Spring Training has begun, and that means the the baseball season in involved in its metaphorical overture. As usual, the game is already spawning ethical controversies, and they strike principles that apply to more spheres of human experience than just baseball.

Automated Ball-and-Strike System (ABS)

Finally! After a couple of years of being tested in independent and minor leagues, a system allowing computer-assisted ball and strike calling is being tested in Spring Training with an eye toward introducing it in MLB games in 2026. The way it current works: home plate umpires still call the pitches, but a batter, pitcher or catcher (not managers) can challenge a bad call. Once a challenge is made (right now the signal is the player tapping his helmet), the scoreboard shows where the disputed pitch was, and if it nicks the strike zone when the umpire said otherwise (or missed it and the ump called a strike anyway), the call is reversed. Each team has a set number of challenges: if one fails, it is lost.

The system injects new strategy and statistical analysis into the game. The challenged pitches shouldn’t all be on ball four or strike three calls, or even necessarily in game-determining situations. The statistical difference between the batting average of a batter having a one ball, one strike count and a batter with an 0-2 count is massive, so mid-count, early innings challenges can have major effects on a game’s outcome. Batters do not have as clear a view of the strike zone as pitchers and catchers, so the system favors the defense: presumably batters will be instructed not to challenge an umpire’s call unless a mistake is egregious. Running out of challenges by the late innings of a close game will be a significance handicap.

Interestingly, Terry Francona, now managing the Cincinnati Reds, has told his veteran players not to participate in the challenge system. He reasons that since ABS won’t be used during the 2025 season, it is a distraction from the purpose of Spring Training, which is to prepare for the games ahead. (He’s right.)

Goodbye Tradition, Hello Beards

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Somebody with an acid pen and a facility with statistics please go crazy fisking that thing. I’m tired.

Here’s a short version, though…

• It’s no “secret,” because literally no one without an internal head injury has ever blamed Social Security and Medicare for the National Debt.
• The top 1% of taxpayers pay about 40% of all income taxes. Whether that’s “fair” is entirely a matter of values, opinion, and priorities. The lower half of the population in income barely pays any taxes at all, yet they derive the benefit of government services anyway. Why is that “fair”?
• You can’t bring down inflation by increasing the costs of goods and services by taxing the companies that produce them.
• “End of story” is what people say when they don’t have the facts, wit or ammunition to win an argument, so they declare the debate over before it starts. Similar sign-offs: “Period, the end!” “So there!” and “My mind’s made up, don’t confuse me with facts!”

ADDED: No sooner had I posted the above than an equally moronic (and spectacularly dishonest)meme was posted by a lawyer friend. The same question applies:

(Calvin should sue.)

ADDED: This one, posted by a very good friend who should be ashamed of himself, was “liked” or “loved” by almost 20 people so far. First reply: “It’s true.”

I had to physically wrestle my fingers to the floor to stop them from typing, “You all are despicable morons. Every one of you.”