja vu of whether the century ended on 12/31/1999 or 12/31/2000 all over again.  And what if the first guy up is pinch-run for after getting on base, so when it comes around to that place in the order there's a different guy who needs to hit.  Then "the first guy" can never "bat twice" in the inning, but that shouldn't matter for the 10-guys-have-to-come-to-bat side in the dispute.  Maybe "the first guy" has to be interpreted more abstractly.  Or we just declare the other side (the only-9-guys-have-to-come-to-bat adherents) the winners by fiat.  Wars have been fought over less.

LH

> On Apr 21, 2015, at 3:31 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.wsj.com_articles_mlb-2Dheres-2Da-2Dperplexing-2Dquestion-2Dto-2Dbat-2Daround-2D1429571356&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=aEKfqgQmD1THpdxAyL0gNLcxEI1r1CBmG6tHJqZae2c&s=jX4Vs0kqcgZ5WYbpvCo_rVc9sroPIetR3EToH72uiIA&e= 
> 
> 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
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.wsj.com_articles_mlb-2Dheres-2Da-2Dperplexing-2Dquestion-2Dto-2Dbat-2Daround-2D1429571356-3Ftesla-3Dy-23livefyre-2Dcomment&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=aEKfqgQmD1THpdxAyL0gNLcxEI1r1CBmG6tHJqZae2c&s=mq7DL4X3Z5yWed_v3x9tSvmzfiXgH2ZlWk3cmw04Obc&e= >
> 
> 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?”
> WHICH TEAM IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
> [image: The MLB Fan Compatibility Test: What if finding a favorite team
> worked more like online dating, where prospective companions can be
> filtered by compatibility? Which team would you end up with? To find out
> which team is truly right for you, just answer a few questions.]ENLARGE
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__graphics.wsj.com_mlbteams_&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=aEKfqgQmD1THpdxAyL0gNLcxEI1r1CBmG6tHJqZae2c&s=h-kJZoroygtjVIxOQXjd7Wjtr-_m2isIleRH8kfzIBA&e= >
> The MLB Fan Compatibility Test: What if finding a favorite team worked more
> like online dating, where prospective companions can be filtered by
> compatibility? Which team would you end up with? To find out which team is
> truly right for you, just answer a few questions.
> 
> 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.
> Advertisement
> 
> 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.
> MORE MLB
> 
> 
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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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