April 23, 2009

I like playing softball. It's for guys like me who dreamed of being professional baseball players, but then found out we lacked the required skills.

I'm not a superstar, but I consider myself a pretty decent player. However, this season I seem to have lost my ability to hit a softball. This is usually not a hard task in slow pitch softball.

In the past when this happened, the solution was simple: I just got better bats. So I can't blame the equipment. I'm pretty sure I don't suck. (Okay, like 80% sure.) But something was messing me up. Tonight, after another lousy hitting game, I think I figured it out.

From MLB rule 1.04
It is desirable that the line from home base through the pitchers plate to second base shall run East-Northeast.

The reason for the east-facing fields is so the afternoon sun doesn't blind the batter when a 90 mph fastball is being thrown at him. And even though we play softball at night and the average pitch speed is about 14 mph, the optimal standards should still apply.

There are currently 3 different fields that I play games on. Only one of these fields has the proper east-northeast orientation. I'm 5-6 with 2 HR in 2 games on that field. In the 6 or so games on the west-facing fields, uh well, think Albert Pujols, but the exact opposite.

Or I guess it could be that tougher steroid policy.

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