There is an experiment going on in Major League Baseball which is metaphorically instructive.
For several years it has been the consensus of experts that pitching has gotten better such that batters are disadvantaged. Compared, at least, to their historic forerunners. And so umpires have quietly discussed the matter among themselves (never say "conspired") and begun shrinking the invisible "strike zone". Pitches that would officially be considered low "strike" were called as "balls" and some a bit "inside", ditto. This on the one hand resulted in batters getting more "hittable" pitches, and also somewhat more boring baseball generally, as "hittable" pitches tended to more often leave the bat to leave the playing field entirely, as home runs. Less advancing up the bases, fewer stolen bases, all the interesting bits of baseball going away ...
SO, MLB is trying smart camera radar whatever automated umpires to call balls and strikes. They're trying out a longer distance from homne plate to the pitcher's mound. And they are trying out the new ideas in a separate, minor league, season instead of rolling it out suddenly in the middle of a major league season.
I think, again, it's instructive to compare the overt open experiment with the clandestine, subtle, abusive change that went before.
Applying the comparison from baseball to the processes we use for balloting ... I leave to the readers.
And the baseballs became made livelier so that hit pitches traveled farther or more quickly, home run or not. And they lowered the mound to take away the height advantage. And umps swap out baseballs almost every time one touches the dirt.
Of course, with a skilled junk thrower, that works to the pitcher's advantage. New balls are slicker, and there's less need for the pitcher to juice the ball.
But all in all, Philistines never appreciated pitching duels.
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There is an experiment going on in Major League Baseball which is metaphorically instructive.
For several years it has been the consensus of experts that pitching has gotten better such that batters are disadvantaged. Compared, at least, to their historic forerunners. And so umpires have quietly discussed the matter among themselves (never say "conspired") and begun shrinking the invisible "strike zone". Pitches that would officially be considered low "strike" were called as "balls" and some a bit "inside", ditto. This on the one hand resulted in batters getting more "hittable" pitches, and also somewhat more boring baseball generally, as "hittable" pitches tended to more often leave the bat to leave the playing field entirely, as home runs. Less advancing up the bases, fewer stolen bases, all the interesting bits of baseball going away ...
SO, MLB is trying smart camera radar whatever automated umpires to call balls and strikes. They're trying out a longer distance from homne plate to the pitcher's mound. And they are trying out the new ideas in a separate, minor league, season instead of rolling it out suddenly in the middle of a major league season.
I think, again, it's instructive to compare the overt open experiment with the clandestine, subtle, abusive change that went before.
Applying the comparison from baseball to the processes we use for balloting ... I leave to the readers.
And the baseballs became made livelier so that hit pitches traveled farther or more quickly, home run or not. And they lowered the mound to take away the height advantage. And umps swap out baseballs almost every time one touches the dirt.
Of course, with a skilled junk thrower, that works to the pitcher's advantage. New balls are slicker, and there's less need for the pitcher to juice the ball.
But all in all, Philistines never appreciated pitching duels.
Eric Hines
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