A Grip on Sports: Though this year Spokane won’t be lighting up the sky, baseball and the Fourth are, and always will be, intertwined
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Baseball has been around for more than a century. A lot more. And throughout its history, it has seemed intertwined with the Fourth of July. That’s not changing. Ever.
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• Yes, we know about last year. How COVID-19 ripped Major League Baseball’s schedule into shreds, along with everything else. How the season didn’t begin until late July, divorcing the nation’s birthday from the nation’s pastime. How no one else, not even little kids, had an opportunity to play the game some of us grew up worshipping.
Still, our original statement stands. The game is intertwined with the Fourth. Now and forever.
Over the years the holiday was home to that disappearing species, the doubleheader. Families would spend the day at the ballpark and then enjoy a fireworks show after. At least that is the tale told around campfires these days by great-grandpa and his gang of merry men.
Sure, there is some truth to it. After all, doubleheaders were a holiday tradition back in the day when game times were two hours or so. Now, with four-hour games all the rage, fans get something of a doubleheader just about every night. But did your great-grandpa and his buddies actually attend that many games?
The numbers tell us maybe not.
Did you know in 1935, only one major league team drew a million fans? No, it was not the Yankees. They topped out at 675k, not even the most of the three New York teams. (Ken Jennings, who threw out the first pitch at the M’s game last night – see, intertwined with America – probably knows it was the Giants with 748k that year.)
The Detroit Tigers attracted 34,929 fans more than a million in 1935 as they won the American League pennant and the World Series. Still, the average attendance at a game that season didn’t top 6,000 folks.
Heck, 20 years late in 1955, the average attendance was only about 10,000 per contest more than that. But Fourth of July?
Let’s take the Milwaukee Braves, who drew more than two million fans that season, as an example. On July 4, 1955, a Monday, the Braves would draw 30,948 to County Stadium as they were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals. There were few fireworks on the field but certainly a whole bunch after.
(And, being it was Milwaukee, there were probably 30,000 bottles of beer consumed as well. Or more.)
Back in 1935, when the Braves still resided in Boston, they also played a doubleheader on the Fourth. Hosted the Giants. Lost both games. But had 10,000 in the stands, which we guess was an estimate due to the round number contained in the records. The two games, combined, took 4 hours and 7 minutes.
(Here’s a weird stat: Between May 30 and July 6 that season, the Braves played 32 of 36 games at home. They played June 7 and 9 at the Giants and July 2 and 3 in Brooklyn. Every other game was in Braves Field. And that stretch included 13 doubleheaders.)
A twinbill (even on the Fourth) is a rarity these days and not just because sitting through one might be longer than any workday you had in 2020. Charging admission for one game and giving away two isn’t smart financially. And being smart financially is America’s new pastime.
• We didn’t want to comment too deeply on Sha’Carri Richardson’s Olympic suspension for ingesting marijuana, mainly because we knew others, with a deeper knowledge of track and field and its byzantine drug policies, would do it for us.
It’s happened. We want to draw your attention to this column from Ken Goe, the retired Oregonian writer who is one of America’s most knowledgeable track and field reporters.
Did you know the drug is banned for a couple reasons not even related to performance enhancement? In fact, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency admits the drug can lead to “slower reaction times.”
That’s what every sprinter wants. Slower reaction times. So why does track and field ban it? Partly because there could be some performance help. But also because, as Goe points out, the anti-doping agency believes “weed-smokers are poor role models.”
Isn’t that a bit subjective? What of the sprinter that points at himself as he crosses the finish line. Isn’t that being a poor role model? Ban him. Or the shot putter who gets a ticket for rolling through a stop sign. That is surely a poor role model. Ban her.
No, we actually don’t believe any of that. But why in the world would any athletic organization justify, even only peripherally, a penalty for being a “poor role model?” It just proves once again those who run the world’s athletic competitions need to be replaced. After all, being inconsistent, petty and obtuse is the definition of being a “poor role model.”
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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and college sports, Washington yesterday announced a bunch of nonconference football schedule changes. … Oregon State did the same. … Reggie Bush can have his Heisman back if the NCAA reinstates the former USC star. … Conditioning currently is the focus of Colorado basketball. … Getting everyone on the same page is the focus at Arizona.
Gonzaga: Larry Weir’s latest Press Box podcast features a discussion of Zag hoops with Steven Karr.
EWU: Around the Big Sky, NIL changes abound throughout the conference, with Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona and Weber State all helping their athletes. … Idaho State’s receiving corps is stacked.
Indians: Good pitching and timely hitting means a lot. It did Friday night at Avista Stadium as Spokane received both in a 4-3 win over Tri-City. Dave Nichols has all the details in this game story.
Shock: Around the IFL, Phoenix tries to stay a game ahead of Spokane as it faces woeful Tucson.
Mariners: Somehow the M’s never seem to be out of a game. And if they can get it to extra innings, they are a good bet to win. As they did last night at a packed T-Mobile Field, topping the Rangers again, this time 5-4 in 10. … Yes, T-Mobile was crowded. … Kyle Seager has been in the big leagues for 10 years.
Seahawks: You have questions? The Times’ Bob Condotta supplies answers.
Storm: Seattle rode one of its stars down the stretch to another win over Atlanta.
Kraken: People who played for Dave Hakstol had nice things to say about Seattle’s first coach. … Spokane’s Tyler Johnson scored a pair of goals last night as the Lightning rolled Montreal 6-3. Tampa Bay is up 3-0 in the Stanley Cup finals.
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• Though it is only July 3, we wanted to warn you. We may not have a column tomorrow morning. Mainly because we love to celebrate our nation’s birthday in an odd way: wandering around its wild areas. Each July 4th since I retired, Kim and I have taken a different hike around Spokane. Some easy, some hard. But with the high temperature reaching into the 90s tomorrow, we need to get out early to ensure we don’t melt en route to the top of a mountain somewhere. If I roll out of bed early enough, I will write. If not, we’ll see you Monday morning. Check Twitter for updates or, you know, click on the S-R site. There will be a bunch of wonderful stories, I’m sure. Until later …