Copyright ©  Daniel B. Botkin 2007

In a recent  Sunday’s New York Times Week in Review,  J. C. BRADBURY wrote that the problem with baseball is the expansion of teams from 26 to 30, because there just  isn’t enough talent in our population to provide for the difference.  His argument was based on what he understood about the ecology of populations and also, I would guess, about what he thought could happen in biological evolution.  But not being a biologist, he got some simple facts wrong. As a biologist and a baseball fan, I feel we have to get the story right if there’s any hope for great baseball of the future.  So here’s the right story.  (more…)

Copyright © Daniel B. Botkin 2007

Fans who love to hear the solid thwack of ball meeting wooden bat in a World Series game, especially when it signals a home run, better prepare for the Great Baseball Bat Crisis. Aluminum has replaced wood in high school and college baseball, and many fans resent the “ping” produced when aluminum collides with ball. But unless a sustained source of the wood that goes into big-league bats is established, aluminum bats may be the fate of major league baseball. (more…)