MLB’s commissioner wants to modernize the league and that’s great. But he should focus on doing so behind the scenes and selling the sport in publicEven the most thick-skinned baseball fan can tire of being told that the game needs to change. Baseball is too slow. It’s too stuck in its ways. There are too many innings, too many relievers, too many pitches, just too much ... baseball, apparently, for the sport to compete for the public’s entertainment dollars going forward. “I’ve got nothing against relief pitchers,” the detractors say. “But they do two things to the game: They slow the game down and ... relievers have become so dominant at the back end that they actually rob action out...
Complaints about the length of ball games have been going on for years but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s solutions won’t solve much“Baseball games are too long,” wrote Tracee Hamilton in the Washington Post in 2013, setting off a chorus of complaint. “I never thought I’d say that, but even a baseball lover like me is growing impatient with the pace of the games. And I can’t be the only one.”That year the average Major League Baseball game clocked in at 3hr 7min. In 2014 things got worse with the average time jumping six minutes to 3hr 13min. In 2015, pushed by umpires to speed things up, players and managers finished their business in an average of 12 minutes faster, down...
The mostly American Israeli squad are not quite the underdog they’re made out to be, but for a few days in March they have made baseball a joyA few years ago, at the Beijing Olympics, I covered a women’s beach volleyball match between Georgia and Russia. It was a preliminary-round match that should have drawn little notice, except that just days before Russia had invaded Georgia, and for the handful of Georgians in the stands this volleyball match meant the world to them. Related: A week in Breitbart Sports: anger, annoyance, and an ESPN obsession Related: The Joy of Six: weirdest trades in sports history Continue reading...
As suspected drug cheats like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens gain ground on Hall of Fame enshrinement, it’s become clear they can’t be shut out foreverThanks to years of research into the effects of performance enhancing drugs in baseball we now know everything about the drugs except whether or not they enhance performance.Steroids and other so-called performance drugs were really at the center of this year’s Hall of Fame vote, which was announced on Wednesday night. Three very good players – first baseman Jeff Bagwell, catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, and outfielder Tim Raines – all surpassed the requisite 75% of votes needed to get a plaque in Cooperstown. Related: Baseball Hall of Fame's 2017 class: Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and...
Long before the Buena Vista Social Club beguiled audiences around the world, revolutionary Cuba’s sporting heroes enjoyed global renownOn a warm evening in a Barcelona suburb 24 years ago, the air thick and heavy, the light-grey and gold, Cuba and the USA met in a baseball game that was as much a contest of ideologies as an Olympic semi-final. As the two teams lined up to shake hands before the semi-final, each Cuban presented his opponent with a commemorative pennant. The Americans had come empty-handed.The USA team consisted of college boys, some of them on the brink of Major League-careers. The Cubans were veterans of their domestic league, unbeaten in almost 70 internationals. After a scoreless first hour, it was...