St. Louis Cardinals Gameday – June 2018

76 CARDINALS MAGAZINE @CardsMagazine

most of the country. Every playoff game in
football is the equivalent of a seventh game
in baseball, basketball, or hockey.
But if you look at baseball’s overall
revenues, if you look at average attendance,
it’s greatly in excess of what we of a certain
age think of as the golden era of baseball.
And if you think of all the ways that
people consume baseball, over the Internet,
highlight shows, local television packages,
it isn’t fair to compare national television
ratings of baseball in 2018 with, say, 1988.
It’s just a different world, but in almost
every measurable way, baseball remains
extremely popular, and it still is and always
will be my favorite sport.

Many people think baseball has problems:
the games are too long, we need to change the
rules, etc. Do you share those feelings?
COSTAS: Well, I do share the feeling
that baseball’s leisurely pace, which has
always been part of its appeal, has too
often given way to lethargic pace. But Rob
Manfred and company are working on that.
I think it’s possible that in our lifetime,
you’ll see a pitch clock at the major league
level, not with men on base, but with no one
on base. They are trying to create a culture
with new rules in the minor leagues so that
players who come into the majors eventually
will have it ingrained in them to keep things
moving and not dawdle as much. That’s
what we are seeing.
But part of the problem is that what
works strategically does not always work in
terms of entertainment. It works strategically
to go to the bullpen. At least, they think
it does. The analytics tell them it does, to
go to the bullpen as often as they do, and
that slows things down. And then you’ve
got pitchers and catchers with all kinds of
information in their heads about this hitter,
this situation and that situation, and that
slows things down while they process it.
There’s very little “Give me the ball, and
let’s go.” You know, as Vin Scully famously
said about Bob Gibson, “He pitches like he’s
double-parked.” Well, it worked out pretty
well for him, didn’t it?

Are you concerned about youngsters not

playing baseball and not going to games?

COSTAS: Yes, it’s a concern, but

I think it’s a concern that baseball is working

on with all the Play Ball initiatives. Every

game you watch, there are (promos) about

how boys and girls, kids of all backgrounds

and demographics, play ball – be it softball,

be it baseball, be it an organized game, be it

a pickup game.

One of the things I find almost poignant

is in whatever city, when you drive by not

just a sandlot but a perfectly manicured

baseball diamond – a Little League diamond

with bases 60 feet apart and fences – it

looks so inviting. But unless the kids are in

uniform, unless there are coaches, unless

there are parents, there’s no one playing. My

gosh, when we were kids, that field would

be used. You wouldn’t need 18 guys. If you

had six guys, you’d figure out a way to have

a pickup game.

We played baseball all the time. It wasn’t

just the two days a week we played Little

League or high school. Every day in the

summer, you hopped on your bike, you

grabbed your glove, and you found a game

somewhere. Or you played Wiffle ball, you

threw a tennis ball or a rubber ball off the

wall, and you made up games in your head.

You’d be the announcer and every player in

the lineup. We used to play just for the fun

of it and for the imagination of it. You know,

“I’m Stan Musial.” “Well, OK, I’ll be Willie

Mays.” Maybe that world has passed us by.

Someone has made the argument that we

should redefine baseball and call it an acquired

taste, something that people grow into as they

get a little bit older.

COSTAS: I’ll say this: If it is an

acquired taste, we can take heart in the

fact that tens of millions of people have

acquired it. And when you go to a ballgame

in most cities, like in St. Louis, you do see a

lot of kids with their parents. Granted, my

kids had unique advantages. My son now

works in the research department for MLB

Network. When my daughter, who teaches

high school English literature in New York,

goes to a game, most of the time she keeps

score. She’s known how to keep score since

she was 7 or 8. One Christmas – it was

Christmas of 2011 – she presented me with

an oversized copy of her scorecard from

Game 6 of the World Series between the

Two years into a full-time role with NBC, Costas’ star was only just ascending, but he

felt right at home when the ’82 World Series brought him back to Busch Stadium.

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