A lot of Rangers/Giants Fans Tuned in Yesterday.....
 

It was an elimination game. That is the way it is expected. Especially to the match-up the NFL had on this night.

Peace

Whistles!! I think they should give Baseball umpires whistles! And flags! Not those namby-pamby yellow ones like the NFL, but bright red ones! Not sure how we'd use 'em, but certainly would make it more like Football, if that's the goal. :)

I think the pace of the game—the extra hour or so compared to the "old days"—is only a small part of the problem.

I suspect the key to the sagging interest in MLB is the answer to the question, Why does nobody really care who wins or loses? If you are deeply emotionally involved, the pace of the game becomes irrelevant.

People were certainly involved years ago—to the point of exhilaration and despair. I know I was. What happened since the days when the World Series would set records for TV audience?

It was certainly true this year...at least for the Giants fans. After their record in the postseason, especially the 2002 World Series, to say we were on edge would be an understatement. That is but one reason why we've come to dub Giants baseball as torture.

Found this on the web and watched a bit of it. Game 3 of the 1957 WS, Yankees-Braves. (Looks like a kinescope.)

Far less time between pitches. Hitters had a backdrop of a chain-link fence with trees behind it. On strikes, the PU's arm is up before the pitch hits the mitt. The players seem to swing differently, too, possibly because pitches "at the letters" were strikes in those days. Batters got in the box and stayed there.

ComedyTV4u - Your source for online comedy television

Great stuff. Thanks for that greymule. Check out the "check swing" at 76:25.

Check out the "check swing" at 76:25.

Yow! Inconceivable that Adcock could get away with that today. In those days, they didn't call a swing unless the batter ended up looking like a corkscrew. None of this "offer" stuff.

I notice that Bill McKinley, the PU, does not stand still behind the plate. He clearly follows inside and outside pitches with his body, stepping and even turning his body sideways to get "in front" of the pitch.

I notice that Yogi sometimes stands up when the pitch is on the way. On low pitches, he has to reach way down.

Notice also that the announcers did not compete to say the stupidest things they could, either. Very low key.

I'm not sure, but those bases might be staked in.

You can clearly hear one fan throughout the game:

"Come on ump, you call those balls when they're up!"

"For cryin' out loud, what's the matter with you? That was right in there!"

Some things haven't changed, I guess.

200 more channels were added to the lineup.