The Baseball Book Club discussion

I'm one of those rare birds who gets his television strictly from over-the-air broadcast stations. I remember when I was a kid (1960s-70s), baseball games were on nearly every day on the TV and, of course, on the radio.

We were talking elsewhere here about getting younger folks interested in baseball. Wouldn't part of that be exposing them to the game in the first place?

Why doesn't broadcast TV televise baseball games these days? I'm sure the answer is something to do with $$$. Isn't it always?

I miss watching baseball on TV. I don't care to waste my $$$ for 300+ cable channels of sludge that I would not watch. I also can't afford an MLB streaming subscription; although, that would a nice Christmas gift.

So, what does the MLB force folks like me to do? We listen to our local team's games on the radio, which in my area, at least, is still possible. Or, as more and more folks are finding, there are illegal online streams out there on the Internet.

I guess if they want to catch the attention of the young folks these days and get them interested in baseball, the games would have to be about 30 seconds long and watchable from smart phones.

Our world is moving on. I'm not so sure the new one is going to be better. :(

Hmm... no comments here, huh? I guess that means y'all have cable or satellite TV. :(

yep-sorry VT and the MlB network

Lucky dawg. ;)

You guys will be sorry you didn't scream and yell when you had the chance. The day is coming when all sporting events will by paid subscription or pay2watch.

I fear that is true. They have us by the nuts. Ticket prices are outrageous so we will have to pay for TV. I read about that two years ago and I agree it will happen

Nope, I love the Phil's but refuse to be held hostage and jumped to direct TV. I follow through the radio, I-pad, newspapers and of course talking to everyone on here.

I did have MLB Extra Innings until this year...And only got hung up because we moved. Been watching the Mets and most MLB Network games and some ESPN as well. Will probably get Extra Innings next year. I am okay with this setup even though it does cost me because I can see games that weren't available on the networks. Yes, I grew up with the Saturday game of the week, but you only got the one game and if there was more than one good race, you missed out on at least another great game. As for the regular networks...there's much more to be made by the team's with their regional network contracts. As Mike Linn says, it always gets down to the $$$

I think it will have to change at some point Lance. Baseball in general is an older fans game and as more of them drop cable or just drop, someone will have to take notice.

Sadly, it is all about the $$$. Mike Linn is right about that.

I dropped cable back in '99 when I came home from work one night and turned the TV on and promptly fell asleep in front of Showtime or Cinemax or whatever. When I awoke later that evening, I quickly calculated that I was spending about $2.00/day to sleep in front of my TV for a couple hours each afternoon/evening.

I canceled the next day. Now I can sleep in front of my over-the-air hi-def digital TV for free. Ain't life grand?

Sadly, no baseball, though. Fox even dropped the Saturday game this season. There's always malware and virus infested pirate streams online, though. WOO-HOO!

I used to love when an American League game was on the game of the week. It was like wow, players I've only read about. I think over saturation really didn't help baseball. It took a certain mystique away. Interleague play didn't help either.

Situation is a little different here in Cannada. We have two cable sports networks (TSN and Sportsnet) but both seem to included in most basic cable packages. The last time I checked the numbers the percentage of households that have cable is higher here than in the U.S. so most people have access to games (in fact I think Sportsnet carries all 162 Jays games). Unfortunately in a recent cost cutting measure the wife decided to get rid of the cable. Ah well.

Or get rid of the wife. where are your priorities John?

She pays the bills as I am not working right now thanks to Target Canada.

Fox still has Saturday games.

Josh wrote: "Fox still has Saturday games."

Really? When? I've only seen one the entire season here in Tampa on the local Fox broadcast affiliate. :(

Here in Chicago they have a game on almost every Saturday.

Hiya Josh...

You mean on regular over-the-air broadcast TV?

Yes.

Well, damn. You're lucky in Chi-town, then. We don't rate down here in Tampa, I guess. I s'pose it's possible the local affiliate is pre-emptying the games with some of their own crap, but I dunno... :(

Eric wrote: "I'm one of those rare birds who gets his television strictly from over-the-air broadcast stations. I remember when I was a kid (1960s-70s), baseball games were on nearly every day on the TV and, of..."

hey eric, i only recall the 'game of the week' from that era. course since i'm from that era, maybe i can't remember that era?

seems like not till TBS & WGN started in could you get some kind of daily game.

I think maybe different TV markets would make their own decisions as to whether to preempt regular programming to show baseball games back then. Tampa was always a very big MLB market. It's possible that I was a beneficiary of that when I was a kid.

I seem to remember baseball games being on during the weekdays at least once or twice a week. They were usually day games. I don't remember many evening games being broadcast unless they were playoff type games. And, of course, there were quite a few Saturday/Sunday games shown.

I am over 50, though. Memory goes to hell after about 45, so...

Local affiliates did have more leeway back in the 60s. As well their were also more hours that were open for them to use as they saw fit. That is why some markets might carry baseball and other markets didn't.

ABC used to have a Monday Night Baseball game to fill in the summer week's after the May sweeps period and before Monday Night (that silly game that begins with an F)

I remember Monday Night Baseball. I recall that Howard Cosell was one of the broadcast team but for the life of me I can't recall who the others were.

I always enjoyed Curt Gowdy And Joe Gargiola.

Tony Kubek was an original. I recall Drysdale was there until he died

Doubledf99.99 wrote: "I always enjoyed Curt Gowdy And Joe Gargiola."

Me too! :)

According to Wikipedia the inaugural broadcast team (1976) was Bob Prince, Bob Uecker and Warner Wolf. Cosell wasn't involved until 1977.

You only read the ABC show which came after NBC. As per Wikipedia the following:
The NBC years (1967-1975)[edit]

For more details on this topic, see Major League Baseball on NBC § 1970s.

Monday Night Baseball was born on October 19, 1966 when NBC signed a three year contract to televise the game. Under the deal, NBC paid roughly $6 million per year for the 25 Games of the Week, $6.1 million for the 1967 World Series and 1967 All-Star Game, and $6.5 million for the 1968 World Series and 1968 All-Star Game. This brought the total value of the contract (which included three Monday night telecasts each season) up to $30.6 million.

From 1972–1975 NBC televised Monday games under a contract worth $72 million. In 1973, NBC extended the Monday night telecasts to 15 straight (with a local blackout). September 1, 1975 saw NBC's last Monday Night Baseball game, in which the Montréal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5.

Curt Gowdy called the Monday night games with Tony Kubek from 1972 to 1974, the pair being joined in 1973 and 1974 by various guest commentators from both in and out of the baseball world. Jim Simpson and Maury Wills called the secondary backup games. Joe Garagiola hosted NBC's pregame show, The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola, and teamed with Gowdy to call the games in 1975.

True, but I was only trying to ascertain Cosell's involvement and he never worked for NBC. I didn't really start watching baseball until 1977.

Oh-I'm old enough to remember Kubek as a regular. Cosell was a jerk and ruined the games IMO

Well Cosell described himself thusly: "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. There's no question that I'm all of those things". At the same time he was what I enjoyed because he didn't take the "athletes are next to Jesus approach most sportscasters took at the time.

A fun book on the subject, mmm will have to
check and see if Cosell is mentioned.

Sounds like an interesting book though I suspect Cosell is more likely to be in a volume on football, which he is more closely associated with, or on boxing (he was ABC's usual broadcaster for that sport).

Fortunately for you, Eric, baseball works great on the radio. Due to baseball's arcane and outdated blackout rules, I am not able to watch my beloved Phillies unless I succumb to Comcast's outrageous demands. As a Dish Network subscriber living in the Philadelphia area there is literally no way I can legally watch my favorite baseball team. Not on TV, not streaming over the internet, nothing. If someone can explain that to me in a way that makes sense, I'm all ears. In the meantime, I enjoy radio broadcasts almost as much.

Fortunately for you, Eric, baseball works great on the radio. Due to baseball's arcane and outdated blackout rules, I am not able to watch my beloved Phillies unless I succumb to Comcast's outrageous demands. As a Dish Network subscriber living in the Philadelphia area there is literally no way I can legally watch my favorite baseball team. Not on TV, not streaming over the internet, nothing. If someone can explain that to me in a way that makes sense, I'm all ears. In the meantime, I enjoy radio broadcasts almost as much.

The blackout rules were designed to encourage attendance at the games. The figuring was if you could watch the game at home you were less likely to the ballpark. This wold hurt the teams revenue due to loss of paid attendance, as well as loss of revenue from program/Souvenirsales, parking fees, and concession sales. As well all those empty seats wouldn't look good on televsion.

Dww108 wrote: "Fortunately for you, Eric, baseball works great on the radio..."

Yup. I still like a good radio game. The play-by-play and color commentary are ever so much better than the silly talking heads on televised baseball.

I listened the KC/As game tonight on the radio out in my workshop. It kept me out there till after midnight -- 12 innings. :)

I prefer the games on the radio as well, a majority of the games I listen to are over the radio, and just love those guys.

Oh yes, the radio in the garage, the way it was meant to be.

When ballgames were still being televised here in the Tampa area, I was known to mute the TV and listen to the radio. Of course, there's about a one pitch delay from the TV to the radio; so I'd hear the pitch first, then see it on TV. ;)

Having SiriusXM radio allows me to hear radio broadcasts from all the teams. Since Reuben Amaro destroyed my Phillies for the foreseeable future I fall asleep most summer nights listening to other announcers. Vin Scully is still really good as is the guy in Cleveland.

I'm lucky. We have DishTV. But I think this is a problem especially for people that are fans of baseball teams that aren't in the big markets. (Like Seattle.) And, even then, it's worse in the Playoffs with TBS and ESPN and FS1 in the mix. It doesn't affect me, but you can hardly cut your cable with things like this. (Does your MLB TV subscription cover the playoffs?)