"I Tell Everyone Over And Over That My Product Is Shitty, So Why Is No One Buying It?"

This guy is reading my mind.

Andrew Stein, The Hardball Times, August 2, 2019:

The prevailing opinion among baseball stalwarts is that the recent aesthetic changes in the game — namely, the increase of home runs, strikeouts and defensive shifts, and the decrease of hits and small-ball strategies such as the hit-and-run — have been bad. This reaction is to be expected. In nearly every era of baseball, players and commentators from previous eras have expressed displeasure with the changes they saw in the game. ... Major League Baseball's experimentation with banning the shift and moving back the pitcher’s mound would seem to suggest that even MLB believes that there is some validity to this connection. ...

Few seem to believe that the problem attracting younger fans may have nothing to do with the game at all. ... It seems at least likely that the problem baseball has with attracting new young fans is its production values. ...

Watch nearly any major league broadcast and you will hear mostly the following: narration of things that have already happened ("swing and a miss") or that a viewer can see on the screen (balls and strikes), anecdotes from former players, news from around the league, and even discussions of things that have nothing to do with baseball.

The latter topics are exemplary of how many play-by-play and color commentators appear to be bored by the game. Some announcers even go so far as to passive-aggressively vent about their distaste for baseball's changes. For example, in the bottom of the 10th of a July 7 Rangers vs. Twins game, Dick Bremer, the Twins play-by-play announcer, let fans know of a Twins defensive shift by saying, "Twins shift to a four-man (pause) five-man outfield. Whatever." And of course, there was no explanation as to why the Twins made the switch. ...

[T]his resistance to talking about the game, let alone accepting its changes, is often most noticeable during national ESPN broadcasts. During the July 14 Dodgers vs. Red Sox game, it appeared as though producers decided on topics to be addressed before the game even started. In the third inning Matt Vasgersian, Jessica Mendoza and Alex Rodriguez discussed ... Rodriguez's marriage to Jennifer Lopez (who was shown on camera) more than any individual plate appearance. ... The pregame show for the July 21 broadcast included a feature where players tried to guess the meaning of acronyms like FIP, WOA, and UZR. ...

It is difficult for new fans to recognize some of the most important aspects of the game without a little guidance and it should be no surprise that young people are bored by a game that they don't understand. It seems unlikely that new fans are going to invest their time in baseball when the communicators debase the strategies and statistics and often aren't interested enough to pay attention.

Going to baseball games further illustrates how little the sport seems to want to welcome new fans. At a recent Yankees vs. Rays game, the most current song played inside Tropicana Field (other than the players' walk-up music) was an organ rendition of "Seven Nation Army," which is a 16-year-old song. ...

Granted, there is no empirical evidence for this, but isn't it possible that young fans are not excited about sitting in 90-degree heat to watch a game that they barely understand, all while listening to music that was made before they were born, and watching hot dog mascots race each other? Does that need a chart?

I disagree with Stein's suggestions for increased entertainment at the ball park: playing more hip-hop, pop, and other contemporary music, updating light/laser shows, investing in 3D-projection technology, and showing pictures from the game that fans have posted on Twitter and Instagram on the huge scoreboards.

Baseball must decide (and truly believe) that its product is worthwhile on its own merits and does not need to be dressed up in the latest finery to appeal to the masses. If people don't like baseball, that's fine. Based on all available evidence, the people in charge of promoting baseball believe that having fancier and louder distractions from baseball will increase people's interest in baseball. Why doesn't everyone realize that is a complete waste of time?

Stein does make an interesting point, however, that in the not-so-distant future, most stadiums may need to be domed because of "a succession of record-breaking summer temperatures in regions where many teams play".

Finally, he writes:

On television, commentators could work through a fairly standard process to keep fans aware of what's happening. When a hitter comes to the plate, commentary can focus on his strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, and if he is on a notable hot streak. They should even be able to work in how the pitcher will likely approach this hitter and whatever the situation might be. Then, a prediction of where the next pitch will go and what it will be. Then, by the time a pitcher gets into his windup, silence. After the pitch is delivered, depending on what type of pitch it was, where it went, whether it was a ball or strike, and whether the batter swung, commentators can discuss whether that pitch and location will be repeated, or whether the pitcher will try something different. Additionally, commentators can let fans know if a batter will be looking for the same pitch or whether he will prepare for something different. In addition to these details, subsequent plate appearances will be able to include insight about how previous plate appearances impact the current one.

Well, good luck with that. That deep level of commentary, if done properly, will not appeal to casual fans. And many, if not most, teams' broadcasters would not even consider this, or would actively resist it, because it would involve work on their part and a lot of them (see Bremer, above, for merely one example) are allergic to actual thinking. Also, they apparently don't want to come off as too nerdy, which in this case means "making it clear you know what you are talking about" and "showing that you love the game you are being paid to talk about". (Oh, the horror ...)

As mentioned above, too many announcers spend actual air time complaining about their jobs. The hours are inconsistent, planes get delayed, and the games take too long. Hey, here's a hot take: No one likes hearing anyone moan about their job! And no one wants to hear people who travel for free with baseball teams and watch games for free and talk about games and do nothing else for employment bitch about how tough they have it.

How tone deaf does an announcer have to be to think anyone (even one person!) tuning in wants to hear about how you are being paid a hefty sum of money (certainly a higher salary than most listeners are earning) to sit through a four-hour baseball game in your own special booth with people bringing you food and drink and talk about what's happening on the field? ... What, you got into the hotel at 3 AM? And? It's not as though you then had to get up at 7 AM to go work construction or drive a bus or clean hotel rooms or even go to an air-conditioned office. "Oh, I slept only 10 hours (4 AM to 2 PM) because I had to get to the ball park for a night game!" Boo fucking hoo.

Many announcers, including everyone at NESN, have a strong conviction that a four-game hitting streak is "hot". And if not hot, then it's certainly "notable". Every team now uses complex methods of analysis, but announcers avoid talking about that essential element of the modern game at all costs. The men and women in major league booths could be (and should be) educating fans about how their favourite team operates, what the front office looks for in players and how it goes about building the roster, but the idea of "analytics" is often brushed aside or ridiculed.

Networks like NESN will dumb down the level of announcing as far as possible so they appeal to the widest range of viewers as possible. (They seem especially keen to rope in the viewers who enjoy missing pitches and throws to first and watching replays where the action is not visible.) The networks have a monopoly on broadcasting games. Dedicated and intelligence fans have nowhere else to go if they want to watch the games. I complain about this situation as much as anyone else, but I also know it's a losing battle to expect anything better.