Interesting article on Mike Marshall

[Chocolate Milk]

Oh gag me.

That's pretty much how everyone reacted when the TV was first introduced. They even said it was "of the devil". Of course, we all know that crazy invention is outlawed now, right?

 

What?

[Magnetic Curses]

"This is Jeff Sparks," Marshall said. "He is the most highly skilled pitcher in the world. And nobody will hire him."

 

Jeff Sparks, 35, temples graying, scowling like Billy Bob Thornton, is Mike Marshall's greatest student and greatest success. Right now, he sells home-and-garden products at Lowe's. He also goes to firefighter school. In December, he'll take EMT certification training.

 

In the meantime, Sparks keeps showing up at Marshall's facility, just to throw on an undersized mound covered by gnarly turf.

 

"Just watch," Marshall said, "and you're going to see a curveball that if the baseball world ever uses hitters will have no chance. Nobody throws a better curveball than Jeff Sparks."

 

The guy is clearly suffering from a persecution complex, and no offense to Jeff Passen, but this is the story has been done a thousand times before with a thousand different "outcasts".

 

On par with the journalism cliche of the "beloved scrappy underdog"is the "downtrodden outcast with revolutionary ideas if only the mainstream would just listen".

They pack two or three into musty one-bed, one-bath duplexes Marshall provides, work at the local country club and bring home the leftovers for everyone to enjoy, lift weights in a small building they call the "jailhouse" because of the bars on the windows, trek down the road to get 44-ounce slushies for 89 cents, hang out at Applebee's to pick up girls, and why?

 

Because they believe.

Oh gag me.

 

if they were good pitchers, they would be employed. such is the nature of the game.

[Magnetic Curses]

Oh gag me.

That's pretty much how everyone reacted when the TV was first introduced. They even said it was "of the devil". Of course, we all know that crazy invention is outlawed now, right?

 

What?

 

haha

[NCCubFan]

Why would anyone think this guy would be an expert in pitching anyway? :D

[Jehrico]

I just think that if the guy's ideas had merit he would have gotten a job somewhere for a major league team.

 

MLB is the most exclusive old boys club on the face of the planet. It makes the Bush Administration look like an Amyway convention. There are plenty of people working for ball clubs that have no business being there.

 

The Yankees just fired their trainer who got his job becuase the front office wanted to promote a series of health clubs. The Cubs hired a trainer who didn't have a liscence and then fired the guy who turned him in. MLB let people into clubhouses for the sole purpose of distributing steriods (allegedly). They rehire the likes of Dusty Baker, Phill Garner, and Charlie Manual on an annual basis.

 

I could go on and on.

 

The fact that Marshall is critical of MLB gives him a little more credibility in my estimation.

For every Jim Hendry out there, you have a Theo Epstein or a Billy Beane nowadays. There seems to be two camps out there anymore, the progressive sabremeticians, and the old school scouts. What you said is true about the old-school camp. The fact that the progressives don't want him either says something to me.

[TruffleShuffle]

mike marshall takes flame throwers and turns them into awkward-looking soft-tossers.

 

mike marshall gets flame throwers? that's news to me.

 

truffle getting defensive and weird? that's news to me.

 

way to address the issue being discussed.

[Chocolate Milk]

"Just watch," Marshall said, "and you're going to see a curveball that if the baseball world ever uses hitters will have no chance. Nobody throws a better curveball than Jeff Sparks."

 

This makes him seem like a nut job.

[Balsa]

Oh gag me.

That's pretty much how everyone reacted when the TV was first introduced. They even said it was "of the devil". Of course, we all know that crazy invention is outlawed now, right?

HAHAHAHAHAH

[SouthSideRyan]

"Just watch," Marshall said, "and you're going to see a curveball that if the baseball world ever uses hitters will have no chance. Nobody throws a better curveball than Jeff Sparks."

 

This makes him seem like a nut job.

 

Have YOU seen Jeff Sparks???

[biittner77]

From what I've heard, one of Marshall's main ideas is that no pitcher should ever face the opposing hitters a 3rd time in a game and should be held to a strict pitch count. I could see where traditional minds would not embrace his ideas.

[CubColtPacer]

From what I've heard, one of Marshall's main ideas is that no pitcher should ever face the opposing hitters a 3rd time in a game and should be held to a strict pitch count. I could see where traditional minds would not embrace his ideas.

 

That first idea about the 3rd time in a game simply is not very feasible. That limits to a pitcher to 6 innings max, and most pitchers around 4. There probably would have to be 8 starters piggy-backing off of one another with 3-4 arms left in the pen. It has a chance of working, but that requires finding a lot of arms that can even go that long, which is much harder than a traditional pitching staff.