A Poem on the Flaws of Fielding Percentage
Posted by Neil Paine on December 10, 2010
Chances
"When the fielder loves his record
More than victory for his team
Doubtful chances miss his glances
For his caution is extreme.
Going after every grounder
Means a slip-up here and there,
And in terror of an error
He will choose the chances fair.
Spotless records are enticing
In a ball game as in life,
And the cunning pick their running
To avoid the stony strife.
Many a mortal swaggers slowly
Down the years in proud parade,
Boasting to the meek and lowly
Of the slips he never made.
Well it is that wise commanders,
When they call for sterling men,
Place the workers o'er the shirkers
Though they err and err again.
Men who try and fall when trying
Try again and win at last,
Never brooding, never sighing
O'er the errors of the past."
-- William F. Kirk
Think criticism of fielding percentage is a modern phenomenon, perhaps borne out of hatred for Derek Jeter?
This poem was written in 1917.
(Special hat tip to SABR's Baseball Research Journal for the poem.)
December 10th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Franklin Pierce Adams, make room for The Norsk Nightingale!
December 10th, 2010 at 11:13 am
Brilliant!
December 10th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Great find. I love "in terror of an error." Though in fairness, that would apply to someone like Steve Garvey, who preferred to run the ball to the bag himself rather than toss it to the pitcher covering, than to someone like Jeter, who simply isn't quick enough to make the play.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:30 am
sometimes playing it safe and not risking an error is the correct way to play, games can be lost by players trying to do too much with disasterous results.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Sure Joe, but games can be won as well.
December 10th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Games are won with smarts not stats.
December 10th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
#6 - Satire?
December 10th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
@4
If you let the ball go, its a hit. If you try and boot it, its an error.
The extreme example this year is Derek Jeter and Cliff Pennington:
DJ: 1303.2 Innings, 182 PO, 365 A, 100 DP, 6 E, .989 FPct
CP: 1304.2 Innings, 218 PO, 496 A, 94 DP, 25 E, .966 FPct
I know there are caveats to this. Oppurtunities don't always match up due to strikeout and groundball rates and stuff like that. Still, that's a lot of extra outs generated by Pennington in extra for "just" 19 extra errors.
December 10th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Re #8, see also Starlin Castro, who made some horrible plays in the field but also some great ones, and also was learning how to play the position on-the-fly:
DJ: 1303.2 Innings, 182 PO, 365 A, 100 DP, 6 E, .989 FPct
CP: 1304.2 Innings, 218 PO, 496 A, 94 DP, 25 E, .966 FPct
SC: 1073.2 Innings, 183 PO, 334 A, 74 DP, 27 E, .950 FPct
I think I'll take the guy who is 16 years younger. As far as the lower DP for the Cubs, that's probably partially due to Theriot (SS)/DeWitt (3B) playing 2B rather than Robbie Cano.
December 10th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
“[Donie] Bush’s career [as a manager] was during an era of rapidly increasing double plays. An average team when Bush broke in would turn about 85 double plays a season. By 1930, the average was over 150 per season. Bush apparently never adjusted; he continued to think about ‘being sure you get one,’ which was the prevailing idea at the beginning of his career. It cost him dearly, because in modern baseball you can’t win if you can’t turn two.” NBJHBA, p. 623.
In the war-shortened 1918 season, Bush played short in every one of the Tigers' 128 games, and was involved in 29 double plays. What, did someone whisper to him that DPs hurt America's war effort?
December 10th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
@8,
Jeter is not "letting it go by", he just cannot get to the ball.
It is easier for a guy with limited range (Jeter) to make the play on the ball he gets to because his lack of momentum at the time he fields it. Wheras someone like Pennington (more quickness) may bobble some more because he might be in postion to field, but a little out of control due to his momentum. It is not because he tried to make a great diving play and the ball went off his glove. I don't know the breakdown of errors, but it is possible someone with many errors makes more throws that he shouldn't (bad throws are no excuse, no matter your range, that is when you start to give away bases).
I have been watching baseball a long time and I know that tough chances (where someone has to dive) are NOT errors, unless the official scorer is particularly strict. You make it sound like anything someone gets a glove on is automatically an error...not true.
December 10th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
@11
How can you mention a fielder being out of control due to momentum in terms of fielding the ball, then disregard that momentum when you say there is no excuse for a bad throw? A fielder won't have as much time to set his feet on balls near the edge of his range.
December 11th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I just got word -- my library is selling off their Shakespeare collection in anticipation of Neil Paine's first offerings.
December 11th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
I smile when I'm watching the Yanks and there's a grounder hit to the SS side of 2B---------and Jeter doesn't even make it into the picture... I mean... WHERE IS HE!? It's almost like he runs to his RIGHT on contact or something.
December 12th, 2010 at 1:18 am
Why nobody wants to write a poem on the Flaws of Umpiring Percentage? Umpires are now the greatest scourage of major league, and they have a good 20% chance of mistakes.
I don't think they are worth writing a poem about (they deserve expletives, not poems), but some of the umpire kiss-assers frequenting this blog could write a great poem rebuting my opinion.
December 12th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Great find Neil!
December 13th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
The Hoosier in me recognizes a clever parody of "When The Frost Is On The Pumpkin" by the immortal James Whitcomb Riley.