Advances in Sports Technology - A Comment

Over the years, incremental advances in technology have accumulated to proportions which clearly affect the games today. We are interested in baseball, and it is apparent that the game does not have the same focus and emphasis that it had several decades ago. We have had several threads relating to high-tech metal bats that I have contributed to. It is clear from the data presented by Sam Baum (http://www.baumbat.com) that the new bats represent slight increases in ball exit velocity, but more importantly, have a significantly greater sweet spot, resulting in hard hits by typically weaker players.

And as you know, there was an hour television program relating to the "danger" of metal bats, and the controversy was (rather pitifully) "summarized." Baum's data relating to the use of metal and wood bats by the same players also clearly demonstrated the decreased number of homeruns/at bat, and the batting averages when using wood.

We talk of injuries, and we review (with alarm) the video of Ryan Mills, and the kid from Australia with a metal plate in his head. Yet, we claim that the data regarding injuries in "statistically insufficient" to establish the link between the "hot" bats and injuries. The other side claims that we should not wait for injuries to occur, when we have established that they are likely (eventually).

This is not a new problem, but a historical one. Nowadays we claim that in the "old days" pitchers couldn't throw 100 mph, and that high batting averages were due to either decreased skills of the players (overall) or small gloves, bad scorekeeping, bad field conditions, etc., etc., etc.

Advances in technology are significantly altering other sports as well. In a golf tournament this year, someone shot four under par for four rounds (totaling 16 UNDER par), and didn't finish in the top ten! The average driving distance (now using the "bigger-than-big" clubs made of titanium) has increased over 50 yards, and a number of players now hit a six-iron for the second shot to a five par! What do we do? Go back to hickory shafts - and the stymie? Lengthen older (and classic) courses? Use balls filled with feathers and sand greens?

It is time for those who not only watch our favorite sport, but LOVE it, to decide how we want to handle these problems - most of which relate to technology development.

In both cases, with more home runs, more hits, higher batting averages (baseball), and 300+ yard drives, and 20+ under par scores (golf), the subtleties of the game are overshadowed (as Craig pointed out) by the technology. In baseball we HAVE lost the dramatics of the "short game" (bunting, squeezes, hit-and-run), and most of all, the beauty of the masterful pitching performance and quality defensive plays.

In a way it is analogous to a trip - one by car on the freeway at high speed and the other by motorcycle on the back roads. In the former, because of the speed (and the windows closed for the air conditioning) you see only the highlights flashing by - things seen by ALL of the motorists on the route. On the other hand, on the motorcycle on the back roads, you not only SEE but use your other senses to EXPERIENCE the environment. You smell the odor of freshly mown hay, cooking fragrances, wild grass, and feel the coolness of the air on your face.

It is time for us to decide. Which mode of travel do we want? And what are we willing to pay for it?

-b-