Widescreen HD became the new standard for TV in the 2000s. Chances are, you entered that decade looking at a 4:3 SD screen and exited it with a 16:9 HDTV in your living room. This effected pretty much all programming on television, as TV embraced wider, more cinematic aspect ratios. This transition rocked the sports world. Suddenly, football, basketball, hockey, and soccer broadcasts could show more of the field with more detail. The same could be said about baseball, but as you'll learn in this episode of Baseball Bits, a Foolish Baseball production, baseball had less to gain comparatively speaking.
It's been five years since the Houston Astros Cheating Scandal broke via an article in The Athletic. The Astros trash can banging scheme set the sports world ablaze. The Astros cheated in 2017, the year of their 2017 Astros World Series title. In the five years since, we've gained some perspective. We've learned the Astros sign stealing wasn't an isolated incident, and fines like the Red Sox apple watches and Yankees letter have been handed down by MLB to other teams. The Astros banging scheme was the most flagrant, but baserunner schemes were in use all over the league.
There has never been a MLB utility player in the Hall of Fame. I think Ben Zobrist should change that. In this video, I'll examine the (admittedly) under the radar Ben Zobrist Hall of Fame case. A legend in three baseball cities, we'll recount the versatility that made the Ben Zobrist Rays, Ben Zobrist Royals, and Ben Zobrist Cubs so exciting (apologies to the Ben Zobrist A's).
Punching an object. Breaking their hand. Pitchers need their hands to, well, you know, pitch a baseball. But this video is about the throwers brave enough to punch a wall, punch a locker, or punch a door and break their hand. The most common fracture for a pitcher breaking hand? The fifth metacarpal fracture AKA the boxer's fracture.