An Open Letter To Rob Manfred
To the Commissioner of Major League Baseball,
I will go on record and say that I applaud for trying to get more fans interested in baseball again. I am glad you are not a commissioner that lays back and does nothing and hurts the sport (see the NHL). I am fine with coming up with new ideas.
However, when it comes to "picking up the pace" of the games, that is where I have issues with.
I honestly do not consider myself a baseball purist by any means, though my friends think I am that way to an extent. I like the designated hitter rule (born in an American League town-Detroit), and I'm cool with Interleague play (though honestly, if you did away with that I wouldn't cry either in part because the World Series and the All-Star Game would have that special vibe back that has been lacking for 20 years now in part due to Interleague). And there are a few other things that I am fine with that would set the old guard off.
That said, I am in line with the purists of this whole idea of trying to "speed the pace of the game." In other words, I am not in favor of it.
Yes, I get it. Fans in this day of the Millennial Age have short attention spans and telling them to sit in a seat for 3 hours for them is a problem-for them. And I know you want them to see as much great baseball as possible. But how we are going about it, is not the way.
People were up in arms about his no-pitch intentional walk rule. Again, I am not really mad with the rule, but strange things happen when you throw four pitches. That is a good thing, not a bad thing. But if you think the pace of game will be sped up from it, then I believe you are very much mistaken. You take what, 45 seconds for the 4 pitches to be thrown? If you're telling me that you do not want a pitcher to get injured throwing these pitches, then okay, it makes a little more sense, though I don't agree with that either.
Now all the buzz is about the possibility of either having extra innings begin with runners in scoring position a la World Baseball Classic or do away with extras and go by the way of the NHL pre-2005 and have ties and/or do a point system like the NHL does is extremely ridiculous.
I know the arguments for the change: People don't want to stay at the park all night and early morning. Managers will have depleted rosters, both position players and bullpens (therefore "player safety"), ratings drop after a bit, etc. Each inning may be a snoozefest, etc. And honestly, none of those arguments work.
I am a ballpark chaser, Major Leagues and Minor Leagues. My ultimate goal is to hit all 30 MLB parks (plus the ones that will be added in Texas and Oakland in the future-though I've hit both of their parks now as well) and all the Minor League parks. My job salary does not make me have a whole lot of money to throw around in life nor does my wife, but we budget and save. Now the big thing is that the places we go to, I do not pay too cheap in the nosebleeds or obstructed seats (contrary to my blog name). But I also cannot afford dugout seats, home plate seats, or club level seats. And given the rate of ticket prices, it is still very costly. What I am getting at is in my trips, I want the bang for my buck. And in most cases, I have gotten that.........in extra innings marathons.
In 2008 I had the privilege of going to both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium in their final seasons. While the games I went to see the Yankees were blowout wins against Minnesota, I went to Shea and saw a great game between the Mets and St. Louis Cardinals. The game went 14 innings and was decided by an Albert Pujols blast that felt like it disappeared in the night sky. It is something I can tell my kids that I saw.
5 years later, we drove out to Pittsburgh to see a Pirates/Brewers game. It was a Sunday. We got there as the gates opened at 11:30. The game started on time and then the heavens opened up after 2 innings. The Pirates and Brewers played a 14-inning marathon, ending at around 8:00 with the Buccos winning 2-1. Now a casual fan in your eyes perhaps may say that was a snooze-fest. But if you were there that day, you saw a home run being taken away, numerous times of threats by both the Brewers and Pirates, good defensive plays, great pitching, and some key moments. And given at that time the Pirates were finally getting out of that phase of being irrelevant to baseball and had the best record to that point, it was an amazing day. To add on, I was in a ballpark that is widely regarded as one of the best ballparks in baseball for 8 hours. We got our moneys' worth from that.
Of course a year later I go to Chicago and see the White Sox and Chris Sale throw a gem of a game against San Diego under 2 hours. Not complaining on that, but had the game lasted another hour, I would have been just as pleased.
But the games I went to see, the extra innings bits, those are the ones I remember the most because they were so enjoyable. To say that it is bad for the fans to sit through that like some of these analysts on MLB Network and ESPN is silly.
I also remembered a vivid time when I was in college and in my dorm room with my roommate listening to Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren call the 1999 NLCS between the Braves and Mets, in both games 5 and 6. Both games went extra innings and both were classic games. It was one of the best times I had at college as we were both sitting on the edge of our seats or beanbag seats (like I was) listening close to every call they made.
The next argument about the players well-being I have heard more than a few times and I m bothered by it a lot. We are seeing pitchers pitch less and less over the years. Closers only come in for 1 inning most times now while probably the greatest closer ever in Dennis Eckersley pitched 3 innings in what felt like every night in Oakland in the late 80's/early 90's. All the over-analysis of match ups has made managers trigger happy with relievers nowadays (and no I am not advocating for one pitching change per inning). Emphasize it to the managers as THAT is time consuming. And we are also seeing players take days off more and more. Again, that's fine, but when we are starting to see less and less playing time, there is a concern on that end. Heaven help us if they have to play on a slated day off.
Which brings me to my next point. I know there is a fear of throwing arms out, but we have seen it where pitchers get injured in the 1st inning of games. We've seen position players get injured in the 5th inning as well. I know owners want to protect the guys from being hurt and I know players are thinking their next payday may not happen if they crash into a wall in the 12th inning and injure their shoulder. But they could have done that in the 7th inning just as easy. But also, why not consider the fans who paid good money for tickets, food, parking, etc. and let them enjoy their night, even if it means it got longer. Most fans actually prefer having that, especially on weekends.
So Mr. Manfred, I get you want to get the next young generation to really love the game. I get it. But honestly, I fear you are going to compromise the integrity of baseball and the passion especially from baseball die-hards that know while the game isn't perfect, it is still a great game. And taking away the extra inning bit as is, you are going to take away many great memories for the fans.
So please, just leave extra innings alone.
-Fan in the Obstructed Seat
