[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life is Nothin' But Glee in '23

Yeah, buddy, life is good for EC in 2023... a few months ago a roofer stopped by my house and told me he could get me a new roof from my insurance company... I told him it was 23 years old and they wouldn't do it... he said he had done it many times before and could do it for me... I told him all I would pay was my deductible and not one penny more.... long story short, I now have a new roof... my shingles have been discontinued... because of this the insurance company had to replace my entire roof... it seems you cannot partially rebuild a roof... it ruins the integrity of the roof... can you believe a new $33,000-roof for my $3,500 deductible... unbelievable.

EC has finished a really good book, "Wreck As In Veeck" by Bill Veeck and Ed Linn... did you know it was Bill Veeck who first put player names' on the back of the jersey?... his 1960 Chicago White Sox were the first... he did it for TV and also for the fans at the game.

I still have several other items to post from it... Veeck was a baseball visionary who was completely ignored by MLB owners and league commissioners... he was persona non grata because of his radical promotional ideas... but Bill Veeck had some great ideas for this place and time... back in the early 60s he was concerned by the long games and inaction in games...Veeck wanted to speed game up and get more action... here are some of his radical ideas.

"Wit, Quips and Quotes from the Diamond Minds"

Excerpts from "Veeck As In Wreck" by Bill Veeck and Ed Linn:

"The game has become too slow."
"For 20 minutes out of each hour, I discovered the action on the field consisted solely of the pitcher holding the ball and looking at the catcher, a tableau which if find singularly lacking in drama. I suspect that the ratio is even higher now because the pitchers seem to become increasingly timid every year. Of course, if I pitched like some of the pitchers I've had on my payrolls I'd be reluctant to let go of the ball, too."

(Note from EC)
Bill Veeck was going to schedule a MLB exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and his Chicago White Sox using a new set of rules he devised to speed up the game and increase action... in a 3-hour game the ball is active and in play only 5 minutes per game... Veeck's bad health prevented him for ever putting this exhibition game on... here are his changes to speed up the game and create more action.

"1. Three balls would constitute a base on balls and two strikes would be out. The four-ball, three-strike did not come down from Mt. Sinai. It only seems logical and right to us because we have become used to it. with the 3-2 count replaced by a 2-1 count, the balance would remain the same and a great deal of wasted time -- pure fat -- would be melted away.

(Note from EC)
The 3-2 count would force pitchers to throw more strikes and force batters to take fewer pitches and swing more often... there would be fewer intentional foul balls, too, as you would be out if you fouled the ball on the second strike.

"2. A limit would be placed on the time permitted for throwing the ball around the infield after a strikeout, or better still, the practice would be eliminated.

3. The pitcher wold be limited to one warm-up pitch at the start of every inning, instead of seven. One is ample. A pitcher who is worried about his arm stiffening up on a nippy day is perfectly entitled to war his jacket between innings. When I was working for the Cubs we developed a jacket with an electric heating device built into the sleeve. ( A fellow from Coyne Electric worked on it with me.) Other clubs have used it for years.

4. The intentional pass would be automatic instead of having the pitcher go through the tiresome ritual of throwing four pitchers."