Numbers are concrete….yet the message that they send is sometime Tricky!…Take a look.

….Somehow, when talking with fellow MLB fans, we get excited about very young players in their early 20’s. But, as one looks at the average age of a player, it’s TRICKY! The average age of an active player on an MLB Opening Day roster was 29.33 years old. Since the average length of a MLB career is 5.6 years. Combining those 2 stats… the age of the “average” MLB player is 26.53 years old to 32.13 years old. When a player hits 30 years old, some fans call him “old” yet he’s really in his prime!! It’s TRICKY!

…Some TRICKY NUMBERS from the World Series…with the Phillies-Arizona series even @ 2-2, the Phillies are batting .250 as a team. Arizona holds a .202 average!! Philly has outscored Az 21-11 in the series. In Astroes-Rangers series (Astroes up 3-2 in he series, each team has struck out 37x!-74 strikeouts by two of the best hitting teams in the MLB in 5 games…ugh!

…. A pleasant TRICKY NUMBER in the National Rankings is coming up for Mizzou after their strong win over S. Carolina 34-12 on Saturday. MU was up 24-0 in the 2^nd quarter!! I don’t think that they’ll make the TOP 10 but I think that the Tigers could vault up to the top 15! Having just 1 superstar Wide receiver (Luther Burden),  an aggressive defense, a sturdy reliable QB with a strong offensive line changes the complexion of the offense.  Now, none of the teams above Mizzou lost yesterday but only a few had wins over high quality teams.

…. It’s TRICKY JUST MAKING THE MLB! About 10.5% of NCAA Senior male baseball players will get drafted. Close to 1 in 200 HS players will be drafted (that’s 0.5%). That’s JUST being drafted not necessarily playing in the MLB!!  Further the fact that 20% of the MLB players will have only a 1 year career seems overlooked. At any point of a players career, the chance of exiting is 11%.

….For those that do play and play 10 years in the MLB, an unbelievable pension awaits them. With 10 years of service, a ballplayer will receive $7500/month. That’s $90,000/year!!  WOW! If a player waits until he’s 65 years of age, it can top out @ $200,000/year!!  Now the “service time” seems to be TRICKY number to determine. I’m guessing that time on the disabled list doesn’t count towards service time.  Keep in mind that the typical MLB player spends 4-7 years in the Minor Leagues!! If you beat those TRICKY NUMBERS the reward is super! This year 29 MLB players will reach or will soon reach 10 years of Major League service time this year. Service time is a touchy subject when it comes to its manipulation and a TRICKY concept when it comes to its calculation.

…Current free agent players have other TRICKY numbers to consider. Pointed out to me by my brother, some states have abolished their income tax. Texas is 1 of a group of states that doesn’t have an INCOME TAX. Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming are the states that don’t levy an income tax.

…Now, that doesn’t mean that an MLB player (or any pro athlete) will never pay any income tax if he plays in 1 of those states. A player’s tax is based on what states he/she competes in. Sure, the fact that ½ the games are in Texas with no income tax is a bonus. But playing games in other states (say Missouri), you will pay tax on the percentage of your salary earned in those states. The way that I  understand it is if you played 10 games there, you’d pay 10/162 of your salary there and be taxed on that amount. That would be true in each state. Nonetheless, that’s a big advantage for the players on these teams in any of the states w/o an income tax. Now….any more tax advice from me will cost you.. remember to check with YOUR “tax advisor” and it isn’t me!

…The TRICKY NUMBER about deciding when a manager is too old or seasoned? ….MLB baseball does not seem to have an unwritten rule for the ages of Manager. Usually, they were former players with a “good sense” of the game. The ages of MLB managers have been declining in the last few years, with 22 managers under 60 years of age at the start of the 2023 season. But in the AL Championship Series, the two oldest managers in the majors, 74-year-old Baker and 68-year-old Bochy, are leading the way. Dusty Baker had a wonderful MLB career. He played in the MLB for 19 years, had 242 HR (6 years over 20 HR),lifetime OPS .779) Baker started managing at 44 years of age in 1993 for Frisco. He worked there 10 years (840-715) and won 1 pennant. He moved immediately to Chicago as the Cubs manager. He was there 4 years with 322-326 record. He took off a year, then in 2008 he took the Cincy job. He worked there while compiling 509-463 record. He left after 2013 season, took off 2 years. He managed Washington for 2 years with a sizzling 192-132 record!!  He took off 2 more years than took the Houston job. He was brought in after “cheating” scandal of the Asstros. He’s been there for 4 years with 2 pennants & 1 Series title. I don’t hear anyone talking about his age only where to buy into some toothpick stock 😊

….The 3-0 count on a batter actually present a TRICKY NUMBER. It’s an automatic “take” for batters. I easily understand that thinking in amateur leagues where pitchers don’t have the command of a MLB pitcher. Yet….if I were a MLB manager considering that 80% of the 3-0 pitches go to 1 of 3 spots.. 1) low & away; 2) up & in; 3) down the middle.  I’d give my batters the option to swing @ the 3-0 pitch in most cases. They don’t HAVE to swing but if they like it, go for it! In this era of dwindling scoring, why not?

Thanks for your read! Send us a TRICKY NUMBER FOR YOU!