andy Alderson has been trying to affect Major League Baseball’s strike zone for over two years. After his ascension to the position of Executive Director of Baseball Operation, he was given the job of supervising the umpires. He campaigned for the addition of those duties, it was reported, with missionary zeal.

Acting behind the scenes at first, Alderson set about to “gain some consistency” in the calling of the strike zone. He soon became concerned that it was more than a matter of consistency. Alderson discovered that the “book zone” was not being called at all. He complained that pitches “a foot off the plate” were called strikes, while “anything above the belt” was called a ball.

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