Baseball and the Shift

This week one of my sons alerted me to a sports agent for Bryce Harper, who is having a dismal year at the plate for the Washington Nationals, saying: Bryce’s poor batting record reflects “discriminatory shifts.” In short, he is discriminated against by opposing defensive players employing an effective strategy. 

This brought back memories of my youth when I was about 14 or 15 and listened to the Red Sox games on the radio. There was no television in 1946, or at least we did not have one.  

Today, July 14, is the 72nd anniversary of the Lou Boudreau “Ted Williams Shift." Boudreau was the shortstop and manager for the Cleveland Indians. In the second game of a doubleheader, he was playing the percentages against Williams, an extreme pull hitter.

Boudreau rolled out an infield player shift that packed all four infielders between first and second base. The announcers and Red Sox fans were astonished at this deployment but it worked in that game. Williams went 1-for-2 with a double and a pair of walks. It is estimated that the shift, later also used by other teams, took 15 points off Ted’s lifetime batting average: .344 BA (8th).

Ted was the proudest hitter in baseball and would not modify his swing to hit to left field. (He did not play golf because a golf swing is different from baseball and he felt it might adversely affect his baseball swing.)

Incidentally, in the first game of the July 14, 1946, doubleheader, Ted hit three home runs and drove in eight runs for a Boston 11 to 10 victory.  Ted was in his first season back after military service in World War II.

Young Mr.Harper could not do much better than take a lesson from Ted Williams.