The more you watch baseball, and learn the game the more you love the game. My son started playing baseball at 3-1/2 yrs. old through high school. He played catcher.
As he got older and started calling the game I was able to ask questions about certain situations, what the signal was, what the play was supposed to be, etc. I learned a tremendous amount through him as he was learning. He played for 6 coaches that had major league experience. The exposure that kids have today is fantastic.
There truly are many games inside the game. Things the average fan doesn't appreciate. There's a lot of poker faces and guessing that goes on. Sometimes as fans you don't know (they don't want it out) that a pitcher might not be available for some reason. Locating the ball low to force a grounder so a double play is in play. As simple as watching an on deck batter to see how he swings so that you recognize which pitch he can't hit because of a flaw in his swing. At 14 years old the kids in the dugout learn to watch everything.
Because there isn't a timer, and you have to get 27 outs to win anything can happen. Just look at the regionals this year. To win the game you have to face the next batter until there are 27 outs. The more you watch you will see something that you have never seen, and may never see again. When I was younger, I didn't have the patients to watch baseball, it was fun to play, but not watch. Understanding the game more and more makes it the best sport in my book. Not everyone gets it. But as they say, Baseball is a smart persons sport.
At 12 years old my son was playing travel ball. His coach told the team that he will signal them when he wants them to steal a base, but if they think they can make it, or if they see something go on their own. My son singled and on the second pitch stole second. He went on to score a run on a double. We won by one run in the end. The coach made a point to bring up Quinn in the post game talk. He asked him what he saw that made him steal. He pointed out that he manufactured a run. My son is not the fastest runner by any means. When the coach asked, I thought to myself this is going to be good.
Quinn said my Dad and I were watching the Braves play, Dad went to bed and I stayed up to watch the talk show after the game. The MLB host pointed out that if a pitchers foot crosses the rubber when he is in his wind up, he's throwing to the plate 98% of the time. I watched the first pitch, the pitchers foot crossed the rubber, he threw to the plate. On the second pitch, as soon as his foot crossed the rubber, I was gone.
The coach looked at me is shear astonishment. I shrugged and said, I went to bed. It was proud Dad moment. The coach went on to talk about watching the games to learn the game. There's a reason there are so many stats and tendency trends in baseball. I love the game.
