Baseball on TV

First, a note of thanks to everyone who responded to my inquiry. All your comments are most appreciated and I will endeavor to respond to them all.

Regarding too many announcers. This isn’t a situation I’m very familiar with. When I was with the Dodgers, we essentially had only one person on the air at any one time with Vin Scully being the #1 guy (for obvious good reason). In recent years, I’ve had the same play-by-play and analysts for every game I’ve done with the A’s.

I can only guess that teams that like shuffling in a larger number of people believe that the variety keeps the broadcasts more “fresh” (my quotes).

One thing that can be a response to many of the complaints about people in the booth is related to the the fact that we are involved with the teams and produce games every day. Our perspective is perhaps different from even fairly avid fans who may watch two or three games a week. As a result producers are looking for different ways to “spice up” (again my quotes) their telecasts. Remember, the baseball campaign is more siege than season. 162 games. One day off every 20. If you’re producing 150 or so of those games, you’re trying to find elements to keep the shows from possibly getting stale. The battle for eyeballs is intensly fierce. In that regard, producers try to keep in mind that they are in the entertainment business, especially with teams that may not provide the most compelling product on the field.

The one thing I really dislike about watching baseball on TV is the complete inability to see how the defense is set up.

defensive strategy as a whole seems to be largely ignored by most announcers.

bob walk seems to often get it. he’ll often point out things like the third baseman playing closer to the line when the catcher is set up on the outside of the plate against a left handed batter.

to make the larger point, he’s describing the actual in game situation and strategy rather than spouting some bland talking points that, say, sportscenter has already covered for the day. all i ask for is an announcer that’s interested in the game. if he’s not, how am i supposed to be?

This is an interesting post. The reason is bucdaddy is the first “fan” I’ve heard actually complain about the length of games. By the way, the average length of a Major League Baseball game is about two hours and 48 minutes. Those 4+ hr games you saw during the playoffs are that length due to the extra commercials that Big Fox and ESPN thrust on the teams. In a typical local telecast, a commercial break is either 1:30 or 1:40 (two minutes from the last out to first pitch). But in the playoffs that can jump to three minutes. Do the math. if you add two minutes to every break that means the game will be 36 minutes longer before one pitch is thrown. But rights fees for these games are astronomical. And the cost of producing a game has gone up very rapidly over the last few years. Television is first and foremost a business. Even with those long breaks, Fox probably doesn’t break even until the 6th game of any playoff series.

Regarding the tight shots in the dugout. It’s my belief that those shots should have a purpose other than just a change from the ubiquitous centerfield shot. If I take a shot of a guy in the dugout, it’s because I have a “story” to tell about him. He might be last night’s starting pitcher who had an outstanding performance or an injury report on a player close to rejoining the team. On the other hand, I too wish the guys wouldn’t expectorate as much. It sometimes seems like a requirement to be a Major League Player.

It certainly works for the Cubs whose fans have a very different sensibility regarding their broadcasts and announcers. Their guys openly root for the Cubs. In the Bay Area a baseball announcer doing that would be run out of town on a rail. Yes, we want to sell the team, but Bay Area announcers believe their credibility is more valuable and so they don’t openly root.

If you’re a team executive, having TV show people enjoying themselves in the stands is a powerful sales force. Those shots show Dad that perhaps a fun way to spend a day or night with the family would be a Wrigley Field. Televising baseball in the team’s local market has always been considered “Three hour commercials to put fannies in the seats.”

My broadcasts in Oakland have always had an “over the shoulder” shot of the 3rd baseman for use in replay. The reason is that we had a 6-time Gold Glover there. Yes, when an inning ends I’m more likely to quickly get to commercial (which as I’ve said in a previous post pays the bills). But I always make sure I replay the inning ending play at the start of the next inning. I watched some Pirates games recently and saw that FSN does use that same camera in right field that isolates on the 3rd baseman.

This is a fairly common complaint. One thing we have learned about how people watch baseball on television is that they graze in and out of the game. As a result, when we have a guest in the booth or other similar feature, we shoot the guest every once in a while so that people grazing in will know who that strange voice is. Action on the field should never be compromised for this.

Allow me to take your elements one by one:

Fielding position for different batters – Right on. We don’t do this often enough.

Historical References: Some people like this, some don’t. But baseball is the only sport with such a rich historical tradition. To ignore it would be a disservice to our viewers.

Scouting Reports: You bet!! This is some of my favorite information. Putting up the stats for the starting pitcher is fine, but knowing what he throws, how often and when in the count is far more interesting to me. But know that this information can be hard to come by. It is part and parcel of a team’s preparation and often don’t like sharing it with television.

Pitch Track: I like ESPN’s K-Zone but not Pitch Track. Pitch Track is not accurate. How can it be when it assumes that every player is 6 feet tall? Knowing that, how accurate do you think it is when 5’ 6" Dustin Pedroia comes to the plate. K-Zone is very, very expensive to implement.

Super-Slo Mo is something that a lot of Fox Regional networks use: It requires a special camera and playback unit. It too isn’t cheap.

Replays of a questionable call: The umps hate when we do this. But for the most part, all the replays do is show just how good they actually are.

Pop Times for Catchers on Stolen Base attempts: I must admit I’m not sure about what you’re refering to here.

Eccentric Ground Rules: Another terrific suggestion. This is one of the things that makes baseball so much fun to cover. Every stadium and playing field is unique. We should do a better job of explaining ground rules.

I’m not in a position to comment on this point. As I’ve posted previously, on a nationa level it’s all about ratings. The Yanks, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers etc. are big market teams that draw well nationally. I’m sure Fox had their fingers and toes crossed for a Red Sox vs. Dodgers World Series.

Japanese baseball is something I’m pretty familiar with. I’ve been to Japan four times and I know a couple of Japanese professional baseball executives. I was at the clinch game of the Japan World Series last year. And I know how important high school baseball is there.

Their version of the game is a bit different than ours. Both the game and their culture is very ordered. For instance, they sacrifice bunt a LOT. Giving oneself up for the team is something that fits right in with their sense of the importance of the group. Japanese pitchers don’t often last past their early 30’s because unlike here, after a Japanese pitcher loses a game, the next day he throws a full game’s worth of “hard” pitches to also show he is committed to the team’s success.

Another interesting story involves former US player Randy Bass who played for the Hanshin Tigers. In 1985, he was on a pace to break Sadaharu Oh’s record of 55 home runs in a single season, but fell short by one, because in the last game of the season the pitcher from Oh’s Yomiuri Giants threw only intentional walks (allegedly to prevent the Westerner from breaking Oh’s record though Oh himself is not a Japanese national). The year after Bass won the Japanese Triple Crown, he was called home during the season because his young son was very ill. The Tigers’ executives refused permission to let him go because they considered the team’s needs greater than that of his family. He went anyway.

There is a very interesting book about Japanese baseball if you’re interested called “You Gotta Have Wa” by Thomas Whiting. It’s a great read if you’re the least bit curious about baseball in Japan.

I hope this doesn’t give you the impression I’m down on the Japanese and their version of the game. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I love Japan. It’s a fascinating place. I wish the fans in Oakland were as fervent as those at the The Big Egg (Tokyo Dome).

The story of Sadaharu Oh is an interesting one, but American baseball fans will never accept his record for career home runs, probably for good reason. The fact is that when he played, Japanese professional baseball was probably equivalent to AA ball today. Still, I would hope that ESPN will do his story justice during the upcoming World Baseball Classic in March.