National Networks Show Understandable, But Still Irritating Bias Toward Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

I’ve had a theory about Major League Baseball telecasts for a while. The theory states that every single time the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, likely the most storied rivalry in the history of the game (and sports in general), play each other the game will be nationally televised.

I’ve long theorized that every single Yankees vs. Red Sox game in at least the last decade has likely been televised. Unfortunately, I have no way of finding out whether or not this is indeed a fact. What games have appeared on which networks over the last few seasons is not something you can easily find anywhere, probably because few people honestly give a damn.

However, for the last few seasons I’ve heard a good many people give a damn. These people are, of course, not fans of the Yankees or Red Sox as those fans (and there’s a good many of them sprinkled throughout the entire United States) seem thrilled that many of their favorite team’s games (and every time they play their heated rival) are broadcast nationally. It’s not hard to be a Yankees or Red Sox fan in say Arkansas (where I’m from) because you know your favorite team will have as many as a third of their games all season broadcast. But, if you’re a fan of say the Cleveland Indians or Oakland A’s or Milwaukee Brewers in Arkansas or Nebraska or West Virginia you’re going to have trouble ever seeing your favorite team on television unless you want to shell out major bucks for the baseball television package or MLB.tv online (which many people simply cannot afford). This is a feeling that sucks for a good many a baseball fan in this country, especially when they keep getting the same old teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and other teams like the St. Louis Cardinals crammed down their throats.

There are four networks that currently air MLB games nationally: ESPN, Fox (games are regional, but there’s a small enough selection (unlike say NFL on Fox/CBS) to really matter), TBS and MLB Network – all of these networks are shown on most cable or satellite providers. Almost every day of the week there will be at least one nationally televised baseball game. That’s actually a lot of baseball available to baseball fans around the country, but if you’re not a fan of the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, etc. it can become pretty fatiguing. This is why every Yankees vs. Red Sox game being broadcast nationally can become irritating to non-fans of those teams.

Let’s get this obvious point out of the way. Yes, it makes complete sense for networks to want to show as many Yankees vs. Red Sox games as they can (and those two teams individual games along with Cardinals games) because these fanbases are the largest (and by a good margin) in the country and the network wants viewers, ratings and the advertising dollars that come from them. Baseball, unlike the NFL and NBA, is not a sport that is watched all that much anymore by the casual sports fan. If you’re a Cardinals fan how often would you watch a game involving a team other than the Cardinals in the regular season? Probably, not very often, especially if you have a busy life. This is partially why the networks search for the big fanbases for their games, because a Yankees or Red Sox or Cardinals game will pull in fans from all around the country, whereas a Pittsburgh Pirates or Colorado Rockies game likely would not.

It makes a lot of sense why networks do this, but it also comes off as bothersome to baseball fans because there are a lot of nationally televised games to go around and there are also a lot of other good baseball teams in the country than just the few that are constantly shown on television.

I don’t have the numbers of televised games for the entire 2013 MLB season, because I unfortunately only thought to keep a tally of nationally televised games for the second half of the season. The second half of a baseball season’s nationally televised games are more likely to be skewed than the first half of the season by team records and the playoff hunt, which would’ve made an entire season sample slightly better than just the second half sample. For example, the incredibly hyped before the season Toronto Blue Jays probably had a handful of first half nationally televised games, but didn’t have a single nationally televised game during the second half of the season. In fact, the Blue Jays were one of only four MLB teams to not have a single nationally televised game during the season’s second half with the other three teams understandably being the Houston Astros, Miami Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers – all teams with losing records and few, if any, bankable stars.      

The team with the most nationally televised baseball games during the second half of the season was also understandably the best team in baseball when the season ended, the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox had 31 nationally televised games during the second half of the season (16 on MLB Network [which televises many more games a week than the other three networks], eight on ESPN, four on Fox and three on TBS). The National League leading St. Louis Cardinals at the season’s end had the second most nationally televised games with 25 (15 on MLB Network, seven on ESPN, two on Fox and one on TBS). The only issue with these numbers is that the Red Sox were only the best team in baseball, record-wise, for the last two-to-three weeks of the regular season and the Cardinals were only the best team in the National League, record-wise, for the very last day of the regular season.

Which team was the best team in the game, record-wise, for most of the season’s second half in both the N.L. and baseball as a whole?

The Atlanta Braves.

Despite leading baseball for most of the season, including the second half of the season, the Braves only appeared on national television 10 times (five times on MLB Network, twice each on ESPN and Fox and once on TBS). Ten MLB teams appeared on national television more during that span (Red Sox, Cardinals, Yankees, Dodgers, Orioles, Rays, Reds, Pirates, Rangers and Tigers). The Braves do have a pretty good sized following, mostly from the days when they were shown exclusively on TBS, but it’s not near of a following the likes that the Yankees, Red Sox and Cardinals have. So, they could be the best team in baseball, but if they aren’t bringing eyes to the networks the networks don’t care. It’s a business. It leads to biases. It’s not really right, but nothing’s ever going to come of it. But, the fans are still going to grow fatigued and complain. Both sides are understandable.

The New York Yankees, by the way, appeared nationally on television the third most of any team in the sport during the second half of the season with 24 appearances (11 times on MLB Network, five times on ESPN and four times each on Fox and TBS) despite not making the playoffs. You can thank their national following for that.  

That’s right; the Yankees appeared in 14 more nationally televised games than the Braves. They appeared in more nationally televised games than seven other 2013 playoff teams, as well. The Yankees were broadcast nationally seven more times than the Tampa Bay Rays (who appeared on TV more because they played both the Yankees and Red Sox a lot during the season’s second half), seven more times than the Cincinnati Reds (who benefited from many games against the Cardinals), 10 more times than the Pirates (baseball’s best story of the year), 11 more times than the Dodgers, 12 more times than the Detroit Tigers,  18 more times than the Oakland A’s and a whopping 21 more times than the Cleveland Indians.

Sure, many people will be saying those lesser featured teams need to grow larger fanbases so that they can compete for TV time with the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox and Cardinals. But, to them I ask the question: How does a team build a larger fanbase? The answer: appear more times on national television.

But, now that we’ve seen that the Yankees, Red Sox and Cardinals ride their large fanbases to more nationally televised games than other franchises, some with better records/teams, it’s time to go back to my initial theory. All of those damn Yankees vs. Red Sox matchups are broadcast nationally aren’t they? Some people haven’t believed me when I’ve said this in the past, but here’s the proof. During the second half of this MLB season the Yankees and Red Sox faced each other 10 times … all 10 of those games were broadcast either on ESPN, Fox, TBS or MLB Network.

Man, it sure must be good to be a Yankees or Red Sox fan. The rest of us might want to find a job that pays better so we can invest in MLB.tv or move to a region that shows are favorite teams locally, because that’s the only way we’re ever going to see them play.

Why I Hope Chipper Jones Never Retires ...

There’s been much speculation all year long that this could be future Hall of Famer and Atlanta Braves aging third baseman Chipper Jones’ final year. However, last week Jones came out and told the media that he’s definitely going to be playing baseball in a Braves uniform in 2012. I’m thrilled that Chipper Jones is going to come back for what will likely be his final season in 2012 for more reasons than just that he’s my favorite ballplayer on my favorite team.

You see I hope Chipper Jones plays baseball for as long as he possibly can, because my youth will officially end the day that Hall of Famer retires. That may sound strange, but it all makes sense when you realize that Chipper Jones’ career and my love of baseball started the same season back in the summer of ’95 when Jones was a baby-faced 23-year old for the team of the ‘90s and I was an eight-year old little boy who didn’t know what baseball was until the Braves made that faithful run past the Rockies, the Reds and finally the Indians to win their only World Series title of their historic run.

Chipper Jones and I have grown up together in a way; oddly enough we were even born in the very same hospital in DeLand, Fla. Him in 1972. Me in 1987. And now sixteen years later in the late summer of 2011, the now 39-year old Jones is helping to lead his Braves back to the playoffs and in two weeks I’ll be a 24-year old recent college graduate living the adult life trying to find employment somewhere.

I’m trying to live the adult life, but watching Chipper Jones still makes me feel the joy of being a young boy growing up with him and my Braves. Every now and then when his sweet swing is going great he’s got that little boy smile on his face too. I hope it never ends.

DiMaggio's Record is Not Unbreakable

Atlanta Braves second baseman Dan Uggla saw his MLB season long 33-game hit streak ended on Sunday, mostly thanks to a stellar running catch by Chicago Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney. It was a very impressive streak, even more impressive than most because Uggla was hitting well below the Mendoza line before it began. Yes, Uggla hit in 33 straight, which is good enough for tied for 13^th all time, but amazingly it was still 23 more games away from tying Joe DiMaggio’s all time record of 56 consecutive games with a hit. That is the primary reason why many think that DiMaggio’s record is unbreakable. In fact, the next closest all time was Willie Keeler who hit in 45 straight games in 1897. That’s not even within 10 of DiMaggio. The closest player that I’ve ever seen come to DiMaggio’s record was Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins who got to within 18 games of the mark with a record that spanned from the end of the 2005 season to the very beginning of the 2006.

I’m not going to say that DiMaggio’s record is the most unbreakable record in sports, as some may, because it’s simply not and I do think that it can be approachable and possibly broken someday. Uggla put up a valiant effort and came up 23 games short, but I have hopes that one day someone will at least sniff DiMaggio’s mark a little closer and that would truly be must see TV.

Don't Trade the Farm for a Rental

The baseball trade deadline is just five days away and it’s a nerve racking team for teams and players and fans. It’s the time of year where a team can strike up a deal that could potentially win them the World Series. Unfortunately, there’s maybe more of a chance that a team could severely hurt themselves for the future by trading away valuable prospects for a two month rental.

The worst of these trades in recent years was between the Atlanta Braves and the Texas Rangers. The Braves, thinking they were in playoff contention, traded for Rangers All Star first baseman Mark Teixeira. To land him the Braves had to send the Rangers four of their most valuable prospects: Jarod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz and Matt Harrison.

Saltalamacchia is now the Red Sox starting catcher, which doesn’t really matter because the Braves have baseball’s best catcher in Brian McCann. However, Andrus, Feliz and Harrison have all become productive parts of a winning Rangers team and the Braves could definitely use all three of those parts right about now.

Teixeira didn’t help lead the Braves to the playoffs that year, despite having a very hot two months with them. He wasn’t just a two month rental either as he was under contract for one more year … but, Teixeira simply became a one year rental as the Braves knowing they didn’t have the money to re-sign him were forced to trade him to the Angels for Casey Kotchmann at the next year’s trade deadline. Kotchmann didn’t do much of anything for Atlanta and Teixeira finished out the year with the Angels before signing a mega-deal with the Yankees as a free agent. The damage was done however as the Braves basically stripped a good part of their future for what turned out to be almost nothing.

Teams should beware that the bright lights of the impending playoffs are not always worth giving away your future.

Black History Month a Time to Celebrate Hank Aaron

Black History Month always reminds me of two of my heroes as an avid baseball fan: Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron. I’ve previously had the opportunity to write about Robinson before, so I’ll keep this centered on Aaron, one of the greatest, yet most underrated athletes of all time.

Greatest and underrated are two words that generally don’t go together in the sports lexicon. However, Aaron is exactly that.

He’s one of the greatest baseball players and athletes in general of all time simply based on his numbers on the field. Aaron finished his illustrious baseball career with 755 career home runs, a record until Barry Bonds cheated his way past it with steroids a few years ago, 2,297 runs batted in (first all time), 3,771 hits (third all time) and 2,174 runs scored (fourth all time- tied with Babe Ruth).

Despite these all time great numbers, Aaron is only considered to be the fifth greatest baseball player ever by The Sporting News. In my book, that’s the equivalent of saying Michael Jordan is the fifth greatest basketball player of all time.

Hank Aaron the great baseball player is only half the story about why he’s one of my personal heroes. Hank Aaron the man means just as much.

In the early 1970s, when it became apparent that Aaron had a shot at breaking the legendary Ruth’s all time home run record he started to receive hate mail and death threats. Many of these hate mail letters and death threats were published in Aaron’s autobiography “I Had a Hammer,” and are to this day some of the most vile, despicable things I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Not only did Aaron receive these threats, but so did his family and during a time when his focus should’ve been solely on baseball, things got so bad that he and his family had to be protected by FBI agents and he couldn’t even stay in the same hotel as his teammates while on the road as a safety precaution.

This led to William Leggett writing in Sports Illustrated in 1973: “Is this to be the year in which Aaron, at the age of 39, takes a moon walk above one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport...? Or will it be remembered as the season in which Aaron, the most dignified of athletes, was besieged with hate mail and trapped by the cobwebs and goblins that lurk in baseball's attic?”

It was a moment that should’ve been cheered by everyone in the country ­– both black and white – but, like so many things that came before, it divided the country.

Aaron refused to quit and kept on playing. On April 8, 1974, he hit career home run number 715 off of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing to break Ruth’s home run record. It was a moment that should’ve been nothing but joy, but unfortunately felt more like a burden had been lifted off of his chest.

Aaron said: “I read the letters, because they remind me not to be surprised or hurt. They remind me what people are really like" and “Babe Ruth never had to contend with anything like that when he was establishing his record.”

Aaron was the kind of athlete that kids today should aspire to be and more importantly he’s the kind of man they should aspire to be.

During Black History Month when students learn about great African-American leaders and heroes like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson and others I hope that Aaron’s legacy is being taught right alongside them. He’s every bit as important.

From Miss Universe to Miss Iowa (This is Baseball Right??)

Washington Nationals phenom starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg was scratched from a start on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves because he didn’t feel right when warming up for the game. It was later revealed that he has some shoulder inflammation and is listed as day-to-day.

Okay, that happens and everything is fine, right?

Well, the Nationals reaction toward veteran pitcher and Tuesday night’s spot starter for the Nationals 39-year old Miguel Batista has gotten me more than a little perturbed.

The Nationals had sold the game out on Tuesday night because people wanted to see Strasburg pitch. When it was announced that Strasburg had been scratched and that Batista would be replacing him on the mound the Nationals’ so-called fans threw a fit and booed Batista.

What did Batista do?

Batista pulled his cap brim down low and went out and did his job like any veteran should … and he did it damn well. Batista pitched five shutout innings against the Braves and led the Nationals to victory. The fans still didn’t care; they wanted to see Strasburg after all.

The cold hard truth is that Batista might have done a better job against the Braves than Strasburg would have. The Braves had beaten the young ace earlier in the season.

It’s frankly ridiculous the way that the Nationals fans treated Batista, one of their own, on Tuesday night. Many fans even left the game before the first pitch had been thrown because they were so disappointed that Strasburg wouldn’t pitch. By the way, I don’t care if the entire ballclub comes down with food poisoning and is replaced at the last second with the entire AAA club, I’m still going to watch the game that I paid my hard earned money for and support my team.

Baseball seems to be the ultimate team sport out of the big three sports leagues in this country, in that the team is more important than the individual player. Maybe that’s changing?

Much like LeBron James of the NBA, it seems like baseball fans in Washington have quickly become Strasburg fans instead of Nationals fans … and, if you ask me that’s very wrong. I wonder if Albert Pujols were to leave St. Louis in a trade or via free agency would Cardinals fans just up a switch favorite teams as fast as many Cleveland Cavaliers switched to the Miami Heat when James signed with them a few weeks ago?

I seriously hope that the MLB doesn’t go down this road like the NBA apparently already has.

As for Batista, he should’ve felt bad being treated the way he was for such an excellent performance; however he understood saying, “Imagine if you go to see Miss Universe, then you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos.”