3.) The balance of the game. We don't know how
any change might work out, but my suspicion is that
the corkball would lead to faster fastballs and more
movement on the breaking balls, which would help pitchers
out. While long liners and flies would travel farther
and with a bat and ball roughly the same diameter
would cut down on tipouts, I suspect that hitting would
fall and pitching increase. This is not the Glenridge
crew, where we all hit over .300 with a tennis ball.
Ryan Pontier, native San Jose Californian (actually,
he's got his name up on a plaque where we play, as a
catcher and cleanup hitter on the only team from this
complex of fields in San Jose to go to the Little League
World Series) is the only guy besides yours truly to
hit over .300 for a full season. He got rookie of the
year for 2000 and then had to work Sundays at Rock
Bottom Brewpub and also lost his license due to may
DUIs. Louis Brinckwirth and Mark McCabe also hit over
20 HR and over ,250, and Louis had 42 HR, but
offense is just now starting to catch up to pitching. The
corkball would swing games back to 1-0 affairs. Since 1999
our average runs per game has gone from 3 runs for
both teams to 7 runs for both teams. Let us enjoy
getting to where real baseball has been (a slugfest) and
the more even competition the better. We have not
developed relief pitching much, and high-scoring and close
games might make this a factor. Let us play out the
natural course of where this league is headed.<br>
4.) Oh, yeah. You spoke of a few broken windows. Ha
ha. Beyond the 155' fence in left are some lean, tall
pines that serve as a windbreak between us and the
apartments . Sometimes we hit someone's deck or even
windows, and they come out on their deck and watch an
inning or two. With the corkball, we might break their
windows, prompting them to call the cops. We've already
seen the cops three times in the last two years
(drinking, hollering, fighting). We have fairly good
relations with the public school, the black church, the
neighbors, and the cops (do you come from a big Catholic
family? Good! Then you understand that these two are
brothers! Oh, you come from New Jersey?! You know
stickball?! How very fortunate for us that you won't
confiscate our beer or check to see if we have herb?! )
Corkballs flying through windows could tip a delicate
balance in our disfavor. <br><br><br><br> John. My real
brother. Come out and visit and give us the benefit of
your self and your awesome pitching. While my argument
against the corkball has a "please don't throw me in the
briar patch"quality to it (I think as a pitcher, a
batter, a fielder and a catcher that I would be the
biggest beneficiary of a switch to the corkball), I think
you need to respect where we are and let is keep on
fuzzin'.