Commentary
This is the second installment in a series of two funny top ten lists that look at how baseball has changed between 1981 and 2021.
Things have changed in terms of safety. In 1981 it was common to try to take out the second baseman or shortstop when you slid into second base, to break up the double play. That's considered passe in 2021. There's also a heightened focus on safety nowadays, including fan safety. Protective netting helps keep fans who may not be paying attention to the game safe from foul balls.
In 2021 there are new metrics and statistics to keep track of, such as launch angle, exit velocity, and OPS. You'd think we're launching rocket ships instead of baseballs.
Ok, it's time to fess up. We hoped to do a series of two lists comparing baseball in 2021 to baseball in 1981. And while we came up with enough material related to 2021, 1981 came up short. Alas, we didn't want to scrap the list completely, so as a compromise we picked several non-baseball events from 1981 to round out the list.
So yes, items 1 to 7 of the 1981 list have nothing to do with baseball . We're sorry for misrepresenting the nature of this list, and we'll try to do better going forward. We really will.
