The halting steps toward a return to baseball, in the big leagues and at the grassroots level, are facing such complications that we haven't heard much about an issue raised in informal conversations with fellow hardball fanatics:
"What are we going to do about the catcher?"
Even if maintaining six feet of distance in a grocery store line might be more about providing a margin of confidence than being magical, the major leagues for sure _ and perhaps other baseball endeavors _ are going to be required to make some gestures toward communal interspacing.
I wouldn't be surprised if the MLB's public relations wizards come up with a line of demarcation for a baserunner to lead off first with no throws over.
Good luck trying to distance the catcher. He can perhaps set up three inches farther back in receiving the ball, but the hitter is going to be there, spitting and clawing and exhaling on swings, and the plate umpire _ well, we might get him to stop leaning or putting a hand on the catcher's back, but he has to be close enough to get a good look at the pitch.
The pandemic probably will give Rob Manfred, MLB's anti-baseball commissioner, a chance to get the electronic strike zone sooner rather than later, but it's not ready yet, presumably.
We talked with a few catchers and the art of their craft now that all those pandemic movies of recent times seem more like documentaries.
