Mac-Coleman

18 August 2013 -

Is Throwing Baseballs Like Throwing Hand Grenades?  Yes.  

Enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame are twenty second basemen ­­-- all right-handed.  This is because it is difficult to field a grounder with the mitt on the right hand, and then turn smoothly and throw with the left arm to first base to get the runner out.  It is even more time consuming and difficult for a left-hander to take a relay throw from the shortstop or third baseman, step on the base at second to force the runner coming from first, and then pivot to make the throw to first base in time to complete the double play.  All this has to happen within 3.5 seconds or the batter will already be at first.  The physics and the geometry are immutable.  The game demands right-handed ball players at second base.  It always has.  Coaches, whose job it is to build winning teams, have always steered left-handed ball players to one of the other eight positions on the field.   That is baseball.      

 Some may ask, Isn’t that unfair?  How can baseball continue to claim its preeminent role in society if it baldly discriminates against a significant minority of its players?  Maybe government leaders should create a special commission—comprised of at least 50% left-handed experts—to restructure the rules of the game so lefthanders can exercise their full rights to play baseball.  This should, of course, be accomplished immediately, so the baseball Hall of Fame will reflect all Americans, their talents, and especially their desires.  We don’t want to leave anybody out, and we don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings.

How foolish.  Teams play baseball for one reason, to win.  The most capable players are chosen to use their specific abilities in precise ways.  If you can’t do it, you don’t play. 

The silliness about changing the rules of baseball is not too far afield from recent changes in Department of Defense policy to now allow women to serve in small, special operations combat units.  Servicewomen now can volunteer for and, if they pass the physical and skill requirements, become Rangers, SEALS, Air Force Special Operators, and Marine combat squad members. 

How is this bad? 

First:  The rules and tools of tactical warfare in these small combat units are measured by only one criterion:  Do they win battles?  Nothing else matters.  Indisputably, few men and almost no women can pass the physical requirements for prosecuting this special, tactical warfare.  Just as there is no policy in baseball barring left-handed second basemen, the harsh rules of nature and competition—winning and losing—have dictated the same in barring women from such warfare, with or without a policy change.  

Second:  The motives and methods of those who have pushed for women to serve in small unit combat closely resemble the motives and methods of those fictitious meddlers who would change the geometry of baseball to accommodate left-handed second basemen.  It is foolhardy.  In combat, the score is kept in body counts and surrenders.  Less-than-capable small unit combatants die faster and surrender more often.     

All of the advocates’ arguments avoid addressing the ultimate reason we go to war and then fight tactical battles: to win.  Ignoring the insurmountable differences in physical abilities between men and women, these people contend instead that women must be given the same combat rights and opportunities as men.  They disregard the reality that weaker combatants are a literal drag on their fellow service members and a hindrance to combat readiness as a whole, reducing the probability of winning battles.  Perhaps the “rights” advocates simply want to balance the number of heavily bemedaled women and men in Valhalla by allowing more women to serve in combat. 

Third:   Particularly in insurgencies—where we use our small unit combat forces most often—our combat effectiveness must be the best we can possibly field.  Initially, the enemy controls the tempo and the timing of an insurgency.  Therefore, our combat forces must be so effective—not just effective enough—that the local people will quickly see that a safe future is to be found with us and not with the insurgents.  The best combat force we can field is the best way to “win the hearts and minds of the people.” 

There can be no left-handed second basemen in small unit combat teams if we want to rout the enemy.  This is an immutable law that politicians keep forgetting.