Published: October 27, 2009 11:32 pm      

KITCHELL: Fan base erodes for late-night World Series

One sure sign you may be getting old is that you begin boring your children with the notion that life was so much better when you were a kid.

A sure sign of being old is that you don’t care that you bore them — because of course, you know you’re right.

One example is baseball’s showcase, the World Series. My specific gripe are games beginning over mashed potatoes and finishing over oatmeal.

It’s l-o-n-g games being played l-a-t-e at night.

As a Milwaukee Braves fan of the late 1950s and ’60s, I found it a great time to be a kid who loved baseball. It was an era when baseball truly was America’s pastime and when World Series games were played in daylight. Honest, they really were.

Present-day educators would have a cow if a radio airing any sporting event was played in an elementary classroom, but at Central School in downtown Kokomo, it was common for teachers to have World Series games at full volume.

I don’t recall a lot of what went on in Miss Downey’s seventh-grade math class, but I remember the moment — the excitement in our class — when Bill Mazeroski hit the shocking ninth-inning home run that beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series.

I also remember Game 7 of the 1962 Giants-Yankees Series when Willie McCovey’s would-be game-winning hit was speared by Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson and the Yankees prevailed 1-0. I remember exactly where I was standing in my living room and exactly what my dad yelled at the TV (he hated the Yankees too) when Richardson made the ninth-inning, two-out grab.

I mention these baseball moments for two reasons — one, because as you get older you’re happy to remember anything and two, these were glorious moments in baseball history that I witnessed. Kids don’t get much of that opportunity anymore.

The 1950s, ’60s and ’70s were absolutely the best time to be a baseball fan because of glorious day baseball in the postseason. It was a time when baseball thought enough of the World Series to share it with adults and kids alike. A late game then finished at 5 p.m. Late games now wrap-up after midnight, long after kids and many adults as well, have packed it in for the night.

It’s been 25 years since the sun has peaked in on a World Series game and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig says he’d love to see games back on a more family-friendly TV schedule.

“I want a day game in the World Series,” Selig told The Associated Press. “It’s been a favorite subject of mine over the years because I grew up watching the World Series during the afternoons.”

Then he added, “but the object is to have as many viewers as possible.”

The question: Would there be more potential viewers at 3 o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon or at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night?

The suits who rule television apparently opt for the late start. My guess is, they don’t have to jump out of bed at 6 a.m. to go to work and if they have kids, their kids care a lot more about Grand Theft Auto IV or some other video game than they do about baseball.

Of course too, TV’s love of all those dollars generated by primetime advertising plays a huge role in all this.

Without question, baseball is no longer the national pastime. Tonight by 10:30 (or the middle of the sixth inning) it’ll be the national naptime.

Last year’s Series with all games starting around 8:30, drew a record-low TV audience. TV’s answer was moving this year’s games up to 8 o’clock. That’s not much help for adults and virtually no value to kids.

No question, TV calls the shots. But a decade or two from now you have to wonder who’s going to be watching the games at any time of day. Kids today don’t watch baseball and they’ll not be picking up the habit as they get older. And without fans, the advertisers will be history.

• Dave Kitchell is the Kokomo Tribune’s sports editor. He may be reached by e-mail at dave.kitchell@kokomotribune.com.