Can we please get off Keith Hernandez' back now?   The guy made a "girlie" remark while doing a New York Mets broadcast.   So what?!   He was shocked to see a woman in a major league dugout, didn't know what to say, and made a dumb remark.   I was watching the broadcast and heard him do it.   It was one of the moments when broadcasters are supposed to say something, they scratch their brains and say something dumb. &nsbp; It happens about every inning.   So what?!   What makes this different?   The fact is you don't see many women in major league dugouts and there's at least a pretty good reason for that.   Women mostly play softball.

The sports writers are falling all over themselves to tell us all how chauvinistic Hernandez and baseball are.   But they don;t even acknowledge that women play the related sport and do so quite well.   I know it doesn't matter to me that women do not have a huge presence in baseball.   I happen to like softball.

Before you beat me up for being patronizing, let me ask you a question.   Have you ever seen real women's softball?   Don't tell me the ball is soft.   Have you ever been hit by one?   My 9 year old daughter broke my left shin with a fastball during her pitching practice!   Ask number two draft pick and Alabama pitching ace Stephanie Van Brakle what it feels like to get hit by a "soft" ball.   She had her jaw busted by a ball hit back at her.   By the way, I think she may even have missed one game as a result.   And my recollection is she didn't wear a face guard after she went back out to pitch the next game.   These "girls" who play high level softball are extremely tough athletes.

It is a funny thing to hear people talk of women's softball as somehow being a more gentile game than baseball.   These folks obviously don't know of what they speak.   There are differences between softball and baseball but they hardly make softball a gentler sort of game.   For example, quality softball pitchers throw about 65 - 70 mph.   And they throw from a pitching plate which is 43 feet from home as opposed to the 60 feet 6 inches baseball pitchers use.   What this translates to after a pitcher takes her step to home and throws is, in softball, it takes less than half a second for the ball to arrive.   In the major leagues where an average fastball is about 90 mph, even after the step, it takes the ball closer to .6 of a second to arrive.   So softball batters have about one tenth of a second less than baseball batters.   For this reason, high level softball players have to be far more disciplined than their baseball brethren.   Their swings are shorter and they work hard on diagnosing pitches more quickly than baseball players do.

Another significant difference between men's baseball and girl's softball is the distance between the bases.   In softball it's 60 feet whereas in baseball it is 90.   Now not all ladies run as fast as men for sure but I guarantee you that the average woman softball player makes it 60 feet faster than a man does 90.   Something you don't see in softball is an infielder bobble the ball and get the out at first.   You also never see a softball infielder take her time or wipe her hand clean before throwing.   You either field it cleanly and quickly or you get charged with an error.   And even cleanly fielded balls generally result in close plays.   Oh, and lest I forget, because the field is so small, the action so intense, your typical softball third baseman plays about 40 feet from the batter.   Talk about scary, the reaction time for a softball third baseman is about two thirds what the guy working the baseball "hot corner" has to protect himself.

Now over the years many professional baseball players have tried to hit top level softball pitchers.   They can't.   That's because in addition to being far closer and the batter getting one tenth of a second less, softball pitchers throw a broader selection of pitches.   Your typical major league starter throws a fastball (maybe a four seam, maybe a two seam, maybe both), some sort of breaking pitch, and maybe a changeup or perhaps a slider.   Usually baseball starters have two main pitches and maybe a third which rarely sees the light of day.   In softball, it is rather ordinary for a starting pitcher to throw few fastballs because they're too easy for softball hitters to hit.   Your typical softball pitcher throws, two kinds of curves, a broad sweeping one and something akin to a slider, at least one kind of screwball, sometimes two, a drop (like a sinker, there are two different kinds, some pitchers throw both), a riseball (they actually do rise in softball since it is an underhand motion), and myriad other sorts of things like knuckle balls, changeups, etc.   Did I forget to mention that whereas in baseball, the breaking pitch is maybe five to ten mph less than the fastball, in softball, there is often no differenceor a negligible one in speed between pitches excluding the change.   That's not to say softball pitchers don;t change speeds.   They do so frequently.   I've seen several pitcher whose screwball comes in a couple mph higher than their fastball.   Sometimes a pitcher might throw a slower pitch - softball pitchers mix their speeds pretty well - but for the most part, you get a curve, a drop, a screw, a rise, and they're all at the 66 mph the fastball is.   Have you yet comtemplated how difficult it is to figure out if the pitcher is throwing a changeup when you have less than a half a second to make the judgment?   The change is very effective in softball and a good one is about impossible to hit.

If you ever get a chance to see Olympian, number one draft pick, and Texas Longhorn senior ace, Cat Osterman pitch, you will see something akin to magic done with a pitched ball.   But bring eye drops with you because your eyes are going to hurt after seeing Cat pitch.   Her drop-ball can best be described as "FILTHY."   Few human beings, be they major league baseball players or not, have any chance of ever touching a Cat Osterman drop.

Yes, Keith Hernandez made a stupid remark while trying to fill air time during a New York Mets broadcast.   But his comments did not diverge much from reality.   The truth is you don't see very many woman around baseball.   But we don't need to wash Keith's mouth out with soap for the unforgivable digression.   Let's just forget about it and move on.   It was a simple, honest mistake.   But now that it's over, can we see a list of the sports writers who criticized him and who can honestly say that they even know there is a professional women's softball league in this country?   It happens to be partnered up with MLB!   Can we see the hands of those who have actually been to a game?   And how many have written a single article about softball over the years?   Funny, I can't seme to find anything ever written about softball in the paper other than the local high school action - my paper does a good job of it, many don't.   But for you, my patient audience, I have a suggestion.   If you are unfamiliar with the game of high level women's competitive softball, let me suggest that you take the time to get familiar with it.   It's as gritty as baseball and far faster.   It may be seperate but it is definitely not equal.