Right Now, Baseball Hasn’t A Prayer

In case you hadn’t heard, today is Memorial Day, the first big holiday on the baseball calendar.

And yet, with the exception of the roto geeks and the Ken Burns “baseball as metaphor for life” types, is there anyone out there who is anticipating watching any baseball game today more than the Orlando Magic-Indiana Pacers contest?

It’s not just that basketball is the hot sport of the moment. It’s more that baseball is dead in the public consciousness. OK, maybe dead is too strong a word, but baseball’s pulse is barely measurable.

The proof comes not just from the fact that there are fewer bodies in major-league parks, but, more importantly, there are fewer people watching on TV.

The Sports Business Daily surveyed the 28 franchises and reported that 19 of the 22 that responded were experiencing ratings shortfalls.

Some of the drops were slight, and some, say in Pittsburgh, where the average to date has fallen from a 13.0 to a 7.4, were dramatic. Seattle was one of the markets where ratings had risen, but with Ken Griffey Jr. expected to miss three months, that gain may disappear.

Consider this development for a moment: The easiest thing for a sports fan to do is to turn on a TV set and watch a game. He or she doesn’t have to fight traffic, pay inflated ticket and concession prices and contend with loud, drunken spectators, yet fewer fans are choosing to tune in baseball.

Maybe the numbers will bounce back after the hockey and basketball playoffs are over, but the first glance suggests that baseball is in a world of trouble.

There may be no more passionate baseball fan among broadcasters than ESPN’s Keith Olbermann, who doesn’t stray into that “baseball as religion” netherworld.

Yet, Olbermann, in a recent Prodigy letter, expressed the exasperation that many who love baseball feel, saying the fan’s willingness to forgive some of the game’s eccentricities has been washed away by the strike and the failure of the two parties to reach a lasting agreement.

So Olbermann proposed a five-part plan that could get the game back on its feet. Included among the solutions for the owners and players to ponder:

Cutting ticket prices. Olbermann says: “Any owners with true long-term interest in the industry might suggest that given how small a percentage of their take is based on attendance, it is economically essential to not charge anything for any remaining games this season.”

Giving each fan at a particular game three coupons that would allow said fan to receive either free autographs from players of their choice or reduced ticket prices to a future game.

Restoring the 18 missed games from the truncated 144-game schedule with doubleheaders, with the permission of the players association, of course.

Reducing the time of games. Olbermann says umpires should enforce the existing rule that requires a pitcher to deliver a pitch within 20 seconds of receiving the ball from the catcher if there is no runner aboard. Batters, he says, should be required to keep one foot in the batter’s box at all times.

Finally, and most importantly, Olbermann says both sides should “pray for forgiveness by the fans.”

The plan seems so reasonable that it doesn’t have a chance to succeed.