When it comes to baseball, I’m something of a purist.
I believe the game should be played outdoors, in daylight, on real grass.
Which amounts to strike three for this World Series. Of course, all the games will be played in prime time. TV calls this shot. Nothing new about that. They’d play the games at 2 in the morning if that’s when TV told them to throw out the first pitch.
In fact, all 7 games of the World Series will start at 8:30 or a few minutes later. Prime time. So what if that’s too late for many kids who must get up for school the next day. (And newspaper editors who have trouble staying up until 9 o’clock most nights. And don’t even get me started about deadlines.) That’s strike one.
Strikes two and three involve Tropicana Field. That’s the orange can where the Rays play their home games. It has a dome. Mid-October in Tampa might be delightful, but you’ll never know it in the climate-controlled atmosphere inside this stadium. It also has a funky design, with all kinds of nooks and crannies and skywalks. Also look for a Phils’ outfielder, maybe Pat Burrell, to lose a ball in the domed ceiling of this joint.
Then there’s the playing surface. Dick Allen once famously proclaimed this of Astro-Turf when it first debuted. “If a horse can’t eat it, I don’t want to play on it.”
Suffice it to say Allen would hate Tropicana Field. It’s not real grass. It’s not especially pleasing on the eyes. And it has more than its share of bumps. Did you happen to see that final out recorded Sunday night in their win against the Red Sox, and the nasty hop that grounder to second took? You’ve been warned, Chase Utley.
Then again, there is one thing that you have to begrudgingly give to playing inside. Weather is not a factor. No matter what it is doing outside, Games 1 and 2 will be played in hermetically sealed perfect conditions inside Tropicana Field.
I believe baseball is a summer game. They don’t refer to them as the Boys of Summer for nothing. I’m thinking T-shirts and shorts.
When the Series heads north to Philadelphia for Games 3 through 5 Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the Rays had better pack their long underwear.
Game-time temperatures will likely be in the 50s. And fall from there as the game goes on.
And one other thing. The forecast is calling for showers on Saturday and rain on Sunday. Better pack an umbrella if you’re going.
Maybe there really is no place like dome.
I believe the game should be played outdoors, in daylight, on real grass.
Which amounts to strike three for this World Series. Of course, all the games will be played in prime time. TV calls this shot. Nothing new about that. They’d play the games at 2 in the morning if that’s when TV told them to throw out the first pitch.
In fact, all 7 games of the World Series will start at 8:30 or a few minutes later. Prime time. So what if that’s too late for many kids who must get up for school the next day. (And newspaper editors who have trouble staying up until 9 o’clock most nights. And don’t even get me started about deadlines.) That’s strike one.
Strikes two and three involve Tropicana Field. That’s the orange can where the Rays play their home games. It has a dome. Mid-October in Tampa might be delightful, but you’ll never know it in the climate-controlled atmosphere inside this stadium. It also has a funky design, with all kinds of nooks and crannies and skywalks. Also look for a Phils’ outfielder, maybe Pat Burrell, to lose a ball in the domed ceiling of this joint.
Then there’s the playing surface. Dick Allen once famously proclaimed this of Astro-Turf when it first debuted. “If a horse can’t eat it, I don’t want to play on it.”
Suffice it to say Allen would hate Tropicana Field. It’s not real grass. It’s not especially pleasing on the eyes. And it has more than its share of bumps. Did you happen to see that final out recorded Sunday night in their win against the Red Sox, and the nasty hop that grounder to second took? You’ve been warned, Chase Utley.
Then again, there is one thing that you have to begrudgingly give to playing inside. Weather is not a factor. No matter what it is doing outside, Games 1 and 2 will be played in hermetically sealed perfect conditions inside Tropicana Field.
I believe baseball is a summer game. They don’t refer to them as the Boys of Summer for nothing. I’m thinking T-shirts and shorts.
When the Series heads north to Philadelphia for Games 3 through 5 Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the Rays had better pack their long underwear.
Game-time temperatures will likely be in the 50s. And fall from there as the game goes on.
And one other thing. The forecast is calling for showers on Saturday and rain on Sunday. Better pack an umbrella if you’re going.
Maybe there really is no place like dome.
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