Archive for the ‘sports’ Category
Repeal the Infield Fly Rule
Aug5
By John Feehery
The world is going to hell in a hand basket. The stock market just crashed as if Congress allowed the President to default on our debt payments. Europe is in the same shape financially as it was in 1946.
So why am I focused on the Infield Fly Rule?
I don’t know. I thought it would be a pleasant diversion from the negative news we see every day.
So, for those of you who don’t follow baseball, the Infield Fly Rule, according to Wikipedia, is: “The infield fly rule is a baseball rule that is intended to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping pop-ups in order to turn double plays (or triple plays). Without this rule, a defense could easily turn a pop-up into a double play when there are runners at first and second base. If the runners stay near their bases to tag up, the defense could let the ball drop, throw to third base and then to second, for a force-out at each base. If any of the runners stray too far from his base, the defense could catch the pop-up, and double-off any runner that failed to tag up. When the rule is invoked, the batter will be out (and all force plays removed) regardless of whether the ball is caught, thus negating the possibility for multiple outs.”
The Infield Fly Rule was created in 1895, when Grover Cleveland served the second of his two non-consecutive terms. Cleveland was a Bourbon Democrat, which meant he supported classical liberalism (unlike the current liberalism), which meant he supported low tariffs, opposed subsidies to farmers and supported a conservative monetary policy. Cleveland was also a political reformer who had a sterling reputation as being incorruptible, which didn’t matter politically when the Depression of 1893 hit. People care first about jobs in just about any era.
In 1895, Cy Young won 35 games and the Baltimore Orioles won the National League championship. Baseball was a different game back then. Batters didn’t wear helmets. Home runs were uncommon. Gambling was prevalent and gamblers really had an out-sized influence on the game. And there was no World Series, as the American League hadn’t come into being.
You could see why the Infield Fly Rule was installed. Progressives were just starting to organize in response to the Gilded Age. Populist anger, especially among farmers towards the New York banking elite, was fomenting, as the Democratic Party was being torn asunder by the pro-business wing and the free money (think William Jennings Bryant and a cross of gold) wing were at odds.
It probably seemed unfair that infielders could take a pop-up and create a double or triple play out of it, especially to gamblers who had a lot riding on the game. The Infield Fly Rule was created to limit the risk of such an incident.
But I think it is time to re-evaluate the rule. What about moral hazard? Doesn’t such a rule limit the entrepreneurship of the second baseman or shortstop who has to balance the risks with the rewards of going for two birds in the bush instead of one in the hand? Doesn’t the rule take away some of the excitement of the game?
I say let the players play. Let the marketplace work. Repeal the Infield Fly Rule and put some moral hazard back in the game.
Golf Summit
Jun16
By John Feehery
First, there was the beer summit. Now there is the golf summit.
Where other Presidents had summits to negotiate nuclear arms deals or budget compromises, Barack Obama has chosen to meet his opponents in a more relaxed setting.
The beer summit, for those who don’t recall, was an effort to bring a white cop and a black professor together, after they had a major misunderstanding that led to racial indigestion. Obama made the situation worse by calling the cop stupid, and then he had to calm the waters over a few choice beverages.
The President likes to include Joe Biden in all of his summits, so he has invited the Vice President over to play golf with him and with Speaker of the House John Boehner at an undisclosed location (probably Andrews Air Force base).
Boehner has decided to bring John Kasich, the Ohio Governor, to play with him. My guess is that Kasich and Biden will do all the talking, while Boehner and Obama will do all the smoking.
William Howard Taft, all 350 pounds of him, was the first Presidential duffer. He was also the worst, and his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, warned him not to play because he feared he would make an ass of himself. Taft didn’t listen to the future leader of the Bull Moose Party, and Roosevelt ended up running against him four years later.
Don Van Natta, a Presidential/Golf historian said that the biggest golf cheaters were Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Lyndon Johnson. Two of those three were impeached and the third might have been had he run for re-election. Who says that golf doesn’t expose character?
My former boss, Bob Michel, played golf regularly with Tip O’Neill. Bob was the House Minority Leader and Tip was the Speaker, and they got along famously, even when they competed hard on the House floor. That relationship helped Bob get Ronald Reagan’s legislative agenda through the House, over Tip’s great reluctance. Personal relationships make the Congress run. When legislative leaders can’t, won’t or don’t interact, the legislative process falters and ultimately fails. That is the situation we currently find ourselves in.
Boehner and Steny Hoyer are the only duffers in the Congressional leadership on either side of the aisle, as far as I can tell. And they are the most likely ones to want to cut a deal for the good of the country.
That Obama wants to learn the game and wants to play regularly is probably a good thing, especially if he plays the game right. Golf is a wonderful sport and it does reveal character.
Some cynics might say that in this time of economic uncertainty and joblessness, the President and the Speaker playing golf shows insensitivity. I disagree. I think it shows that Republicans and Democrats can be civil together on the golf course, which hopefully will translate into greater civility in the legislative process.
Folks, we have some mighty big decisions we have to make collectively as a nation. And that requires our leaders to work together and hammer out compromises for our country’s general welfare.
It matters little who wins and who loses in the golf summit. It matters only that the President and the Speaker play the game.
