A: Not at all. Those road teams also get 81 home games for chances to walk-it-off. So it evens out. It is one of baseball’s great nuances, even though I despise the extra-innings free runner plopped on second base. What’s great about baseball is that with a lead late in a game, a quarterback can’t take a knee three times to run out the clock. A pitcher has to throw the ball until he gets the last out or give up a walk-off home run.
Q: Whatever happened to Scooter Gennett after his four homers in one game? — GREG, Beavercreek.
A: He is alive and well, living in Parrish, Fla. as a farmer and rancher. And he is a volunteer coach for a youth baseball team. On June 6, 2017, Gennett hit four home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals in Great American Ball Park and tied a franchise record with 10 RBI. At 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds he probably is the smallest player among the 19 to hit four homers in a game. And the Reds wore military camouflage uniforms that day, but nobody missed what he did.
Q: I noticed the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox don’t have their players names on the backs of their uniforms and what is the reason? — ARTHUR, West Chester.
A: Snobbishness. They believe fans know who the players are. After all, they have numbers. Boston does have names on their road uniforms. The Yankees don’t have names on home or road uniforms. They are the only two teams in MLB that don’t. The first team to wear names on the uniforms was Bill Veeck’s 1960 Chicago White Sox. As far as numbers go, the 1927 Yankees are credited as the first to wear numbers. Not true. They were supposed to be but that game got rained out. The next day the Cleveland Indians wore numbers and became the first. Don’t the Yankees always get credit for stuff they didn’t do?
Q: Why does the home plate umpire sometimes trot out to the mound to talk to the pitcher? — PENNIE, Springfield.
A: He doesn’t trot, he walks slowly as befitting his age. And he isn’t going out there to ask the pitcher how the family dog is doing. He goes out there when the pitching coach is on the mound to calm a struggling pitcher or to buy time for a relief pitcher to warm up. The umpire gives them a brief time to chat, then strolls to the mound to tell the pitching coach, “Make up your mind. Are you bringing in the relief pitcher? Let’s speed things up.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: What is the weight and dimensions of a major league baseball? — MARGIE, New Albany, Ind.
A: As important as a baseball is, one might think each one is exactly like the other. Not so. The ball can weigh anywhere between 5 ounces and 5.25 ounces. And the circumference can be anywhere between 9 and 9.25 inches. That’s probably because each ball is hand-made and hand-stitched in Turrialba, Costa Rica. There are 108 double stitches on each ball, sewn by hand, until Elly De La Cruz unstitches them.
Q: Are any players still using torpedo bats? — JACK, Miamisburg.
A: Torpedo bats were the rage during spring training and early this season, a bowling pin-shaped bat with the bulging barrel shifted closer to the middle. Call it a fad like hula hoops, mood rings, pet rock and Chia pets. The fascination quickly ebbed and has nearly disappeared. Several New York Yankees still use them (Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe) and it looks as if sometimes Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz hefts one at home plate.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: Are all minor league dugouts on the third base side because the managers coach third base? — DAVE, Dayton.
A: No, not at all. Actually, most dugouts are on the first base side. Mostly it has to do with stadium design or historical significance. For some unexplained reason, when architects design stadiums they put the larger clubhouse (the home team’s) on the first base side with tunnels leading to the dugout. Pete Rose said he preferred playing first base, “Because the home team dugout was on the first base side and I had a shorter distance to cover after each inning.”
Q: Does the blonde nutritionist really need to hang around the Reds dugout during games? — ED, Kettering.
A: Here’s hoping you aren’t being sexist and saying women don’t belong in the dugout. You didn’t ask why the Reds need two male athletic trainers in the dugout. The nutritionist is Ashley Meuser and you never know when a player might try to sneak a Snickers or a bag of M&Ms into his mouth before he bats. Her on-line profile describes her duties as to design, implement and manage safe and effective nutrition strategies that enhance health, fitness and optimal performance. No Reese’s Pieces.
Q: During spring training do MLB teams give classes to teach players how to spit? — NADINE, Englewood.
A: No, they don’t. It comes naturally to baseball players, just as it is natural for them to scratch in certain places when the TV camera is focused on them. But one thing is for certain, if any Cincinnati Reds player wants to learn how to spit sunflower seeds all they have to do is visit manager Tito Francona’s office.
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