MLB locations for Florida’s spring training “Grapefruit League.”

…AND A BIG MONEY-MAKER
FOR THE MLB TEAM OWNERS

KASICH COULD GIVE CLINTON
A RUN FOR HER MONEY IN ’16,
BUT WILL THE GOP PICK HIM?
 
By David Maril
 
While wondering how long it will be before Major League Baseball teams begin selling tickets for spring training workouts, to get a jump on producing revenue before the exhibition game season begins, it’s interesting to note the following:

  Baseball critics and bashers alike continually predict gloom and doom for the sport. They jump all over low World Series television ratings and find fault with the slow pace of the game.

The reality, however, shows just the opposite for the game’s popularity. More people are watching baseball, with every regular season and post-season game televised locally and nationally; and, most significantly, ticket prices keep increasing.

I think the late Bill Veeck — Hall of Fame innovator, team owner and sports promoter —put it best when he said baseball has to be the greatest game because it has survived all the incompetent people who run it.

The biggest sign though that the summer game has a stronger hold on this nation than any other sport, is the preseason.

No other professional sport in America draws the type of preseason attention and interest as baseball’s spring training.

OK, football preseason games do well. But that’s because most NFL exhibition games are part of regular-season ticket packages. Like it or not, home fans have to buy most of these tickets.

Sure, the weather has a lot to do with baseball’s spring training popularity; people are sick of snow, sleet and cold, freezing weather. Spring training games in Florida and Arizona offer a nice break from winter doldrums.

Who would question the wisdom of a trip to watch preseason games, wrapped around a vacation? But that’s part of baseball’s “hope springs eternal” appeal: starting a new, lengthy season, where games are played every day, watching games outdoors in pleasant environmental conditions.

A few decades ago, spring training was primarily a casual, laid-back training period. Only a small percentage of games, like Dodgers-Yankees, came close to selling out. Teams stayed in their Florida training camp homes (Dodgers—Vero Beach, Yankees—Fort Lauderdale, Red Sox—Winter Haven) for years.

Today, it’s big business and counted-on revenue. Split-squad games, scheduled under the guise of creating more innings for players to tune up their skills, are actually created so teams can play two games in one day and increase their ticket money.

There’s plenty of advertising and marketing money to be made.

In the old days, it was a big deal when weekend games were broadcast by radio back home. Now, many teams televise most of their preseason games to their home markets.

Spring training has created new revenue sources, from selling preseason souvenirs and team apparel. Fans cram into long lines purchasing different combinations of practice jerseys, jackets, T-shirts and spring training memorabilia.

The first year I covered spring training, back in the early 1980s, the Red Sox created a stir of excitement when they wore green Boston baseball hats on St. Patrick’s Day.

Fans, in Winter Haven, went berserk, trying to locate the novelty hats, which were not sold anywhere and only worn that one day. The following year, of course, they were available at souvenir stands all spring and thousands were sold. That was around the time spring training was starting to shed its sleepy, old-fashioned aura.

The biggest change is the frequency by which teams uproot spring training communities by moving their complexes back and forth from Florida to Arizona, depending on the extravagance of the sweetheart deals the towns and cities offer.

THE SKY HAS BECOME THE LIMIT

Serving as the spring training home base for a community means so much revenue and recognition, that the sky has become the limit when it comes to giving teams whatever they want so they will either move to where you are building or stay put.

Abandoned stadiums and training facilities are scattered all over Florida as a reminder that time and money passed them by when it came to holding onto their teams.

  In job listings, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Congressional House of Representatives’ position of “Majority Leader” posted. Speaker John Boehner continually shows he does not represent any type of “majority” in the Congress with his inability to keep the right-wing fanatics of his party in line.

  With all the challenges facing Maryland, why would lawmakers waste valuable time and effort even considering upping the speed limits on state highways?

A STUPID, SHORTSIGHTED IDEA

The measure, to raise the speed from 55 to 70 miles per hour, has bipartisan support. However, besides this being a stupid, shortsighted idea, there are far more important issues, especially budgetary, the State Legislature should be dealing with first.

Maybe many of our lawmakers have relatives in the body & fender repair shops and hope to profit from higher accident rates caused by unskilled drivers racing along at higher speeds?

  The Republican who would best give Hillary Clinton a run for her money in next year’s presidential race is John R. Kasich, Governor of Ohio.

He’s intelligent, reasonable and knows how to work with Democrats as well as Republicans. In Ohio, he reduced taxes and took care of an $8 billion budget deficit.

Besides his management experience as governor, he served in Congress for 18 years. It remains to be seen if the party’s reasonable people can control the one-issue zealots so an electable candidate like Kasich can get nominated.

Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich, shown here appearing on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” is in Wash- ington this week to attend Israeli Prime Minister Ben- jamin Netanyahu’s speech on Iran before a joint ses- sion of Congress. A former Republican U.S. Represen- tative, Kasich could give Hillary Clinton a strong run for the money if the GOP would only nominate him.

 There is a major difference between the credibility issues in the Brian Williams and Bill O’Reilly controversies.

Williams, who fabricated a story about being in a helicopter flying over Iraq that was fired on by heavy grenades, is a network news anchor. He is held to the high standard of being an objective journalist who has the trust of his viewers for fairness and accuracy.

O’Reilly, however, accused by some of exaggerating the danger he was in when he covered the Falklands War some 33 years ago, is not a journalist. He’s a bright, clever and entertaining TV talk/commentary host who gives his opinion on everything.

He has a dedicated audience that worships him and believes just about every view he airs. Controversy is not going to affect O’Reilly’s ratings.

He, in contrast to Williams, doesn’t need credibility for an objective, mainstream audience.
 
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
 
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