By Martie Hevia | Blue Beach Song™

“Two hours is about as long as any American can wait for the close of a baseball game, or anything else for that matter.”

~Al Spalding

Suggestion #7: Shorten the Game

Okay, if the season isn’t long enough for you, how about sitting through a four-hour game?

Why does it sometimes take four hours to play a game? It is not a marathon, it is a game.

I understand that in part that’s a result of extra innings, the fans don’t mind that, but sometimes the games drag on because of little unnecessary things that simply waste time and contribute to extending a two-hour game into a four-hour game.

You surely know what I’m talking about, those little annoying things that waste time for no good reason…

• like the guys stepping out of the batter’s box to adjust their batting gloves or their cups after every pitch…
• or those dugout-clearing fights that no one seems to know why they started or seems eager to stop…
• or all the contested calls with stubborn blind umps who have it out for your team…
• or the unmerited contested calls by argumentative managers who seem to be in a bad mood that particular day…
• or a self-important (maybe lazy) player who wants to take his sweet time strolling out to right field…
• or the lax security which sometimes allow people to get on the field who have no business being there, like the crazy or drunk fan who runs across the ballfield without their clothes on.

All these little time-wasters add up, however entertaining some of them might be!

So, let’s hustle out there – no leisurely walks to and from the outfield, no meandering from the dugout to the batters box, no naked people on the field… chop-chop, let’s go, people are paying good money to watch you play.

Let’s work on that.

NOTE: This was the seventh of a 30-part series of posts offering suggestions (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) on how I would improve the game of baseball. This series is based on my original (very long) post: Baseball: How I (A Girl) Would Improve America’s Pastime, it provides the context for this series of posts. I hope you enjoy the series and offer your own suggestions! All the best, -Martie

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