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Hello and welcome to episode 1953 of Effectively Wild, a fangrass baseball podcast brought to

our Patreon supporters. I'm Agrelia Fangrass and I'm joined by Ben Limberg of the Ringer. How are you? I'm excited because we've got a new entry in the catalog of ways in which baseball is different from all or most other sports. This one comes to us courtesy of the late Roger Angel. And also from listener Jimmy and Patreon supporter Jimmy who brought this to our attention. This is from an angel essay from 1976 called On the Ball. We're

going to be able to see what he wrote about the baseball and Jimmy writes a possible additional way in which baseball is unique in the closing paragraphs of On the Ball Roger Angel notes that baseball is the only team sport in which the scoring is not done with the ball.

Yeah, in hockey, which of course doesn't quite have a ball, but we'll put that aside. In hockey, football, soccer, basketball, or lacrosse, the ball, or its equivalent, actually scores or is responsible for the points that determine the winner. In baseball, the score is determined by the runner, while the ball is a long way off doing something quite different.

While he does employ the qualifier team sport, Jimmy notes, it's still not common among scoring sports period. I figure any list is bettered by an addition from Roger Angel. I would agree he knew that this was going to be catnip for us that we were going to bite on this bait because it's angel, but also it's a good point.

I know I'm constantly having to reshuffle my outrush more my life ways in which baseball is unique or at least weird compared to other sports, but this is a good one. I don't know if this quite cracks the top, but the fact that the ball passing something or going into a net or a hoop or whatever crossing a line.

That is not how the actual scoring happens. Obviously, like the ball is involved, you got to hit the ball so you can run around the bases, but ultimately it's the runner stepping on home plate that leads to a run directly. So that is weird. Whenever we mention one of these things, we get emails, we welcome emails from people who say, oh, it's not so different from this sport or that sport.

So maybe it's not unique, but it certainly is unusual. Yeah, and like there are plenty of examples in like racing based sports, or like the person crossing the finish line is what it constitutes a win, but I'm trying to think if I'm going to be able to express this clearly.

Like if you're a swimmer, Ben, imagine you're a swimmer and you're not going to swim. Yeah, but like imagine you're like a competitor swimmer. Yeah, although, you know, Ben, maybe swimming is a thing you should explore as a sport option. Yeah, yeah, you're in the market. It's true. Yeah, I swim recreationally.

Yeah, you could do some recreational swimming. But so anyway, you know, like imagine you're a competitive swimmer, you getting to the wall and touching the wall, like that constitutes winning, but you don't have an implement, right?

And even in sports like cycling, you know, if you're congratulations, you're now a competitive cyclor. Also, you're using an implement to participate in the race, but it's it's conveying you to the finish line, right?

And as opposed to like baseball where you are using an implement to hit a ball and then have a person score. So there's like a degree of separation, remove there. I don't know if I'm articulating what I view to be a clear distinction between those things clearly to everyone else.

So yeah, it is a it is a weird bit of little business there, you know, because normally it's either the thing or the person and baseball is like a weird twisty millions of those, you know, yeah, yeah, update, by the way, on Will Ben play a sport and what sport will it be?

There's been a vacant lot sort of not a lot. It's like a building, but there's been a vacant storefront, I guess you would say on the corner of my block for years now, just the big space and occasionally there will be some temporary art installation or something will move in there for a little while, but nothing ever sticks.

But my wife and I just noticed this week that it's about to be a pickleball place. Oh boy. Yeah, right on the corner. And this was a popular recommendation that take up pickleball. I played a little in school. So did Jesse and maybe we'll take this up. I mean, the big impediment to my doing something has been like having to go somewhere.

So if it's just on the corner and it also seems to be connected to the gym I belong to in some way like it's branded the same way. So I have to ask like is this going to be part of the membership or do I have to pay extra or what, but if I only have to walk like half a block.

Yeah, there's not intense competition for space. Then I might be interested in this. This is a major development in my pursuit of playing a sport sort of competitively, but not too competitively.

Well, again, I want to voice the same set of pickleball based concerns that I had, which is that I think you were right that there is more casual pickleball to be had, but I I'm often struck by the intensity with which people talk about pickleball these days. So, you know, just be just be careful.

Yeah, just be mindful that you don't get in over your head because it seems like people are getting in over their heads with pickleball. I feel very unoriginal. If this is the thing that I suddenly start doing when everyone else in the world suddenly started doing it.

I'm kind of like, could I have not been more creative than that? But like, you know, it's you're trying to do something that has some amount of like camaraderie. And so it's hard to be, it's hard to satisfy that urge and be truly original. Like by definition, you need a bunch of other folks to have been like, yeah pickleball. Let's go. So I think it's fine.

Yeah, okay. Well, thank you. Anyway, exciting developments. I mean, it's moving in like right next door. What can I do? Some people get hurt badly when they play pickleball. Yeah, I know or anything. Well, yeah, but we're going to talk to Denson Borsky of fan graphs a little later in the show.

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