Don't ruin the game

Baseball is tinkering with the rules again. They only change things every 80 or 90 years so I AM NOT that concerned. However, one possible change and it could happen this coming season is the elimination of the process we old-timers love to call "the intentional pass"  or intentional walk if you are a recent convert to the game.

Instead of watching a pitcher almost lose it by throwing pitches 40 miles per hour 2 feet out of the strike zone, we will merely get a signal from the dugout that the runner can take first base automatically. Geez Louise, why can't they leave well enough alone?  Who doesn't go to a game hoping to see a guy walked on 4 pitches?

The signal from the dugout would "speed up" the game according to the Commish. Yea, and with free passes happening twice every series, we get 15 seconds of our lives back. I think the way it is now is suspense at it's best. Maybe the guy throwing 102 mph can't get it any where near his catcher. What if he leaves one too close and it gets whacked deep while the defense is scratching or adjusting gear? I say leave it alone.

I have an example for you that I remember from 1955. Two years before my favorite Chevy came on the scene. Harry Chiti was a catcher for the Cubs. He, at one time, was the youngest guy in the BIGS. Chicago signed him and he played 3 games for them when he was just 17. At 23, he was stepping in with runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out.  You know what happened next.

Chiti drew a free pass. Or did he? The Pirates reliever got what he wanted to be BALL 3 just a hair inside and Harry TRIPLED TO DEEP LEFT.  That memory alone is worth keeping the 4 pitches in the rule book.  Harry finished that season with 1 triple. And a damned fine one it was. However, to be fair, his runnning out that triple, lengthened the game by about 3 minutes.