The worst World Series idea ever
Posted: Monday, November 03, 2008 2:51 PM
Spent last week in Dublin performing first-hand quality assurance in the finest Creed Bratton tradition on Guinness and even in Ireland I was caught up in the Philadelphia World Series celebration. Nothing unites a city and region like a baseball championship. I saw it twice in Minnesota and the internet clips I watched of the City of Brotherly Love celebrating had a familiar look. So that made me think about something I read before leaving for Ireland. It was a column suggesting a neutral site for the World Series.
Now I realize that as newspapers die some of those who write for them may try to shock with their content to simply draw attention to their publication as its reader base withers. But the source of this suggestion is usually coherent.
Is there anything more wrong than moving the World Series to a neutral site?
OK, I thought about it and nothing came to mind. Baseball has ills and some wise remedies have been offered. At the top of the list is the starting time of World Series games. I repeat that television viewing patterns tied to ratings dictate the start times of the games as Fox would not air games into the midnight ET hour if viewers left their sets to go to bed. Olympic research by NBC showed large viewership into the 11 pm ET hour.
The idiocy of the DH still lives in the World Series but there appears no appetite for change in the American League.
The supreme idiocy still exists of World Series home field advantage decided by the All-Star game outcome -- the single worst baseball decision I’ve seen in my life. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig takes a ton of unfair hits -- more on that in a coming blog -- but this issue is squarely on Selig. It’s a bone thrown to Fox in an attempt to spike viewership for the All-Star game. Does anyone know one person whose decision to watch the Mid Summer Classic is based on seeing which league gets home field in the World Series?
Baseball has a high percentage of repeat customers. Its fans are dedicated and devoted. They deserve the reward of World Series games in their city if their team makes the Fall Classic. And cities that have funded new ballparks deserve to realize an injection of revenue if the World Series comes to town.
And what about the stadiums? Had the Red Sox and Cubs met in the World Series this year (and just a month ago that didn’t sound ludicrous) could you imagine the utter absurdity of abandoning the sport’s two greatest ballparks to play in, for example, Houston?
The World Series is not the Super Bowl. Baseball is not about one huge event. Baseball is heavily about its unique theaters. It can’t thrive on the giant generic stage that is the Super Bowl. Baseball fans couldn’t travel on late notice and be away from home and work for 7 to 10 days.
And, mostly, the World Series is about the scene in Philadelphia after the Phillies clinched. Those who were there will pass the tale on for generations about a night when Philadelphia partied, about a night on which only baseball mattered and about a night that baseball, as only it can, brought a city together.
FIVE MORE SWINGS:
1. LUNACY IS THE BEST WORD…to describe the charge that owners colluded against Barry Bonds. How about the comments to the Sporting News of former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent, a man never shy to criticize ownership or Bud Selig, on the subject? Said Vincent, “They (owners) do collude and they certainly colluded aggressively when they were desperate. They’re not desperate here. I don’t think anyone wanted Bonds. He’s very disruptive. You don’t know how he would have behaved in the clubhouse…I just don’t think people wanted to buy the trouble.”
2. BIG WEEK IN MILWAUKEE…as the Brewers hired Ken Macha as manager over Bob Brenly and Willie Randolph. My first thought: Macha thrived in Oakland under a front office that used a great deal of statistical analysis. Behind Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin is assistant Gord Ash, a huge proponent of that approach. And Macha is good with the media, a must for the Milwaukee ownership.
Then reports surfaced that the Brewers have let teams know of Prince Fielder’s availability. There was a ludicrous report this summer of a proposed deal of Fielder and J.J. Hardy for Matt Cain. Hard to see that deal being made but don’t be surprised if San Francisco and Milwaukee don’t talk seriously this offseason. The Giants need power and Milwaukee will need starting pitching. Finally, the Brewers say they will make a quick offer to CC Sabathia, likely one that appeases the fans and allows the team to move on without getting sucked into a drawn-out bidding war.
3. OUR REPORT FROM SEVERAL WEEKS AGO IS CONFIRMED…as the Marlins say their payroll will hike to $40 million. Now this isn’t the Darling family, but Jeffrey Loria is making some concession to the apparent reality of a new ballpark. This means the Marlins don’t have to clean house although the recent Mike Jacobs for Leo Nunez deal addresses a need to overhaul the bullpen.
4. THE DRUMS HAVE STARTED BEATING…again for a best-of-seven Division Series. I repeat my view that TV appears to have no desire for more playoff games and the World Baseball Classic in March throws a wrench into any hopes of such a move for 2009. There has to be concern in Bud Selig’s mind after the weather of this past week that next year’s World Series could stretch well into the first week of November.
5. THE FREE AGENCY MANIA…begins next week and remember one thing about the Manny Ramirez derby: It’s about the dollars, not the years. You will hear and read all about agent Scott Boras looking for six years for Ramirez. That’s irrelevant. It’s all about dollars that can be spread over any number of years. I saw this with Barry Bonds in 2002. Boras wanted five years on a new deal for Bonds. No team bit. The Giants offered four, Boras said he needed five and the Giants wisely said that they would simply spread the same dollars over five years. Boras got his ego boost, Bonds got his money and it didn’t cost the Giants one extra penny. To get years, Boras may have to spin the same web of deceit on behalf of Ramirez.
