MLB to Small Town America: Drop Dead

Here, first pitch during the summer is at 7:05 p.m., because kids are out of school so they can come to the later start times and not have to get up for school in the morning. While school is in session, they move the start time up to 6:35 during the week, so kids can come and still be home early enough to get to bed and make it to school.

That's the team's reasoning on the start times, at least. Methinks they try to be too smart and overthink things like this. I wonder how the attendance is affected by kids and school in any of those scenarios.

 

Everything is Eurosport. Must do as the Euros do.

 

We start at 6:35 p.m., but 7:05 p.m. works much better these days than it did before because of the pitch clock, which remains the greatest innovation in pro baseball since mandatory batting helmets.

Game 1 (scheduled for 7 innings, only 6.5 no B7) of a DH last night was played in 1:32. Heavenly.

 

First of all, I think you're being a little doomy on the Tigers. They're currently tied with four other clubs (Cubs, Reds, Giants) at 45-49 and are a half-game ahead of the defending world champs. Admittedly not impressive but not disastrous, and I'd say the last week is as good as they've looked all summer (and Skubal's starting tonight). But that's a question for the other thread.

I think the minors have swung back and forth between "good show" and "good development" over the years and I don't think that's going to change. I think we're swinging toward the latter right now because now that more minimum standards have been established for player accomodations and the minor leaguers are in the union, clubs have been putting the squeeze on them to avoid investing in the no-hoper levels. This is also probably a bit of a backlash toward the surge in facilities and brand modernization that hit a lot of those levels in the 1990s and early 2000s, bringing about some real nice downtown parks (and getting rid of some really ugly relics), but also bringing about inane team names I hate.

To me it seems kind of silly, because as you kind of point out by accident, the payoff to the big club of putting 25% more into your minor league system probably beats what you're going to get out of a high-priced free agent. It feels like one of the few market inefficiencies left in the SABRmetric era.

 

Whoever invented the pitch clock needs a statue in front of every professional baseball stadium.

I remember cruising through a 9-inning game early last season in a cool 2:05. And didn't feel rushed in the least.

Heard some rumblings from upset front-office people about the shorter time to sell concessions because of it. Cutting off beer sales after 1:45 instead of 2:30 on some nights feels significant.

 

Simple solution. Sell up to two cans, have a mini cooler for sale.

 

Wait ... you didn't miss the lost opportunity to let the game percolate, or whatever it was the TV people were crying about?

 

He wasn't exactly Vin Scully in the booth, but still a cool moment for this kid.

 

Wow, great story. You know this can't start happening at every ballpark, but what a great thing for the broadcaster to do and he handled it with total grace and class.

It's not that hard to do nice things for other people. Really.

 

He was terrible. Really need to do some prep on the Barons.

The regular announcer? Really good, I figure he'll be moving up soon with the attention this thing gets.

 

Not to be THAT guy, but if a 14-year-old aspiring broadcaster brings a sign to the game wanting to be on the air and gets that shot, he'd better be overly prepared. The kid has a nice voice -- that drawl needs work -- and perhaps some knowledge of the game, but you have to know how to fill the dead spots with asides and be ready to describe the action in detail, like that leadoff triple.

Now, to be fair, I've gotten airchecks from supposed "professionals" that were worse than that kid. And yeah, stage fright is real. Also, hearing your voice for the first time through headphones takes getting used to. Oh, what a golden opportunity, though.

When I was 14, I was bringing a casette tape recorder to the Coliseum every chance I got, trying to perfect my cadence and play by play skills. Unfortunately for historical purposes, I usually re-recorded over the same cassettes (they were expensive compared to my $1 weekly allowance!), so I've only found no more than a couple of minutes on the ones that still play, 50 years later. I did, however, send a manila envelope in 1975 to Charlie Finley with an aircheck and a cover letter, hoping for a shot like that kid got. Who knew the A's would turn to a low-watt college station four years later!

Same with every high school football and basketball game. I either talked my way into the press box or sat at center court with that little GE recorder. Then I'd go home, play it back and do a critique on things I could have done better for the next time. I was serious about the dream, knowing full well the odds of landing a job were slim and none. But as my father noted, "As an old Roman put it, luck is the intersection between preparation and opportunity."

Even now, I'm ready! If The Villages needs a pickleball play by play guy, sign me up.

 

A's have a spot opening up. Problem is, I hear the team is pretty gun-shy about allowing fans with signs in these days.

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/vince-cotroneo-final-season-oakland-as-radio-announcer.html