BSM Writers
All-Star Game Move Is Baseball’s Latest PR Problem
“One week into the 2021 season, the only things that move the needle have little to do with the play on the field. Politics and pandemics are the only way for this sport to register.”
Major League Baseball moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver last week shouldn’t be an issue for a sports media column. While I publicly praised the sport for taking a stand against an unjust voting law, I am growing increasingly skeptical that MLB made the move to move the media needle.
Let me just come out and say it. MLB went ahead and moved the game so, on April 2, they could be a lead story on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and all the other news outlets. They were ripped on some, praised on others, but it was the first big baseball story of the 2021 season.
Consider the other stories that barely moved the radar. The Texas Rangers had no social distance restrictions on their home opener. Hypocritically, they enforced social distance for game two, since the crowd was not as large.
Texas Rangers, go ahead and pick one. Either safety or money. And if you choose money I’d have more respect for that than a half-acknowledgment of Covid. Or, put your greed aside, and have a crowd like the rest of the sport.
Then, there’s the play on the field. Since its season opened on April 1, more members of the media are noticing what I had been complaining about for about four years.
After the Seattle Mariners lost to the Chicago White Sox 10-4, acclaimed Seattle Times Larry Stone columnist tweeted some scary numbers. “83 total plate appearances, which included 25 Ks, 9 BBs, 1 HBP & 3 HRs,” he wrote. “So 46 % of plate appearances resulted in no balls put in play. And it took 3 hours, 45 minutes. Unsustainable.”
Thursday during the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 11-inning victory over the New York Yankees, MLB.COM Yankees reporter Bryan Hoch tweeted something smaller but no less ominous. It was during extra innings, and those innings start with a man on second base.
One week into the 2021 season, the only things that move the needle have little to do with the play on the field. Politics and pandemics are the only way for this sport to register.
The All-Star Game being in Denver is not a good thing in the long-term for Colorado anyway. They were a finalist in bidding for another game in the near future. Had the game not moved from Atlanta, Denver would have a game in the next five years with a multiple-year lead-up. Instead, it’s a hodgepodge jerry-rigged game the city of Denver and the Rockies will try to pull off. Denver lost their opportunity to thrive. Maybe they took one for the team, but my home from 1996-1998 could have done much better.
The last time Denver had the All-Star Game was my first of a dozen that I’ve covered over the years. In 1998, I had taken the job to move to Seattle, leaving KKFN Radio for KJR Radio. Then, without a contract, I had given my two weeks notice. The All-Star Game was the 12th day in my 14 days notice.
I joked to friends that the game was my “going-away” party. It was then when I ran into a mascot incident that I will never forget.
One of my assignments that day was to do a five-minute interview with an umpire. Have been to over 100 games at Coors, I knew my way around. Still, I had no idea where the umpires’ room was, and that was where I was supposed to meet the umpiring crew.
I asked an usher who made an inadvertent but critical error. He told me the umpires’ room was the 2nd door on the right. He was wrong. It was the 3rd door on the right.
The 2nd door on the right was the mascot changing room. Since it was the All-Star Game, all of the MLB mascots shared the room. When I walked in, ALL of the mascots were sitting there in costume with their heads…on the floor!!! Mariner Moose. Mr. Met. Philly Fanatic. Dinger. All of them with giant bodies, tiny little human heads, and all the decapitated mascot heads rolling around the floor. I never got over it.
My issues with Major League Baseball have been growing over the past few years. About a month ago, I wrote a column about how much the game has changed. Since then, I felt compelled to write about sports streaming for cord-cutters, and then it came back to baseball and their idiotic blackout rules.
While I cover the sport still, this has been the pattern of these columns lately. What that shows to me, is that I do still have a passion for this sport. My quest is to learn if a) the sport is salvageable, or B) the older generation can be put out of its misery.
A labor stoppage could make choice B the reality. The collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on December 1. Last summer, when the NHL was conceptualizing their “playoff bubble” they extended their CBA by four years. The labor chief of the NHL? None other than old MLB nemesis Don Fehr.
Last summer, on over a dozen local and national radio shows, I proposed MLB bag the 2020 season. Blame it on Covid-19. I suggested MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA head-man Tony Clark lock themselves in a hotel. Quarantine for 14 days (or whatever the rules were at the time) and not leave without a CBA extension!
Instead, owners and players squabbled through the media. During the World Series, Manfred talked about all the money that was lost in 2020.
Imagine, the pandemic behind us. The vaccines are working, schools are open, and stadiums are at full capacity. That’s when there will be a labor stoppage? If you thought there was vitriol last summer, you have not seen anything yet.
BSM Writers
Being Wrong On-Air Isn’t A Bad Thing
…if you feel yourself getting uncomfortable over the fact that you were wrong, stop to realize that’s your pride talking. Your ego. And if people call you out for being wrong, it’s actually a good sign.
BSM Writers
Money Isn’t The Key Reason Why Sellers Sell Sports Radio
I started selling sports radio because I enjoyed working with clients who loved sports, our station, and wanted to reach fans with our commercials and promotions.
