Media reflection on the State of Baseball at the All-Star
break continues:
ADVERTISING AGE'S JEFF JENSEN, noting the failure of TBN:
"Now, sports marketing and media experts are trying to price MLB,
and their appraisals are indicative of just how beaten up
baseball is" (AD AGE, 7/10 issue).
BOSTON GLOBE'S LARRY WHITESIDE: "What is the state of major
league baseball? Don't ask. ... Nobody can say for sure if this
is the end of an era or just a rough bump in the road" (BOSTON
GLOBE, 7/11).
BOSTON HERALD'S STEVE BUCKLEY, to fans who left: "I am here
to say baseball is every bit as exciting as you remember it. ...
Baseball lives" (BOSTON HERALD, 7/11).
DALLAS MORNING NEWS' CATHY HARASTA: "The game would do
anything for a quick fix, but the All-Star Game must settle for
being just a diversion" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/11).
HOUSTON CHRONICLE'S ED FOWLER, who argues that a new CBA is
needed first: "In the meantime, a new wrinkle might be
considered, and this message comes to you from a traditionalists.
... But what in thunderation is wrong with the Cubs playing the
White Sox" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/11).
L.A. TIMES' ALAN MALAUMD: "Only time can ease the
alienation that many former fans now feel for baseball. But even
that may prove an inadequate cure" (L.A. TIMES, 7/11).
NEW YORK POST'S JAY GREENBERG: "The game needs new fans
before it needs new stadiums. It needs a collective bargaining
agreement with the family just as badly as its needs one between
owners and players. The ball is rolling up the gap -- the
generation gap" (N.Y. POST, 7/11).
NEW YORK TIMES' MURRAY CHASS, noting that baseball has
already drawn 23.3 million, more than the other major sports:
"Baseball will always outdraw the other sports because of more
games and/or larger seating capacities? That's true, but it
doesn't render meaningless the simple fact that more people watch
baseball than any other sport, even in the worst of times" (N.Y.
TIMES, 7/11).
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE'S C.W. NEVIUS: "Baseball is facing
the greatest crisis in the history of the grand old game.
Luckily, the finest minds in the sport are up to the task. They
have announced that they are raising the pitching mound three
inches. There, that should fix everything" (SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE, 7/11).
WASHINGTON TIMES' TOM KNOTT recalls a 1969 Washington Daily
News header when the game was at RFK: "Will Youth Rediscover the
Ol' Ball Game?" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 7/11).
CNN'S SPORTS TONIGHT: CNN's Bob Lorenz also examined the
status of baseball. MLBPA Exec Dir Donald Fehr: "Clearly there
has to be reassurance given to the fans that the kinds of off-
the-field difficulties that have plagued us for the past two
years are not going to be something with which they ought to have
any concern. And that's going to take some work." Paul White,
Editor of USA TODAY's BASEBALL WEEKLY: "The people who are in
the game have got to sell it and I think they can't sell it until
they get their own house in order" (CNN, 7/10).
