Sports Rules Changes

[Quasiblogo]

I've always been fascinated at how ruling bodies flirt with changing rules "to better the game". What do you think about past changes to your favorite sports? What about ones planned or being experimented with? Have a constructive or humorous innovation you wish to share?

 

[Quasiblogo]

I just read about how minor league baseball in the U.S. will experiment with starting extra innings with a lead-off runner on 2nd base. I don't like it. I could buy starting each extra innings batter with a no strikes, two balls count.

 

[bhsmte]

I just read about how minor league baseball in the U.S. will experiment with starting extra innings with a lead-off runner on 2nd base. I don't like it. I could buy starting each extra innings batter with a no strikes, two balls count.

I don't like that either. I do think, MLB should limit trips to the mound and have a catchers visit count as a visit from a coach.

 

[Albion]

Here's one that I do favor--raising the basketball hoop a foot. It's getting ridiculous to have dozens of dunks in an ordinary game and many players barely have to get off the floor to do it. A generation ago, centers were 6' 3'', but that wouldn't make a normal-sized guard for most good teams these days. In other words, the change would be logical and not simply a gimmick.

When the idea was tried out a few years ago, it not only made players actually shoot the ball, but the rebounds were more likely to kick back further, so that the rebounds wouldn't automatically go to the big men camped under the basket.

 

[WolfGate]

I don't like that either. I do think, MLB should limit trips to the mound and have a catchers visit count as a visit from a coach.

They made a change in 2016. From MLB.com

A manager or coach can make one mound visit per pitcher per inning without needing to remove the pitcher from the game. If a manager or coach visits the same pitcher twice in one inning, the pitcher must be removed from the contest.

Mound visits are limited to 30 seconds, starting when the manager or coach has exited the dugout and been granted time by the umpire.

Having a son who pitches at top high school level, I don't think you can legitimately make the catcher visit count as the one allowable mound visit. It usually has an entirely different purpose, particularly if you baserunners limit signs you're willing to use or if the catcher and pitcher aren't aligned on signs.

 

[Quasiblogo]

How about getting rid of the "palming" rule in basketball? It's just not being enforced.

Basketball: if a player is fouled while in the act of making a basket, let's not slow the game down with penalty foul shots. If it's a 2-point basket, give the shooting team an extra point. If a 3-pointer, give two extra points.

 

[bhsmte]

They made a change in 2016. From MLB.com



Having a son who pitches at top high school level, I don't think you can legitimately make the catcher visit count as the one allowable mound visit. It usually has an entirely different purpose, particularly if you baserunners limit signs you're willing to use or if the catcher and pitcher aren't aligned on signs.

I played college baseball and i understand your point, but catchers dont need to visit the mound to change signs. They can do so, by using pre determined signs to signal which sign they are going with. Maybe you allow one catcher visit per pitcher, as a compromise.

 

[WolfGate]

I played college baseball and i understand your point, but catchers dont need to visit the mound to change signs. They can do so, by using pre determined signs to signal which sign they are going with. Maybe you allow one catcher visit per pitcher, as a compromise.

Perhaps that is too complex for high school age boys. They are at the age where their brain regularly falls out of their head, after all ;-) . (Seriously - yours is a good point. I had not thought about it before as it is not something either of my son's teams does.)

 

[JackRT]

Fiddling with the rules in sports seems to be almost inevitable in sports. We, or most of us, love our baseball but every one of us would be hard pressed to recognize the first historically recorded baseball game. For those who are historically inclined that game was played in Beachville, Ontario, Canada against a team from Saint Mary's Ontario in 1837.