Do We Need Base Coaches or Cardboard Cut-outs?

Base running is as much a part of the game as is catching the ball and throwing it. It's what a batter does after he hits the ball.
It is essential that the bases be run properly or you don't score runs.

How basic is that?

This is something you should have grasped in Little League. From the time you first put on a uniform, you knew that if you reached first base, made to second base then went on to third and were able to cross the plate, you scored. Do this enough and your team has a real good chance of winning.

If you happened to do more things good on the baseball diamond- than most- those who are paid to scout prospects make you an offer to play baseball for the team they represent.

If you have proved to the coaches and executives that you are no fluke, your play will be rewarded by your being elevated to your level of minor league play until it is deemed you are ready for the Major Leagues.

Through it all, you could not have shown anybody that you forgot how to run the bases or you would not have been promoted to the major league level.

So why, as long as I can remember, do the San Francisco Giants not know how to run the bases? What is the purpose of having base coaches if the batter-runner, or pinch-runner ignores their signals?

The Giants may as well take turns with who they want to coach first and third base by using cardboard cut-outs. It could be a picture of anyone pointing toward the next base or even up at the Jumbo Tron. That way the knucklehead base runner could watch himself run into an out along with all the other disheartened hometown fans.

On the road it could become the new sensation in major league baseball. Headlines in the local papers across the country could read: See the San Francisco Giants run the bases. It's a laugh riot! Two Thumbs up!!!!!! It may replace the Weenie race at Brewer home games as one of the more fun things to see at the ole ballgame.

Lately, each loss gives Giants' fans another reason to hide their head in the sand.

kevin marquez