{"id":79747,"date":"2017-06-26T19:07:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T19:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=79747"},"modified":"2023-04-14T21:01:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T21:01:32","slug":"behind-mic-next-babe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-next-babe\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic: The Next Babe?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday is, at least for me, a day of watching sports. I try not to interfere with family time, but I must admit, between the NFL<\/a>, college basketball<\/a>, and golf<\/a>, there is often a magnetic pull towards the remote control anytime I am in the family room.<\/p>\n

This past Sunday was no exception. The Travelers\u2019 Championship <\/a>was on CBS and Jordan Spieth <\/a>was in the lead.\u00a0 I enjoy rooting for Jordan, I had played the golf course, and Travelers is my insurance company, so I just had to tune in.\u00a0 On a day when Spieth could not make a putt, he dramatically wins the tournament in a playoff by holing a sand shot from 60 feet away.\u00a0 Another $1.2 million in his 24-year-old bank account.<\/p>\n

I figured my sports\u2019 viewing for the day was over. Then on comes 60 Minutes<\/em><\/a>, a show my wife and I watch every week.\u00a0 They did a very, very interesting piece on Artificial Intelligence<\/a>.\u00a0 The final story was on a Japanese baseball player named Shohei Ohtani <\/a>who plays for the Nippon Ham Fighters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ohtani is a 6\u20194, 215 pound, 22 year-old right-handed pitcher who has thrown the ball an amazing 102.5 miles per hour. To steal some facts from the show, he has a higher strikeout rate than Clayton Kershaw<\/a>, has thrown the fastest pitch in league history, strikes out 11+ batters per game, and last year had an ERA of 1.86.\u00a0 And, oh, by the way, that\u2019s just on Sundays.<\/p>\n

During the week, except for the two-day rest he gets before he pitches again, Ohtani is the designated hitter. That\u2019s right \u2013 when he doesn\u2019t pitch and hit, he just hits.\u00a0 \u201cJust\u201d is a misplaced adjective here.\u00a0 Last year, he had 22 home runs, hitting the long ball 6% of the time he came the plate.\u00a0 That\u2019s a better percentage than Bryce Harper <\/a>and Mike Trout <\/a>of Major League baseball.<\/p>\n

And it looks like this is his final year of Japanese baseball. He is, most likely, headed here.\u00a0 BUT, he will only play for a team that allows him to hit when he pitches and hit when he doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 The last player to do that and do it well was Babe Ruth<\/a>!<\/p>\n

He currently makes @ $2 million, lives in a team dorm, does not drink, and has no car. He would have garnered close to $20+ million had he signed an MLB contract last year, but the new bargaining agreement limits international players from earning over $10 million and they must play at least six years with the team that signs them.<\/p>\n

Ohtani doesn\u2019t care. He says he has enough money.\u00a0 And he is anxious to bat against Kershaw and pitch to Harper.<\/p>\n

The first piece on 60 Minutes<\/em> was about robots doing amazing things that humans cannot do.\u00a0 The Ohtani story seemed to be just a continuation, but this was an amazing thing that a human can<\/em> do.\u00a0 Much like Babe Ruth did.<\/p>\n

Check out the segment:
\nhttp:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/videos\/japans-babe-ruth-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. ESPN <\/a>is polling fans to choose the top quarterbacks <\/a>on a given team. For instance, the Packers<\/a>\u2019 top three would have to be Bart Starr<\/a>, Brett Favre<\/a>, and Aaron Rodgers<\/a>. How would you rank them.\u00a0 Ironically, ESPN has listed 19 teams and the Eagles <\/a>are not one of them. Are they telling us something or did they just not get to the Birds yet?<\/li>\n
  2. Speaking of \u201ctelling us something\u201d, on the ESPN \u201cThis Week in Sports\u201d search under MLB, there are 166 stories listed. The Phillies <\/a>are the focus on one! That story is about their Saturday win (I guess the rare win warranted the story) over the Diamondbacks<\/a>. Pathetic.<\/li>\n
  3. It was announced this week that the Saucon Valley Country Club <\/a>will host its eighth USGA championship in 2022 when the Senior Open <\/a>comes to the Lehigh Valley. That is the year when Phil Mickelson<\/a>, Ernie Els<\/a>, Steve Stricker<\/a>, and many other famous names will be eligible to play. RCN has always been proud of their telecommunication assistance during the past tournaments. It should create a great deal of national excitement for our area.<\/li>\n
  4. The Cedar Beach Basketball Showcase in Allentown is, often, an indicator of which local teams will be the best in the upcoming high school season. The early favorites are familiar \u2013 Emmaus, Allen, Central Catholic, and Bangor (of the Colonial League) all look solid again. Sleepers could be Nazareth, Northampton, Liberty, and Dieruff (yes, Dieruff). That\u2019s plenty of teams creating plenty of competition. It looks like another good year.<\/li>\n
  5. No Blue Mountain League Game of the Week this coming Tuesday night (it\u2019s July 4). However, on Friday, July 7, you can watch the Senior Baseball League on RCN at 9:30 PM. It\u2019s their first television game in history and features the Gabelsville Owls vs the Palmisano Rangers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We\u2019re taking a holiday break next week, so there will be no blog. Wishing you a happy and safe Independence Day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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The Travelers\u2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[841,762,840],"class_list":["post-79747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports","tag-babe-ruth","tag-jordan-spieth","tag-shohei-ohtani"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic: The Next Babe? - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind the Mic: The Next Babe? - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sunday is, at least for me, a day of watching sports. 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