My Rant About Baseball Announcers

I like most baseball announcers, I really do (with the exception of Tim McCarver, but hey, he's retired now).  But one thing that drives me crazy is when one of them gets off into an "in my day."  Baseball has consistently changed over 44 years I've been a fan - and many of the changes have been for the better.  (Believe me, you don't want to watch the winning run score on a walk, a sacrifice, a balk, and an infield groundout.)  Let's not compare the 1980s to the game thirty years later - and if the comparison is made, make sure the facts back it up.

I was listening to the Mets-Braves game on the radio today.  The broadcasters (I would guess Jim Powell and Don Sutton, but I really don't know) started talking about the Mets' Eric Young Jr., noting he lead the National League in stolen bases last year with 46.  Then one of them - I would guess Sutton - started talking about the tail end of his career in the 1980s, saying that in that era, 46 stolen bases wouldn't have gotten him in the league's top 25.  (The other said 46 stolen bases might make you a candidate for release.)

Thinking this might be an opportunity to call bullshit, I looked it up - and per Baseball Reference, the lowest 46 stolen bases would have ranked in the years 1975 through 1999 (excluding 1981, the strike year) would have been 12th.  And that's combining the leaders from both leagues, NL and AL.  The average spot 46 steals would have gotten you in that time frame would have been somewhere between seventh and eighth.  Which is around where Young ranked last year in MLB - there just wasn't anybody in the National League ahead of him.

Here's the thing.  In the 1970s and 1980s, broadcasters could make these "in my day" claims ("In my day every pitcher threw nine innings, every day, and struck out 12 each game) without worrying about having backup, unless someone brought a Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball with them to the game.  Not anymore - those stats can be looked up in five minutes on a cell phone.  So I'm recommending that broadcasters have a firm grasp on the facts - they aren't going to want a web site pointing out errors all the time.