Major League Baseball has no immediate plans to implement a Golden At-Bat rule — at least not yet.
But Commissioner Rob Manfred pumping the brakes on a would-be radical rule change hasn’t stopped the conversation from becoming a hot-button sports media topic. And while the idea may be in its infancy, there’s no exact way of getting the toothpaste back in the tube.
While Manfred had previously dismissed the idea as “crazy,” he’s now given it some credence. But Mike Francesa isn’t doing the same, claiming that he and baseball would cease to exist together. Meanwhile, Michael Kay believes something needs to be done to stop the erosion of the nation’s beloved pastime.
Then there’s Bob Costas, who may have retired from announcing MLB games, but his voice still carries significant weight in the sport. And his insights are particularly valuable when it comes to navigating potential changes to the game he called for more than 40-plus years.
“I think Commissioner Manfred has walked it back to say, ‘Look, we toss out a lot of ideas, and this is just one of the ideas that has been tossed out — and there’s some buzz around it,'” said Costas on Tuesday’s Foul Territory. “That’s different than saying, like, the Robo Umpire, which is definitely coming; it’s on its way, and they’re already testing it out. That’s different than putting it in that category. It’s an idea and let’s discuss it.
“And the first response to it, as far as I can see that it’s overwhelming negative, that it would mess with the game too much. What I haven’t heard yet is clarifications as to how it would work. Let’s assume it’s in place; under what condition(s) is it in place? You walk Aaron Judge intentionally? OK, we’ll use the ‘Golden At-Bat’ right now — he’s up again.”
More so than anything, Costas raised questions about the broader implications of said rule.
“Do we have the possibility that someone could become the first guy in history to homer back-to-back with himself? Costas asked. “…Or do they put in a provision that says you cannot bat twice in the same inning unless the team bats around to your place in the batting order; your place in the starting lineup has to be three or more places removed from where we’re used as the ‘Golden At-Bat.’ Can you only use it in the ninth inning and only if you’re trailing? Or, can you use it anytime you want from the seventh inning on?
“Just for the sake of parlor games, if it’s in place, it offers a lot of strategic things to argue about and debate… It’s interesting from that standpoint. Does it turn the game into kind of a video game and kind of gimmicky? Yeah, I think so. You know, outlawing shifts, just reestablish what existed. The pitch clock? It’s amazing how quick everyone got used to it, and it didn’t change the game; it took it back to where it was… Replay? Generally, that works to get it right, especially in big situations.”
That said, the complexities of implementing such a rule are not lost on Costas, and he makes it clear that the Golden At-Bat could fundamentally alter the nature of the game.
“But, this, I think, would mess with the game to an extent to yeah, we can discuss it, but we better be damn sure we know what we’re doing if we put it in place,” he says. “I know what people say. Look, the two-minute drill in football — that’s really exciting; you go to the 3-pointer if you’re behind in basketball. But baseball has innings. It doesn’t have a clock. The pitch clock doesn’t change the game in that respect.
“So, I don’t know if you can say just glibly, ‘Yeah, let’s create something in baseball that’s the equivalent of a two-minute drill or a timeout and advancing the ball to half-court,’ you’re going to try a 3-pointer down by three with 1.6 seconds on the clock. I don’t know if there’s anything that is really analogous in baseball to that.”
While debates like these undoubtedly make for good content — especially for us at Awful Announcing — any attempt to implement the Golden At-Bat could risk turning baseball into a gimmick — or worse, something the sport’s rich traditions may never forgive.
[Foul Territory]
