MLB's new rules designed to speed-up games were implemented
Friday night and cut 20 minutes off of the average time for
Friday's games. Overall, MLB games Friday lasted 2:37 on
average. The seven NL games were played in an average of 2:31.
In the AL, the average was 2:41. Before Friday, the '95 MLB
average was 2:57 (Mark Maske, WASHINGTON POST, 7/30). In
Minneapolis, columnist Dan Barreiro writes "Yes, we know baseball
has serious problems. The length of games is not one of them.
... On this issue baseball should have stood firm. Don't make
baseball come to the MTV generation. Make the MTV generation
come to it" (Minneapolis STAR-TRIBUNE, 7/30).
RED, HOT CHILI: Angels Player Rep Chili Davis said baseball
should concentrate on a labor agreement instead of worrying about
game time. Davis: "To me, all that stuff is just diverting
attention from the issue at hand -- the public wants to know if
we're going to have baseball come playoff and World Series time,
next year, the next five years. ... [The owners] always put it
off to the last minute. If it's left up to the players, there
will be a World Series. It's going to be hard to get us to
strike again" (L.A. TIMES, 7/30)....The current ECONOMIST
examines baseball's labor problems. In a piece entitled "Struck
Out," the magazine chronicles the attendance slide and lack of a
labor agreement (ECONOMIST, 7/29 issue).
