The next baseball commissioner – whether chosen from a fractious debate Thursday or sometime in the near future – faces this challenge: How do you evolve the game to satisfy more tastes while keeping it baseball?
We should say that under a Luddite commissioner – Bud Selig did not email or engage in social media – the game did take steps forward. Major League Baseball Advanced Media has been a financial boon. Instant replay finally is part of the game. The profits from deals with regional cable networks have been spectacular.
But here is the thing to remember about that last one, in particular: The cable operators are shelling out those dollars because from when your NHL/NBA team is eliminated until the NFL begins a local sports channel shows baseball or what? Think, for example, what the Yankees leaving the MSG Network to begin YES has meant. When was the last time you flipped on MSG between when the Knicks and Rangers seasons end and begin again?
Baseball’s blessing has been the virgin territory for it in summer. That is the way it always has been. But will it always stay that way? Maybe. Or perhaps the NFL will expand to 18 games and take away some of August, or soccer will become a sport of our future summers in a stronger way, or lacrosse or something we don’t see yet on the landscape will muscle in.
The best baseball general managers and managers plot for the worst-case scenarios – what happens if we lose a starter or three, who is available in the market or the minors, etc. The next commissioner must do the same – assume the worst and benefit from the best. These are the three areas that feel most important:
1. Pace of game
This is one of those delicate areas, because when the tension and drama are high in games, particularly in late-season and playoff games, the time between pitches hardly matters. In fact, they tend to enhance the spectacle. But there are a lot of games on the way there – April, fourth inning, Astros-White Sox – that make you question if Chinese water torture would be worse. Red Sox owner John Henry has spoken about how bad the slow pace is for TV, how easy it is for a shortened-attention-span generation to flip to something else.
The next commissioner must address this. He should use the Arizona Fall League, spring training and – if he can get cooperation – levels of the minor leagues to experiment with pitch clocks, hitters being penalized with a strike if they leave the batter’s box, limiting mound visits by catchers, limiting pitching changes per inning. See what works and make it part of the majors.
2. Ownership
Selig’s ability to be part Godfather, part astute local politician made him ideal to herd 30 bullheaded ownerships with different agendas, vendettas and priorities to work as close to in unison as such a group can work.
That Selig is a Luddite meant he avoided impersonal text messages and emails, and instead was constantly on the phone with the owners, making them each feel listened to and special. And his Corleone instinct to do favors for each in exchange for loyalty when necessary allowed Selig to be the king of the unanimous vote.
That ownership has splintered now and is not no-questions-asked accepting Selig’s handpicked choice to succeed him, top lieutenant Rob Manfred, speaks to the problems the next commissioner faces.
If it is Manfred, he will walk in knowing about one-third of his bosses wanted someone else. If it is not Manfred, he will likely be moved to resign, and that would create chaos on many levels, notably in labor situations.
Since the low point of Selig’s reign – the cancellation of the 1994 World Series – Manfred and Michael Weiner were the main actors in avoiding work stoppages, which has immeasurably helped the profitability and reputation of MLB. But Weiner died in November, leaving the union in transition. Without Manfred’s institutional knowledge and ability to make a deal, MLB would also be in transition. There already are war drums sounding loudly on several issues for a new CBA negotiation in two years, and the absence of Weiner and Manfred only would only pump up the volume.
Which might be the point, because the anti-Manfred crew – headed by White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf – appears to want to deliver a draconian slapdown to the union in the next contract.
So the next commissioner is going to have to deftly get his owners to common ground before even maneuvering with the union. Good luck.
3. Athletes
The ongoing destabilizing of the NCAA just might aid MLB. It is clear MLB has to funnel more money (again, good luck getting all the owners on board here) to, among other things, college scholarships to widen the number of those playing this sport.
Better inroads must be made with the African-American community and in poorer areas of this country. Baseball used to be a sport anyone could play, and now it too often has a country club feel – moms and dads paying for travel teams and special tutors and the best equipment. The game has to be brought to all again.
Offense is down, and that needs to be examined by the next commissioner. But one reason is not enough quick-twitch youngsters from this country are making it to pro baseball. Our next commissioner must find a way to end that ceaseless flow to other sports and – in so doing – will probably help with the overall popularity as he builds not only his next generation of players, but fans, too.