This is the only sports column I have ever written and intend to write. This is Part 1 and next week will be Part 2 and then: NEVER AGAIN.
It all started with my grandfather, Frank, who frequently went to see the Cincinnati Reds play at Crosley Field in the 1930’s. He was such an avid fan that he regularly advertised his small flower shop business in the Cincinnati Reds short program. (A copy is still in our family’s possession.)
Riverfront Stadium opened its doors in 1970 and my dad was lucky enough to call for two season tickets immediately after a journalist returned his two box seat tickets – four rows behind home plate.
Shortly thereafter, the fabulous Big Red Machine started dominating the National League. For Cincinnati, it was baseball at its finest.
My children spent their childhood going to baseball games with their grandfather. Such an impression the Cincinnati Reds experience had on my boys was evident when four out of five of them chose the Cincinnati Reds as their Bar Mitzvah theme.
My boys grew up. My boys moved away. My dad died. And all that was left of the Big Red Machine was a scrapbook of memories. For many years, the Cincinnati Reds limped along. Attendance continued to decline. Games became boring – and far too long. And even though we all had access to very good seats, it was not the draw it used to be. And most of the time, if none of us were in town, we couldn’t even give the tickets away.
And now: it’s the 2023 baseball season. And things are rapidly changing.
Attendance is way up all over the country.
Why?
(Here’s where I my sport writer’s hat kicks in.)
The shift role has been abandoned. This eliminates the infield player’s ability to move to one side of the field in an effort to catch a hit more easily. Not only did left handed batters suffer from adapting then shift, but the games themselves generated little action. A homerun or an out. That was about it.
Thank goodness this year the baseball commission put the kibosh on this analytic. The shift had proven to be an entertainment killing move and everyone knows that going to a baseball game should be entertaining.
The pitch clock also came under a sea change. Now a pitcher is only allowed 15 seconds to throw a pitch if the bases are empty and 20 seconds if there is a runner on base. This has speeded up the game.
A pitcher can only throw to an occupied base two times in an attempt to pick off a runner during a batter’s plate appearance – thus further shortening the game.
And an added benefit: the bases have increased from 15 inches square to 18 inches square to avoid more injuries and collisions.
Stadiums all over the country are filling up. Why? Because of the new rules, more action on the field and because the games are about 25 minutes shorter and more exciting.
“It’s like going back to the 1980’s when baseball was at its aesthetic best,” says Tom Verducci, American sports writer, recently in Sports Illustrated.
Last year overall attendance for the Cincinnati Reds was about 1.4 million. As of July 19, 2023, their numbers were already above 1.1 million, with about 30 home games remaining. Of course, the fact that my favorite team is presently near the top of their division accounts for some of this wave of fans descending on the Great American Ball Park, but I believe it’s also due to the new changes the baseball commission has instituted.
The thrill of sitting in a stadium filled to capacity, surrounded by cheering, engaged fans is an unbeatable high.
Yes, this may well be the last sports column I ever write, but you can bet I will be attending – G-d willing – many more baseball games in the future.
Go Reds!
Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
Iris Ruth Pastor