Why do starters get pulled after 100 pitches? The answer isn’t some grand scientific breakthrough so much as baseball settling on a convenient benchmark.
That number took hold in the 1980s, when sports medicine folks and coaches noticed a correlation between heavy pitch counts and the shoulder and elbow ligament injuries that often led to Tommy John surgery. No one has ever really explained why 100 became the line instead of 95, 105 or 110.
It just became the round number everybody latched onto.
That same kind of baseball logic shows up all over the game, from how teams handle relievers to how they build rosters. Relief pitchers are usually one-inning specialists now, even after a perfect frame.
If a guy comes in and punches out the side, the next arm still tends to be waiting. That’s not a Reds-only habit; it’s how the whole sport operates.
The old days, when one reliever might just finish what the starter began, are long gone.
And once a pattern works, MLB clubs copy it. That’s part of why the game keeps moving in the direction it does, whether it’s managing innings, chasing offense, or finding ways to squeeze every edge out of the rules.
The commissioner, Rob Manfred, is already the kind of person who might be tempted to keep pushing things in a more robotic direction, even to the point of putting micro sensors in players shoes to determine if a runner’s foot touched a base before the ball hits a fielder’s glove. The same line of thinking could eventually lead to electrified walls, just so outfielders get zapped if they try to rob hitters of home runs.
Baseball’s strange habits also show up in the Reds’ day-to-day decisions. The club has been living with a lineup full of cold bats, including Ke’Bryan Hayes at .149, TJ Friedl at .163 and Matt McLain at .197 in a game last week.
Add Eugenio Suarez at .203 and JJ Bleday at .219, and even Elly De La Cruz was stuck in a 2-for-30 slump. Managing that kind of group, as the column put it, means managing Team Slump.
At the time, the Reds were hitting .227, worst in baseball, and the standings weren’t doing them any favors.
The contrast between what you see on the field and what a player is really like? Deion Sanders is the easy answer.
Neon Deion played the part of the egotistical showboat, all flash and bling. Off camera, he was quiet, polite, introspective, respectful to everybody, and beloved by teammates.
Reds beat writers used to vote on a Nice Guy Award every year, and Sanders was a unanimous winner.
Another memorable Reds moment came in Game 1 of the 1970 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles. In the sixth inning, with the score tied 3-3, Bernie Carbo slid home, Ken Burkhart got knocked down, and his back was turned on the play.
Elrod Hendricks tagged Carbo with an empty glove while holding the ball in the other hand, Burkhart ruled Carbo out, and Sparky Anderson went berserk. The video did not show Burkhart missing the call.
It showed that Carbo missed home plate.
The Reds’ history also sparks debate about pinch hitters. Smoky Burgess or Jerry Lynch?
The answer given was Dane Myers, with the aside, “I live in the present.” Still, Lynch was “Lynch in the Pinch,” and his 116 career pinch hits rank 10th in MLB history, while his 18 pinch-hit homers are third all-time.
Burgess, meanwhile, was remembered more as an All-Star catcher, though he did finish with 145 career pinch hits across five teams.
As for why the Reds should just hire the entire baseball staff of the Tampa Bay Rays, the answer was simple: why stop there? The Dodgers would be an even bigger haul, but that would require Guggenheim Baseball Management, the Dodgers’ owners, to buy the Reds. As things stand, the Reds couldn’t buy a utility infielder from Tampa Bay.
And if you’re wondering whether there’s any hidden archive behind all these baseball columns, the answer is no. Nearly 21,200 baseball stories have been written since 1973, but they aren’t being saved by the writer.
The online Unsolicited Observations get deleted after posting, while the paper is believed to keep most of them archived electronically. After they’re written, they’re forgotten.
In Other News...
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Carson Benge has now forced his way into that discussion, though, and it comes at a time when voters are likely to weigh more than just raw numbers. The Mets outfielder has made a real jump since the All-Star break, enough to turn what looked like a two-player race into something less settled. For Stewart, the issue is no longer simply whether he has been good enough, but whether the total value he has provided to the Reds can still separate him from a pair of challengers gaining ground at the right time. [Read more 🡒]
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Now the question shifts from production to placement. On the big-league side, Sal Stewart is already leading the Reds in home runs, while Dunos rapid rise has started to raise a familiar roster conversation behind the plate, where Tyler Stephensons status looms over the long-term picture. The Reds may have more power on the way than they know what to do with, and sorting out where all of it fits could become one of the more interesting decisions of the offseason. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Are Running Out Of Time To Regain Fan Trust
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What makes the moment feel so urgent is that patience is not the same thing as trust. Reds fans and outside observers alike have started to talk more openly about the need for real change, not just incremental fixes, if the franchise wants to look like a contender again. Until the organization can show it can build and sustain a better roster and make sharper decisions at the top, every promising stretch will carry the same old burden of doubt. [Read more 🡒]