Post
by vnatale » Tue Apr 18, 2023 8:37 pm
Another view of ChatGPT:
Subject: ChatGPT has quite the imagination
Just for fun – because I’ve written about the subject and I wanted to see
how much of my work would be used – I asked ChatGPT to “write a history of
pitchers not batting ninth in major league baseball.” I guess the bot
didn’t find my piece, but I’m not sure how hard it looked, because
virtually every sentence in the resulting copy was false, bat-guano crazy
false, and I don’t think there’s any source for it anywhere, which makes me
wonder how in the world ChatGPT came up with this stuff. Here’s some of
what it produced:
*“This tradition [batting the pitcher ninth] held firm for decades, with
few exceptions. One notable exception occurred in the 1930s, when St. Louis
Cardinals manager Frankie Frisch occasionally batted his pitchers eighth in
the lineup, in order to take advantage of the better hitting abilities of
his position players. This strategy was later dubbed the "Frisch Rule,"
although it was not widely adopted by other managers at the time.”*
Frisch never, in his 2200+ games as a major league manager, put his pitcher
anywhere but ninth in the lineup. The “Frisch Rule”? Where did THAT come
from? And what it in the world is “in order to take advantage of the better
hitting abilities of his position players” supposed to mean?
*“It wasn't until the 1970s that another manager challenged the traditional
lineup configuration. Chicago White Sox skipper Chuck Tanner experimented
with batting his pitchers in various spots in the order, including eighth
and even seventh. However, these experiments were short-lived, and Tanner
eventually returned to the traditional ninth spot for his pitchers.”*
Tanner never, in his 2000+ games as a major league manager in games with no
DH, put his pitcher anywhere but ninth in the lineup. In the entire decade
of the 1970s, for all 24/26 teams, the pitcher batted somewhere other than
ninth three times.
*“**The next significant challenge to the pitcher batting ninth tradition
came in the 1980s, when Whitey Herzog managed the St. Louis Cardinals.
Herzog's teams were known for their speed and aggressive baserunning, and
he believed that batting his pitcher eighth in the lineup would allow his
position players to take advantage of more scoring opportunities. This
strategy was known as the "Whiteyball" style of play and was quite
successful, as the Cardinals won the World Series in 1982. Other managers
soon followed Herzog's lead, and by the mid-1980s, several teams were
experimenting with batting their pitchers eighth.”*
This is the craziest passage in the whole piece. Herzog never, in the 1500+
National League games he managed, put his pitcher anywhere but ninth in the
lineup. Furthermore, no pitcher for any team batted anywhere but ninth in
the entire decade of the 1980s. “Whiteyball”? Batting his pitcher eighth
“would allow his position players to take advantage of more scoring
opportunities”? An eighth-grader faking a book report could come up with
more plausible stuff than this.
*“In recent years, there have been occasional experiments with batting the
pitcher in other spots in the order, such as seventh or even sixth.
However, these experiments have been short-lived…”*
And of course, recent years – especially the period from 2015-2019, and
Tony LaRussa with the Cardinals before that – have seen the pitcher bat
somewhere other than ninth far more than any other period in major league
history (at least post-1900, I haven’t looked at the 19th century). But
since 1973, the pitcher has hit seventh only twice (both of them Dontrelle
Willis, 2005) and never sixth (the last pitcher to do that was Gary Peters
in 1968).
I know ChatGPT doesn’t always get things right, but to be this wrong takes
some work.
Above provided by: Vinny, who always says: "I only regret that I have but one lap to give to my cats." AND "I'm a more-is-more person."