Before we begin, let me say that there is an original sin in this post. The flaw that undermines this entire article is that its author is old. I’m one of those almost 50 guys that actually likes the sport (although not as much as I used to). Maybe I should ask a younger person what they think. (Niko, you’re welcome to post). But I’m me, and I don’t have a way to de-age. With that concession on the table, let’s talk.
Baseball is boring. I mentioned that on twitter and baseball defenders commented back. I offered up this Gallup Poll that shows soccer tapping at the heels of baseball. Before you “nobody likes soccer me” (and I’m the old crabby guy?) why don’t you add 10 years to all the ages in that poll and add in a 2026 World Cup held in the states and think about things.
Baseball is boring. It wasn’t always boring. There are better articles out there than this one about how there are fewer balls in play, the game is home runs and strikeouts. Time of Game has been discussed for years. Pace of Play. I’ll get to all of that. Here’s another thing that has left….Fun.
I have been playing a video game called Super Mega Baseball 2. It is fun. At first glance it looks like an Arcade style game, but it’s actually a decent sim. As I play the game, I find myself thinking about why it is fun. From there I think there are some easy changes to modernize the game as an Entertainment Product.
In no particular order….
BRING BACK THE COLOR
Look at that screen shot of the game (above). Colorful.
As will be a common theme in this post, MLB has different eras. At one point baseball was super colorful…then, like with all things, that got overdone, and teams that went to a more classic look wound up looking better.
It’s time to bring back the color, and the fun. The Padres are heading back to brown in 2020. The Pirates wore this on Sunday! The movement has started!
Yes it’s ugly but it’s also fun. The Rays should work these in more often…
Let’s see more of this and this
And yes let’s even see more of this.
HOWEVER, let’s learn from the sins of the Mets. They overdid it and they ruined it.
If baseball would have occasional Color Weekends (I know NFL Color Rush was a disaster, but they did stupid designs and were TOO colorful) it could work. Instead of Charlie Samuels issuing black (or Phillies blue or Raysfauxback) too often, lets have the occasional Color Weekend.
Baseball did head in this direction last year. Another recurring theme of this post will be that they have danced around many of these ideas…I just want to escalate. Player’s Weekend. Colorful and fun.
The trick – ONE weekend of it. And let’s spend some money on the lettering this time guys. White???
How about instead of all the unnecessary Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/America Eff Yeah stuff, baseball borrowed from the minors. Let’s have a weekend of Alternate Identities. I love what MiLB did this summer.
Fun. All of it fun.
Again the trick is to do it for one weekend and not overdo it.
The rest of the time, when not having fun gimmick weekends, is to dress properly.
Baseball has a wonderful opportunity to do this in 2019. It’s the 20th Anniversary of Turn Ahead The Clock Night. Go all in on this one.
INNOVATE THE BROADCAST
A baseball telecast. An announcer guy with one or two ex-players. Often three white guys over 50. Been there, done that.
Are there younger voices to mix in? Women beyond Jessica and Suzyn?
Are there chances to be taken? What would Gary, Keith and Jim Breuer sound like for 9 innings? Or someone in their 20s with Gary. Or anything different.
Who is the Tony Romo of MLB who can tell me what the next pitch is going to be? Who has some fresh takes? (Props to ESPN for throwing on whatever the hell that was on ESPN News during the Home Run Derby – it was stat geeks or something. Not my cup of tea, but I love the attempt.)
How about some new camera angles? Baseball has basically looked the same on TV for years. The NFL learned from the XFL and changed it up. How about some lower angles? More on field angles? Angles from drones? Angles from flyover cameras? Something new???
Use microphones on players the way they did during the All Star Game. It was cool having the players miked up while playing. Baseball has tried and failed (zzzz) with the in game manager interviews. The Gelbs model doesn’t work. But Buck clowning around with guys actually paying? That was fun. Imagine if SNY miked up Nimmo for a night? Fun! Do it.
What about somehow using technology to Fox Puck the baseball? Again, I look at the video game.
Maybe that would be a train wreck during live play, but could be cool on replays.
BUILD SOME SUPERSTARS
People argue with me all the time about this. I say baseball lacks SUPERstars. It has baseball stars, but it lacks people in the national consciousness.
Let me throw some names at you from 1977’s All Star Game. Reggie Jackson. SUPERstar. Johnny Bench. Kids knew him from the Brady Bunch and later the Baseball Bunch. Mark Fydrych (forgotten now, a superstar at the time). Even Steve Garvey seems bigger than anyone today. I’m not even mentioning a ton of HOFers that played in that game.
Someone tried to tell me Freddie Freeman is a SUPERstar. Exsqueeze me? That’s a joke right?
So mike up those players. Tell people like Aaron Judge (your best hope) to show up and play in the darn Home Run Derby. Manfred was right about Trout. Get these guys on TV outside of baseball. Find some guys with personalty and market them. If I’m the Mets I am marketing Nimmo like you can’t believe and hoping the stats back it up. Thor, embrace the Thorness (just be less Harvey about it).
OVER THE TOP INTROS
Did you see Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals? Have you been to an NHL Game? Let’s come on the field with some energy. Let’s use modern 3D Projection and make the game more exciting as the players take the field.
I want a full on Game of Thrones production when Syndergaard comes on the field. I want Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song at Volume 11. Hell, have some barbarians attack him on the way to the mound and let him smack them with a hammer. Lean into it!!!!
The first time through the lineup let’s let each player walk up to over the top music, over the top intros, and short videos. Build those stars. After the first time through we can chillax and enjoy the conversational aspect of attending a baseball game. Not everything needs to be HYPE – so I’d say bring the energy first time around, and then some nice throwback organ music the rest of the way.
I’ll talk about this more during pace of play.
EMBRACE THE NOSTALGIA, AND THE NOSTALGIA ISN’T 1955…..IT’S 1995!
Baseball needs to embrace it’s recent past. Time to stop talking about Mays & Mantle. Nobody under 55 saw them play.
The recent past has names like Bonds, McGwire and Clemens. You can’t just ignore the Steroid Years. This was an era of baseball that was fun, popular, and when people now in their 30s were kids. The sweet spot of nostalgia is always in the 20-25 year range. You can’t ignore the greatest players of a generation. Put them in the HOF and bring them back around.
Declare Amnesty commish and let’s bring the stars back into the game. As I try to think of recent SUPERstars in baseball I think of McGwire, Bonds and the most recent SUPERstar was A-Rod. You have a big problem if you’re gonna ice a generation (oh an A-Rod is on TV every Sunday btw).
IT’S THE GAME STUPID
I’ve written in the past about 7 Inning Games and my theory that baseball comes in 25 year eras. You can read that here.
The Opener is bad for the marketing of baseball, and easily legislated against. I have written about that here.
Whatever happened to the stolen base? Vince Coleman (Cardinals version). Rickey Henderson. Mookie. Reyes. It was fun watching that drama…would the guy take off? Would Keith Hernandez figure out a smarter way to hold runners on, only to be thwarted by Whitey Herzog pointing out he was violating a rule (because he was in foul territory). Good stuff.
Fewer Strikeouts? I realized that to cut down on strikeouts I would need to somehow legislate against Ks. How do you make someone not strike out? This is a tough one.
So I thought about it. Money talks. So here’s what we’re going to do.
Each team will put $10,000,000 in the cookie jar at the start of every season. Every time someone on your team strikes out $10,000 is donated to fighting breast cancer/prostate cancer or helping veterans. Whatever money is left at the end of the season goes back in the owner’s pockets. You think Jeff Wilpon is gonna keep signing guys costing him 10 grand an at bat? No way. I bet strikeouts go wayyyy down really quickly, and we will get the ball back in play.
I’ll spare you the rant about late starts. But yes the population of the USA does live in Eastern. I am sorry if you don’t and this upsets you.
PACE OF PLAY
I’ve talked about this a lot on the blog, so I will fly through this. I am trying to be realistic, but also to help.
Earlier I mentioned the over the top intros. That will slow down the early parts of games. That’s OK. It’s the back end that drags. I want to move the commercial breaks around.
A baseball game, barring weather, should have 17 half inning breaks. I propose that we lengthen the breaks by thirty seconds in the first three innings. I also propose that we shorten the breaks by thirty seconds from the 7th on. Keep the damn game moving.
Pitching changes? Made from the dugout. Just like a pinch hitter. Come in ready.
Mound trips? NONE. Zero. The NFL has cool radio helmet technology. Look into it.
Warm up Pitches? NONE. The batter doesn’t get some practice swings. Come in ready.
Replay? NONE. Station a human referee near each base. That referee will make an immediate and binding ruling and we play on. Once nice side effect is we will see the FUN of managers losing their mind and kicking dirt on umpires. Hockey needs the occasional fight, we need this.
And seriously….7 innings. Read this.
…..
- Hopefully this post generates some conversation. I would love to hear from you on the Mets Police Facebook Page and give me a follow while there
- Some of you will wonder if this post is not serious, especially as I embraced some things that seem against the Grouchy Old Man vibe that some of you think I have. Nope, I am serious, even about the Mets wearing black uniforms occasionally.
