Sunday is, at least for me, a day of watching sports. I try not to interfere with family time, but I must admit, between the NFL, college basketball, and golf, there is often a magnetic pull towards the remote control anytime I am in the family room.
This past Sunday was no exception. The Travelers’ Championship was on CBS and Jordan Spieth was in the lead. I enjoy rooting for Jordan, I had played the golf course, and Travelers is my insurance company, so I just had to tune in. On a day when Spieth could not make a putt, he dramatically wins the tournament in a playoff by holing a sand shot from 60 feet away. Another $1.2 million in his 24-year-old bank account.
I figured my sports’ viewing for the day was over. Then on comes 60 Minutes, a show my wife and I watch every week. They did a very, very interesting piece on Artificial Intelligence. The final story was on a Japanese baseball player named Shohei Ohtani who plays for the Nippon Ham Fighters.
Ohtani is a 6’4, 215 pound, 22 year-old right-handed pitcher who has thrown the ball an amazing 102.5 miles per hour. To steal some facts from the show, he has a higher strikeout rate than Clayton Kershaw, has thrown the fastest pitch in league history, strikes out 11+ batters per game, and last year had an ERA of 1.86. And, oh, by the way, that’s just on Sundays.
During the week, except for the two-day rest he gets before he pitches again, Ohtani is the designated hitter. That’s right – when he doesn’t pitch and hit, he just hits. “Just” is a misplaced adjective here. Last year, he had 22 home runs, hitting the long ball 6% of the time he came the plate. That’s a better percentage than Bryce Harper and Mike Trout of Major League baseball.
And it looks like this is his final year of Japanese baseball. He is, most likely, headed here. BUT, he will only play for a team that allows him to hit when he pitches and hit when he doesn’t. The last player to do that and do it well was Babe Ruth!
He currently makes @ $2 million, lives in a team dorm, does not drink, and has no car. He would have garnered close to $20+ million had he signed an MLB contract last year, but the new bargaining agreement limits international players from earning over $10 million and they must play at least six years with the team that signs them.
Ohtani doesn’t care. He says he has enough money. And he is anxious to bat against Kershaw and pitch to Harper.
The first piece on 60 Minutes was about robots doing amazing things that humans cannot do. The Ohtani story seemed to be just a continuation, but this was an amazing thing that a human can do. Much like Babe Ruth did.
Check out the segment:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/japans-babe-ruth-2/
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- ESPN is polling fans to choose the top quarterbacks on a given team. For instance, the Packers’ top three would have to be Bart Starr, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers. How would you rank them. Ironically, ESPN has listed 19 teams and the Eagles are not one of them. Are they telling us something or did they just not get to the Birds yet?
- Speaking of “telling us something”, on the ESPN “This Week in Sports” search under MLB, there are 166 stories listed. The Phillies are the focus on one! That story is about their Saturday win (I guess the rare win warranted the story) over the Diamondbacks. Pathetic.
- It was announced this week that the Saucon Valley Country Club will host its eighth USGA championship in 2022 when the Senior Open comes to the Lehigh Valley. That is the year when Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, and many other famous names will be eligible to play. RCN has always been proud of their telecommunication assistance during the past tournaments. It should create a great deal of national excitement for our area.
- The Cedar Beach Basketball Showcase in Allentown is, often, an indicator of which local teams will be the best in the upcoming high school season. The early favorites are familiar – Emmaus, Allen, Central Catholic, and Bangor (of the Colonial League) all look solid again. Sleepers could be Nazareth, Northampton, Liberty, and Dieruff (yes, Dieruff). That’s plenty of teams creating plenty of competition. It looks like another good year.
- No Blue Mountain League Game of the Week this coming Tuesday night (it’s July 4). However, on Friday, July 7, you can watch the Senior Baseball League on RCN at 9:30 PM. It’s their first television game in history and features the Gabelsville Owls vs the Palmisano Rangers.
We’re taking a holiday break next week, so there will be no blog. Wishing you a happy and safe Independence Day!
