Posted on 8/21/2010, 1:36:00 PM by Homer_J_Simpson
...and most of these games played in two hours or less; thanks to the almighty dollar (or the quest for it), sports has become an endless series of commercials and sales pitches (pun intended)...
Good stuff, man. I still have an autographed Bowman card Ken Keltner signed for me. He was a terrific clutch hitter and a fine fielder.
Even in my day, we could walk right up to Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Henry Aaron, and Don Drysdale. They treated us kids with grace. Frank Robinson gave me his bat. I still have it too.
Mostly I don’t recognize today’s baseball.
Good year to live in the Buckeye state. Reds and Tribe lead their respective leagues. We’ll see if that holds up.
Some modern notes:
Today, Bill Lohrman of the Giants would never have had his “shabby deal” at Crosley Field. (Forget for a moment that it would be Great American Ball Park, a fine facility, and not Crosley.) Sure, he pitched 3-hit ball through eight, but going into the 9th the stopper would warming up in the pen (in Great American its just inside the right field foul pole. You can stand behind bull pen and watch them warm up while you are on your way for a Skyline Chili cheese dog or two). Today, as soon as the first Reds player scored, the manager is out to the mound with the hook; the closer comes in and usually (unless he’s a Cubs closer) the game is over. This was “back in the day” when a starter was thought to be a wimp if he didn’t go nine. Now, we have the “quality start” if you just go seven. Some pitchers, like Rich Harden, are pretty much done after 5 2/3.
I like the modern box scores better than the ones used back in 1940. I like the current format that shows AB, R, H & RBI. I always look for what I call “sixes.” It’s a player who had a combination of runs, hits and RBI’s totaling six in a game. You know that guy had a good day.
To get that same feel today you have to go to a minor league park. At many of them, you can sit right next to the bullpen and talk to the players during the game.
Major League ball, and major league players, have become so commercialized and it’s such a business thing that there is little room for the average fan anymore. We are just a collective mass, such as Marlon Byrd salutes the bleachers in Wrigley when he takes the field. We are expected to pay up and show up.
Today’s longer games are a result of the change in pitching strategies. Every pitching change adds time to the game. With that comes more pitches in each at bat since the pitcher doesn’t have to conserve in order to get through the game and more throws to first to hold runners.
There are still 2 hour games, but they really require two pitchers going late into the game with no mid-inning changes. Yesterday’s shortest game was 2:14. The longest was 3:22 for a 10 inning game with 10 pitchers used.
Only playoff games and the All Star game have extended inning breaks for television. Since those are often the only games non-fans watch, it gives an impression that today’s games are all glacially slow.
Advertising is nothing new. The ballparks of the era were covered with advertising signs, just like today. The Green Monster at Fenway had ads on it until 1947.
Majors, Minors, college, local league, sandlot. Despite everything, it´s still a beautiful game to watch.
Anyone else notice that the writing style of these older newspaper articles is different than the writing today? It’s hard to explain exactly, but I think they used more descriptive language in the writing style then.
I don’t watch baseball on TV due to ALL the commercials, etc.
Thanks for your data...all of which I knew...I just hate advertising that goes on and on and on and on and on and on...
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