MLB'S FIRST HALF REPORT CARD: BASEBALL ON ITS WAY BACK

          With the All-Star Game set for tonight, columnists
     examined the first half of the '98 MLB season.  A sampling: 
          RETURN TO COOL: In Cincinnati, John Fay: "Baseball
     could not have hoped for a better season.  You've got Mark
     McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr., Kerry Wood, the Yankees and a
     dozen of other good stories.  The public has taken notice"
     (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 7/6).  In Tucson, Greg Hansen wrote
     under the header "Baseball is becoming cool again."  Hansen:
     "[W]hat we celebrate this week ... is a reaffirmation of the
     grand old game" (AZ DAILY STAR, 7/6).  In Phoenix, Dan
     Bickley wrote "suddenly, baseball is hot.  And for the first
     time in a long time, definitely cool" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC,
     7/7).  In S.F., Tim Keown wrote under the header "Return To
     Decency Has Saved Baseball."  Keown: "Baseball is on such a
     high that it's hard to conceive that the people running the
     game could manage to bring it down. ... While basketball
     players fight over the right to smoke dope, baseball has
     been showcasing great players who seem to be decent people"
     (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/6).  ESPN's Mike Lupica said MLB "has now
     recovered.  It has gotten off the canvas this spring and
     summer like a great prize fighter, and it's only going to
     get better from here" ("ESPN Magazine's The Sports
     Reporters," ESPN, 7/5).  In N.J., Adrian Wojnarowski:
     "Across the majors, there's a wave of gifted young players
     with an understanding that change has to start with them. 
     Want to sell baseball, you start with the selling of the
     stars.  Finally, there's a generation of players willing to
     assume the responsibility" (Bergen RECORD, 7/3).
          GETTING WARMER: In Orlando, Larry Guest wrote under the
     header "Baseball Swings, Misses Its PR Pitch."  Guest,
     citing limited media access to McGwire, the "remake of the
     Dodgers" and a lack of divisional races: "The first half of
     Baseball '98 teased us with lots of reasons to return.  If
     only the seamy, self-defeating side of the sport will let
     us" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 7/6).  In Dallas, Richard Alm: "If
     rich entrepreneurs shun the sport, if teams failed to
     upgrade their ballparks, if attendance were falling, if fans
     didn't root for the likes of McGwire, if marketing weren't
     becoming a priority -- then there'd be little reason for
     hope in the baseball business" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/7). 
     ESPN's John Feinstein, on the split between MLB's haves and
     have nots: "You still have a major division, and if you look
     it up, most of the have nots are not going to contend on a
     consistent basis" ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN, 7/5).

Print This Article