Press Box: MLB rule change is not in the best interest for baseball

News Tribune Sports Commentary

For the most part, rules are made to be changed.

Take sports, for example. Football added replay to cut down the number of incorrect calls. Basketball implemented the shot clock to speed up the game. Hockey inserted shootouts following overtime to eliminate the possibility of tie games.

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AP

Chicago Blackhawks' Marcus Kruger (16), left, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the third period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey playoffs Western Conference semifinal against the Detroit Red Wings in Chicago, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

More often than not, rule changes make the sport better. That's a good thing.

But Major League Baseball announced a rule change last week that was a head-scratcher for me, a rule I consider to be a not-so-good thing.

The MLB issued a proposal to have intentional walks without pitches this year, and the players' association agreed to the rule change. Instead of pitchers throwing four balls, someone will just have to hold up four fingers to intentionally put a runner on first base.

The rule change will go into effect this season.

Look, I get it. There are plenty of pros to this move. It moves the game along a tad quicker - albeit just 20-30 seconds each time an intentional walk is issued, and there were 932 of them last season - and pitchers don't have to worry about losing their rhythm, throwing four bad pitches and then expecting to turn around and throw strikes to the next batter.

Speeding up the game is a big issue among baseball, as many games last three-plus hours in a sport that tends to already move at a leisurely pace.

But I have a pretty big issue with this rule change, and it's for a personal reason.

My dad won a state championship because of an intentional walk.

The year was 2008, and my dad was coaching the Boonville 14-year-old all-stars at the Missouri Jr. Babe Ruth state tournament. Boonville had already lost one game in the double-elimination tournament and had worked its way back through the loser's bracket, forcing an "if necessary" game against Mineral Area, an all-star team based from the Farmington area.

The final game went into extra innings, and Boonville had the winning run on third base in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game. One of the team's best hitters stepped to the plate, and with less than two outs, Mineral Area wanted to walk the batter and set up a possible double play.

The Mineral Area coach put up four fingers, which at the time was all you had to do in Missouri high school baseball to request an intentional walk. The umpire obliged, and told the runner to take his base.

But Babe Ruth rules practically mirror MLB rules, and that meant the pitcher had to throw the four pitches to put him on base. Almost immediately, my dad emerged from the Boonville dugout and said that wasn't correct, that pitcher had to throw the pitches.

After a few seconds, the umpire concurred with my dad, and the Boonville player returned to the batter's box.

You might be able to guess by now what happens next.

On the second pitch, the Mineral Area pitcher threw the pitch wildly past the catcher, and the runner from third scored to end the game and win Boonville the state championship.

It's easy to sympathize with the pitcher in that situation - and trust me, I did - because no one wants to know what it feels like to lose a game in that manner. The MLB's new rule would prevent a pitcher from dealing with that agony.

But then again, isn't that why coaches tell hitters to run out an infield pop-up, just in case the ball happens to be dropped? Don't coaches tell players every pitch counts? Now suddenly, every pitch doesn't count, or in this case, four pitches.

I didn't need to ask my dad what he thought of the MLB's rule change, but I did. Let's just say he's not a fan of it.

Neither am I.

And then, the irony of all ironies happened.

Last Tuesday, the same night as the MLB announcement, Texas A&M defeated Stephen F. Austin 6-5 in 12 innings. Can anyone guess how the Aggies won?

Yes, the winning run scored on a wild pitch as Stephen F. Austin tried to intentionally walk a Texas A&M batter.

Sometimes, rule changes in sports are for the best. This is not one of those times.