Opinion: Baseball is losing its entertainment value. It’s time to change the rules

This is worth reading from George Will.

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Opinion by

George F. Will

Columnist

July 9, 2021|Updated July 9, 2021 at 5:17 p.m. EDT

Even if you belong in the basket of deplorables — Americans uninterested in baseball — you should be intrigued by the sport’s current problems. At the all-star break, Major League Baseball’s 2021 season is demonstrating, redundantly, that the quality of the game as entertainment is declining. Paradoxically, the problems arise from reasonable behavior based on abundant accurate information.

Improved technology generates data about pitches’ spin rates, the launch angles of batters’ swings, particular batters’ tendencies on particular pitches and much more. Improved kinesiology increases pitching velocity. The results include a slower pace of play, diminished action, fewer balls in play and more of them handled by radically repositioned infielders.

Five seasons ago, there were 3,294 more hits than strikeouts. Three seasons ago, strikeouts edged past hits. Writer Jayson Stark notes that until 2018 there had never been a month with more strikeouts than hits. This April there were almost 1,100 more strikeouts than hits, and writer Tyler Kepner says this season is on a pace for approximately 5,000 more strikeouts than hits. Twenty-four percent of plate appearances end in strikeouts (they are increasing for the 16th consecutive season, partly because today’s average fastball’s velocity is 93.8 mph, 2.7 mph more than 14 years ago. As of mid-June, the .238 collective major league batting average was 15 points below 2019. In 2015, teams shifted infielders on 9.6 percent of all pitches. This season, teams are shifting on 32 percent (usually an infielder in shallow right field), which will erase perhaps 600 hits.

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With pitchers dawdling to recover between high-exertion, high-velocity pitches and with 36 percent of at-bats ending with home runs, strikeouts or walks, around four minutes pass, on average, between balls put in play. Players spend much more time with leather on their hands than with wood in their hands, but have fewer and fewer opportunities to display their athleticism as fielders. Home runs predominate because scoring by hitting a ball far over defensive shifts is more likely than hitting three singles, through shifts, off someone throwing 98 mph fastballs and 90 mph secondary pitches. This means fewer baserunners. In 2021, there probably will be 1,000 fewer stolen bases than 10 years ago.

Writer Tom Verducci notes that in the last 26 minutes of 2020’s most-watched game, the final World Series game, just two balls were put in play. In this game, the ball was put in play every 6.5 minutes, and half the outs were strikeouts.

More pitches and less contact. Longer games (13 minutes 17 seconds longer than a decade ago) and less action. No wonder fans who have been neurologically rewired by their digital devices’ speeds are seeking other entertainments. Major league attendance has fallen 14 percent from its 2007 peak.

Last season, MLB made an action-creating change — a runner is placed on second base to begin each extra half-inning. And MLB is experimenting with other changes in various minor leagues.

Because pitching velocity is suffocating offense, MLB could move the pitcher’s mound back a foot (from today’s 60 feet six inches) to give batters more reaction time. The changed physiology of pitchers has, in effect, moved the mound closer to home plate: In the 1950s, the Yankee’s 5-foot 10-inch Whitey Ford had a Hall of Fame career. Today, 6-foot 4-inch pitchers, with long arms and long strides, release the ball significantly closer to the plate than Ford did.

Requiring four infielders to be on the infield dirt — or, even bolder, requiring two infielders to be on the dirt on each side of second base — as the pitch is thrown, would reduce reliance on home runs, which are four seconds of action, followed by a leisurely 360-foot trot. A 20-second pitch clock might reduce velocity by reducing pitchers’ between-pitches recovery time. And by quickening baseball’s tempo, the clock might prevent batters from wandering away from the batter’s box and ruminating between pitches. Stolen bases might increase if pitchers had to step off the rubber before throwing to first base. After a walk and then a steal, one single would produce a score.

Baseball fans, a temperamentally conservative tribe, viscerally oppose de jure changes to their game. They must, however, acknowledge the damage done to it by this century’s cumulatively momentous de facto changes in the way it is played. What Edmund Burke said of states is pertinent: “A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.”

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3 Ways To Make Your Thank-You Note Stand Out After a Job Interview

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Larry is back after a few weeks of being slammed. Here, from ZipRecruiter on June 28, 2021 are Thank You Note tips. There is much more in Litwin’s The Public relations Practitioner’s Playbook for (all) Strategic CommunicatorsEnjoy. Questions? larry@larrylitwin.com…

You nailed the job interview! Or maybe you didn’t.

Either way, you still have one more chance to stand out and leave a good impression: the post-interview thank-you email.

(Yes, an email is perfectly acceptable. Especially these days when your interviewer could be working remotely.)

57% of job candidates don’t send a follow-up note after an interview. Which is bad for them, but good news for you. The secret to a good thank-you email is to talk about the interviewer, not yourself. A little-known secret about interviewers is that…they’re people too! And they love positive feedback just as much as you do.

Here are three ways to do it:

  1. Share How They Have Increased Your Enthusiasm

Hopefully, you conveyed how excited you were about the job during your interview. Your email can express how speaking with the interviewer kicked that excitement up another level. Then say why. This message will make the person you met feel good that they represented their company, and themselves, well. And when you make them feel good, they’ll feel good about you.

  1. Show That You Were Listening

For this approach, mention one or two topics that stuck with you. These could be anything they shared about the company, their department, or your industry as a whole. When you repeat something they said, it demonstrates that you were listening…and that your interviewer said something worth listening to.

  1. Highlight Their Best Moment

In this type of thank-you note, call out a question the interviewer asked or something they said, which taught you something or made you change your mind. Then, ask a related follow-up question. This is a great way to keep the conversation going, and gives you more opportunities to provide further insight into what you would contribute to the role.

A post-interview thank-you note is often the final impression you leave with a hiring manager. While your actual interview will likely be the main factor in whether you get the job, the right follow-up could seal the deal.

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Hashtag

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There is much more in Litwin’s The Public relations Practitioner’s Playbook for (all) Strategic Communicators and The ABCs of Strategic Communication. Enjoy.

Hashtag – The # symbol, called a hashtag (some refer to it as a hash mark),
is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. It was created by Twitter® users
as a way to categorize messages – tweets – by keyword. Also,(on-social-networking websites) a word or phrase preceded by a hashtag, used within a
message to identify a keyword or topic of interest  and facilitate a search for it
(e.g. The hashtag #PRPractitioner’sPlaybook is used to help coordinate tweets
about The Public Relations Practitioner’s Playbook for (all) Strategic
Communicators.)

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Hard Money vs. Soft Money

There is much more in Litwin’s The Public relations Practitioner’s Playbook for (all) Strategic Communicators and The ABCs of Strategic Communication. Enjoy.

Hard Money = Donations made directly to a political candidate. Hard
money is regulated by federal laws (Federal Election Commission) that
limit the amount a person can donate to a candidate.

[Questions? larry@larrylitwin.com]

Gross vs. Net

There is much more in Litwin’s The Public relations Practitioner’s Playbook for (all) Strategic Communicators and The ABCs of Strategic Communication. Enjoy.

gross vs. net – Gross refers to the total and net refers to the part of
the total that really matters. For example, net income for a business is
the profit after all expenses, overhead, taxes and interest payments are
deducted from the gross income. Similarly, gross weight refers to the total
weight of the goods and the container and packaging. On the other hand,
net weight refers to only the weight of the goods in question. When it
comes to earned income: gross income is before taxes and deductions, and
net income is after taxes and other deductions.

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Crowd Funding

There is much more in Litwin’s The Public relations Practitioner’s Playbook for (all) Strategic Communicators and The ABCs of Strategic Communication. Enjoy.

Crowd Funding = Using social media or other Internet site (e.g.
kickstarter®) to raise money for charities, starting a business or other
“legitimate project or venture.

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Cosmeceutical

There is much more in Litwin’s The Public relations Practitioner’s Playbook for (all) Strategic Communicators and The ABCs of Strategic Communication. Enjoy.

Cosmeceutical = A combination cosmetic and pharmaceutical. A
cosmetic claiming to have medicinal benefits. Cosmeceuticals are usually
topically applied – lotions, creams and ointments.

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Habits of the highly employable that you can pick up

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From the Courier-Post and “the job network” on Jan. 28, 2021. Check out the full story.

In a job search, it can be so easy to fall into ruts and passive roles while you wait for things to happen. If you are looking to refresh yourself and your “hireability” in going forward, there are several things that highly employable people do — and you can, too.

  1. Be proactive
  2. Know your worth
  3. Keep that network up and running
  4. Take ownership
  5. Be a good listener
  6. Always be growing
  7. Be positive

[Questions – larry@larrylitwin.com]

Take Aways from Amazon Career day

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From ZipRecruiter and Courier-Post on October 18, 2020

  1. When it comes to your resume, simple is better
  2. Be honest about gaps
  3. New qualifications or certifications can help
  4. The interview isn’t about you

[Questions – larry@larrylitwin.com]