Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

'Chicks dig the long ball'

In recent days, sports talk shows have been dominated by callers complaining about the offensive outburst in Major League Baseball.

With theories such as the "juiced ball" and "corked bats," seemingly everyone is upset with box scores that resemble NFL games more than the traditional 3-1 score more common in baseball.

Two weekends ago, for example, the Seattle Mariners swept a three-game series in Toronto. The scores in those games - 11-9, 17-6 and 19-7.

Obviously, baseball purists have a valid argument. The solution, though, is not as simple as many people have made it out to be.

The problem began after the strike-shortened 1994 season. Realizing they had to bring back the fans who felt betrayed after the boys of summer walked off the field in August of '94, Bud Selig and other baseball officials needed a marketing scheme to get people back into the ballparks.

An easy solution presented itself - market the long ball. So, when Big Mac and Slammin' Sammy had their now-historic home run race two summers ago, baseball jumped right on their million-dollar jocks. Commercials immediately hit the air waves, and baseball had found its poster boys.

Even Atlanta Braves pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux got in on the act with their "Chicks dig the long ball" commercials.

Now, however, it seems the plan has backfired. New stadiums like Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco and Enron Field in Houston have opened this year, and the result has been disastrous for pitchers.

These parks are expensive to finance, so administrators in the Giants and Astros organizations wanted to make sure they got butts in the seats. An easy way to do this - especially with superstars like Barry Bonds and Jeff Bagwell hitting - was make the fences very reachable, and that's just what the teams did.

"We call it Home Run Field, not Enron Field," Astros ace Jose Lima told The Associated Press. Lima has allowed 10 runs in 12 innings this year at Enron Field, while he had a minuscule 2.31 ERA last season at the pitcher-friendly Astrodome.

Baseball's top brass got exactly what they wanted, as fans have come pouring back after the '94 strike. But now they have to deal with the consequences. Traditional fans are upset and are calling for immediate changes. Many want regulations that would push all fences back to at least 350 feet from home plate, while others want a higher pitching mound, which would swing the pendulum back in favor of the pitchers.

Whatever the answer is, one fact is indisputable- Selig and company now have to sleep in the bed they made. Attendance is up, but so is fan anger.

It appears we'll now see where the loyalty lies - with the fans or in the pocketbook of the owners.