STATITUDES
May 04, 1998
Juiced balls? Juiced bats? Juiceless pitching? Smaller strike zones? Creatine? Whatever the reason, college baseball is on a run-scoring binge that has made 20-run games commonplace and safe late-inning leads nonexistent. Batting averages, home runs and ERAs, all of which have been rising for a quarter century, have surged more dramatically in the last three years than in any three-year span—including the one following the introduction of the aluminum bat in 1974. Here are the NCAA figures:
Juiced balls? Juiced bats? Juiceless pitching? Smaller strike zones? Creatine? Whatever the reason, college baseball is on a run-scoring binge that has made 20-run games commonplace and safe late-inning leads nonexistent. Batting averages, home runs and ERAs, all of which have been rising for a quarter century, have surged more dramatically in the last three years than in any three-year span—including the one following the introduction of the aluminum bat in 1974. Here are the NCAA figures:
[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]