星期四, 5月 20, 2004
紐約時報專欄作家對藍迪強森完全比賽的評論
Strike It Rich By MICHAEL COFFEY
Published: May 20, 2004
When Randy Johnson struck out Eddie Perez for the 27th and final out on Tuesday night in Atlanta, he became just the 15th pitcher in the modern era to pitch a perfect game. With the thousands upon thousands of games played since the era dawned in 1901, the perfecto is one of baseball's rarest, and certainly most celebrated, feats.
Most fans are aware that a perfect game is not simply a reflection of a pitcher's skill. Although Johnson joins some other great pitchers in reaching perfection — Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning — he rubs shoulders with the likes of Charlie Robertson and Len Barker as well. If supreme pitching is not a necessary condition for perfection, what is? Aside from the "focus" almost universally cited in postgame remarks, there is little else in the way of situational factors to distinguish these games from your run-of-the-mill two-hit shutout.
But looking at the games along a timeline, you see something about their distribution that is hard to ignore. In the first 60 years of the 20th century, there only were four perfect games. In the past four-and-a-half decades, there have been 11. Why the increase?
Here's a theory. In 1904, when Cy Young pitched his gem, the term "perfect game" didn't exist. Young wasn't aware until the last out that no one had reached first base. The New York Times ran a two-sentence story. Young was making $4,500 a year, about three times a skilled laborer's salary.
By the time Bunning pitched his perfect game 40 years later, baseball was becoming a media business. Television had come on to the scene, prompting the Dodgers and Giants to move to the West Coast. Baseball underwent its first expansion, adding four teams to the original 16. After Bunning closed out his 6-0 win against the hapless Mets, he got $1,000 to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
TV money not only inspired franchise movement and expansion, it also energized players to form a union to get a piece of the action through free agency, which was introduced in 1975. That year, the average salary was $44,000; today it is over $2.5 million. This year, Randy Johnson will make $16 million.
What does money have to do with perfection? With free agency, players are aware that their best efforts will be fairly rewarded. They work harder — and they have the financial incentive to do so. They also know that extraordinary accomplishments are wildly celebrated. Cooperstown calls for a piece of the gear used in the game. If this does not inspire the kind of mental focus a player needs to go the distance, I don't know what would. To make things easier, franchise expansion has brought many lesser talents to the major league level. Now with 30 teams, baseball offers 350 more roster spots than it did in 1960. Indeed, 5 of the 11 perfect games since expansion have come against expansion teams.
Money is not the reason Randy Johnson was untouchable the other night. But it might be the reason the rarest of baseball feats for six decades has now occurred four times in the last 10 years.
Michael Coffey is the author of "27 Men Out: Baseball's Perfect Games."
==
裡頭還有一些關於美國職棒大聯盟的歷史，
包括賽揚等傳奇人物。
作者特別要指出的是錢的因素，
使得60年才出現四次的完全比賽，
最近10年就已經出現四次。
如同萬事達卡的廣告，
Big Unit不是為了錢投出完全比賽，
但是他領了比前輩多上許多的薪水，
使得他的專注力更可以集中在球場上。
這篇文章算是對職業運動的發展作一個總結吧。
Published: May 20, 2004
When Randy Johnson struck out Eddie Perez for the 27th and final out on Tuesday night in Atlanta, he became just the 15th pitcher in the modern era to pitch a perfect game. With the thousands upon thousands of games played since the era dawned in 1901, the perfecto is one of baseball's rarest, and certainly most celebrated, feats.
Most fans are aware that a perfect game is not simply a reflection of a pitcher's skill. Although Johnson joins some other great pitchers in reaching perfection — Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning — he rubs shoulders with the likes of Charlie Robertson and Len Barker as well. If supreme pitching is not a necessary condition for perfection, what is? Aside from the "focus" almost universally cited in postgame remarks, there is little else in the way of situational factors to distinguish these games from your run-of-the-mill two-hit shutout.
But looking at the games along a timeline, you see something about their distribution that is hard to ignore. In the first 60 years of the 20th century, there only were four perfect games. In the past four-and-a-half decades, there have been 11. Why the increase?
Here's a theory. In 1904, when Cy Young pitched his gem, the term "perfect game" didn't exist. Young wasn't aware until the last out that no one had reached first base. The New York Times ran a two-sentence story. Young was making $4,500 a year, about three times a skilled laborer's salary.
By the time Bunning pitched his perfect game 40 years later, baseball was becoming a media business. Television had come on to the scene, prompting the Dodgers and Giants to move to the West Coast. Baseball underwent its first expansion, adding four teams to the original 16. After Bunning closed out his 6-0 win against the hapless Mets, he got $1,000 to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
TV money not only inspired franchise movement and expansion, it also energized players to form a union to get a piece of the action through free agency, which was introduced in 1975. That year, the average salary was $44,000; today it is over $2.5 million. This year, Randy Johnson will make $16 million.
What does money have to do with perfection? With free agency, players are aware that their best efforts will be fairly rewarded. They work harder — and they have the financial incentive to do so. They also know that extraordinary accomplishments are wildly celebrated. Cooperstown calls for a piece of the gear used in the game. If this does not inspire the kind of mental focus a player needs to go the distance, I don't know what would. To make things easier, franchise expansion has brought many lesser talents to the major league level. Now with 30 teams, baseball offers 350 more roster spots than it did in 1960. Indeed, 5 of the 11 perfect games since expansion have come against expansion teams.
Money is not the reason Randy Johnson was untouchable the other night. But it might be the reason the rarest of baseball feats for six decades has now occurred four times in the last 10 years.
Michael Coffey is the author of "27 Men Out: Baseball's Perfect Games."
==
裡頭還有一些關於美國職棒大聯盟的歷史，
包括賽揚等傳奇人物。
作者特別要指出的是錢的因素，
使得60年才出現四次的完全比賽，
最近10年就已經出現四次。
如同萬事達卡的廣告，
Big Unit不是為了錢投出完全比賽，
但是他領了比前輩多上許多的薪水，
使得他的專注力更可以集中在球場上。
這篇文章算是對職業運動的發展作一個總結吧。
標籤： MLB觀戰
// posted by 有馬恭介 @ 5/20/2004 11:26:00 下午 
