And now, in my geezerhood, I’ve returned to the game (in the intervening decades Steve Sigler started the Mens’ Senior Baseball League, God love him). In fact, I’m in my uniform right now, about to go play in an hour!

And I love the fact that baseball is the only American sport that’s played without a timer. The game takes as long as it takes. Play continues until the struggle is done. In our instant-gratification, split-second world, I like that here’s something that can’t be rushed.

I once sang the National Anthem with a symphonic choral group at a major league game here in our city. Walking out to center field while the players were warming up was one of the most exciting and terrifying things I’ve ever done – balls whizzing past our heads in all directions and landing in gloves with a sound like gunfire! Being a mezzo and short, I was in the middle of the first row. The sound man came over and set up a huge mic about three inches from my face. Then he pointed it directly at my mouth.

I must have looked unnerved, because he leaned toward me, winked, and said “don’t make any mistakes!”

I see Red Sox pitchers work hitters inside a lot, but it’s a high risk move since we have a lot of teams in the AL who hit better than the Red Sox do. The Sox do not pile on the runs as they did a few years ago. So, we have to keep the runs to the opposition down. Beckett, Papplebon, and Bard have good heat, so they will challenge hitters inside. Other starters and relievers on this team don’t have the velocity to jam hitters, so they are more conservative with their locations.

John Smoltz is doing his rehab assignment down at AAA Pawtucket, and when he’s ready to come up I don’t expect him to challenge hitters inside. He is just not going to have the velocity he had years ago in Atlanta. Our other starter is a knuckleballer and you just don’t have that much control over that pitch to work hitters inside.

I played every position, but pitching was my favorite. You will not be surprised to hear that I must have set some kind of record for hit batsmen. A great technique for dealing with the suicide squeeze is to throw at the batters face: they inevitably duck or foul the ball off defensively, and the runner is out or goes back to third. I should add that I never once hit a batter doing this. I also loved pitching in relief.

I am having a hard time with baseball since they made the strike zone so small and won’t let pitchers throw inside. When I was a kid, Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale were my heroes. I wonder what they would say about the game today.

I believe you are quite right about the size/agility tradeoff in baseball. There are some tall pitchers, but in baseball I think once you get over 220 lbs. it affects speed and agility.

Now, this is where baseball and hockey intersect. Both sports require agility and explosiveness. I played hockey because I was too short for basketball (and white guys like me can’t jump) and too small for football. I don’t have good eyesight and have worn glasses since I was 5 years old (astigmatism and farsightedness). I love baseball, but you really need to have great eyes to pick up the ball coming in at you from the pitcher.

Hockey was a very good fit for me. I’m agile, balanced, can explode out of dead stop, strong, and have really soft hands. For some reason I took to skates like a duck to water. And I never, ever had a problem learning the wrist shot. I can roll those wrists and snap off the puck like it’s nothing. Like baseball, hockey players have to have quick hands and wrists.

Wayne Gretzky used to tell kids to play another sport besides hockey. His choice was baseball, because the challenges and skill sets were very similar.

Of course, in hockey, unlike baseball, you can check people. And I loved the physical part of the game. I never, ever had a problem with someone hitting me cleanly and within the rules. And I could dish out hip and shoulder checks quite well. I played center and defense, which are the positions which fit me well, because I like to read what’s in front of me and quarterback the puck accordingly. Playing wing, for me, was not my favorite thing, because it’s like playing in a frantic tunnel. Plus, I’m more of a playmaker and I like setting people up. Centers have more area to cover, which means it’s easier to find the seams in a defense from which you can create scoring opportunities for your linemates or for yourself.

Eventually, in my later years, I was playing with contact lenses on, which really helped my game a lot. I got to be good at positioning myself in front of goalies and tipping in slap shots from the point. Really good at it.

If only I had contact lenses when I was a kid. I would have been able to hit the baseball better. My favorite baseball position: catcher. I liked being able to manage pitchers and mess with the heads of opposing batters.

For fielding positions it’s disadvantageous to be much over 6’4″, or over, say, 240 lbs., because it cuts down on agility and speed. Pitchers are the exception, but even most of them aren’t bigger than this. (Being tall, up to a point, is an advantage at first base, but too tall and opponents will drop bunts down the first base line all day long. Also, big guy = big strike zone!)

This tradeoff between size and speed/agility is why a baseball team walking through a hotel lobby hardly gets noticed, unlike a football or basketball team.

The difference from a basketball player driving to the basket is that a fielder cannot plan his movement; he has to react to a ball approaching at ca. 100 mph, and has to be prepared to move instantly in any direction: left, right, forward, back, up, or down.

So unlike football and basketball, height/weight cannot make up for any deficiencies in ability.