This Week's Poll: Off-Set or Dead-Center?

by Ian Casselberry on Jul 6, 2009 12:00 PM EDT in Detroit Tigers News

Originally, this week's poll question was going to ask which Detroit Tiger you thought was snubbed by the All-Star selection process. And sure, you could make a case for Miguel Cabrera, but does anyone currently reading this really think that the Tigers aren't being suitably represented next week in St. Louis?

So my thoughts turned elsewhere, particularly to a Slate article I read last week (via Shysterball) concerning the two primary camera views we watch baseball games with. Most teams (and ballparks) give us what's become the standard off-set view, just to the right of the pitcher. A handful of others give a straight-away perspective, looking directly over the pitcher.

I was reminded of this over the weekend, as we saw both camera views used during the Tigers' three-game series in Minnesota. The two games that were regionally telecast on FOX Sports Detroit employed the dead-center view, while the national Saturday FOX telecast used the traditional off-set angle.

Which view do you prefer? The off-set angle looks better, filling more of your television screen, providing a seemingly more intimate view of the pitcher-batter match-up. Yet setting the camera to the right of the pitcher skews the perspective of the strike zone. (Click through to the Slate article for two good examples.) The dead-center view gives a truer look at the strike zone and pitch movement, but there's much more empty space in the picture, giving the game kind of a detached feel.

So that's going to be this week's poll question:

Which camera angle do you prefer to watch baseball with?

You can find the poll on the right sidebar below the FanPosts block. Or you can vote here. And if you have suggestions for future poll questions, shoot me an e-mail. Please add your thoughts in the comments.

How did our last poll go?

Once again, I completely misread the pulse of the people. We had ourselves another landslide. The majority of you think Jim Leyland will manage the Tigers through 2011.

Will Jim Leyland finish out his new two-year contract?

77% Yes - He's got two more years in him

22% No - A possible overhaul could wear him out

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Comments

Excellent post. I caught the article in Slate and have been trying ever since to think of smart-sounding reasons why its author was wrong. You got to the heart of it with “The off-set angle looks better…”

I think that’s the answer to the author’s question about why the dead-center angle isn’t more widely used.

I also think the author is wrong about the traditional angle making balls and strikes (inside and outside) very difficult to judge. The comparison to trying to judge from the dugout is obviously exaggerated.

The dead center angle might be better if it didn’t require raising the camera so high. From that height, as you said, the screen is emptier and the players seem farther away. It’s also a little more difficult to judge strikes in terms of high and low, IMO.

But basically, you nailed it. One is more visually satisfying than the other. Considering the medium, that ought to be enough. I’d like to see K-Zone technology used on regional networks some day, but for now I’ll trust the ump and players’ reactions, along with my ever-so-slightly skewed perspective at home. I don’t need an ugly camera angle to tell me whether a pitch was a strike or not.

by cloud wall on Jul 6, 2009 2:38 PM EDT reply actions