Letter to the Editors: Yankees in the news

Spencer Daily Reporter

TOO MUCH INFORMATION

November 3, 2019

Dear Editors

TMI (too much information) is a catch phrase these days. You know, when you ask someone how they are doing, and they tell you their unabridged life story! I noted a form of TMI when I watched parts of the seven game World Series between the Astros and the Nationals. Everything I ever needed to know about a pitcher or a hitter, their statistics, preschool years, the rest of their formal education, why a MLB team drafted them, what they can offer in free agency, and on and on.

Some say the game is no longer the "national pastime.” Both it and college football have been around 150 years. Baseball gets a bad name, I think, because there is no game clock. Soccer, basketball and football all play a finite number of minutes, unless extenuating circumstances dictate otherwise. A baseball game goes until the final out or walk off run producing hit/play. That could take well over three hours. Heck, the average MLB game takes three plus hours. Efforts to speed it up have had mixed results. In this year's World Series, there seemed to be a long parade of relief pitchers, in most of the games. Interestingly, none of the seven victories were by the home team.

I'm for limiting the commentary by Jack Buck or whoever is in the booth and can't seem to let a few seconds go by without informing us of the pitcher's mechanics, the batter's choice of pine tar brands, or other mostly inane aspects of the game that only a trivia artist could appreciate. Throw in the unending replays of each and every play, pitch or provocation and you have an event of epic proportion. The fans must be showing their displeasure, to some extent, as the average game during the 162 game season "only" drew 28,000-plus fans. On first blush, that doesn't seem like a paltry number, except when you realize that most of the venues can seat 45,000 or so.

I don't offer any solutions for MLB to consider. I would like them to just own up to the fact that the 2019 World Series was not an official one, since it did not include the New York Yankees. Once they get that straightened out, things will get back to normal and life will be good. Guess we'll just have to wait 'till next year!

— Bill Kersting, Spencer