CHICAGO — When Major League Baseball returned from the players strike in 1995, teams looked for ways to get back in the good graces of alienated fans.
The Chicago White Sox decided to give more fans an opportunity to watch batting practice sessions before home games at new Comiskey Park, letting the visitors go first and then taking their swings from 5:25-6:25 p.m. for night games. Instead of having an hour and a half of free time before games, Sox players were limited to 30 minutes.
Slugger Frank Thomas, who often spent his pregame time watching video, was visibly upset by the edict and said the idea was nice but short-sighted.
“It’s our profession,” Thomas said. “It’s not the Barnum & Bailey Circus.”
But the move didn’t help bring Sox fans back to the ballpark, and attendance was down considerably early in the season, aided by an awful start from a team predicted to contend.
Manager Gene Lamont was soon fired, coach Terry Bevington took over and the team announced in mid-June it was reverting to its old batting practice times. As a compromise, at least three players or a combination of players, coaches and Bevington, would be available to sign autographs before every home game.
It took at least three years before fans began to forgive players. The Sammy Sosa-Mark McGwire battle for the home-run record in 1998 was credited as the biggest catalyst.
But here we are, 27 years after the end of the strike and following a 99-day owners lockout: It’s business as usual with MLB. Nothing to see here. Keep walking.
If baseball had any sense, teams would be announcing new fan-friendly concepts in the coming days to make up for the shoddy treatment owners displayed over the long winter of discontent. Instead, we’re hearing the same old announcements of the usual team promotions — T-shirts, bobbleheads and assorted knick-knacks— with nothing that remotely sounds like an apology.
MLB is operating under “no harm, no foul” rule.
Because the 2022 season was delayed only by a week and no games will be lost, MLB apparently feels no need to show any contrition for the damage the sport did to itself over the winter.
Ticket reductions? Concession reductions? Just take your bobblehead and like it.
Maybe teams aren’t worried about a repeat of the 1995-97 era, believing fans are so happy to have baseball back they’ll return to ballparks with no qualms. And for some teams expected to contend, perhaps there’s no need to grovel for their fans’ attention.
But I’m not so sure.
MLB avoided a catastrophe when a new CBA was reached, but it still suffered some flesh wounds that might be slow to heal. Let’s not forget the game’s other myriad issues, including the record average game time of 3 hours, 11 minutes in 2021 and an average of 4.43 pitchers used per game by every team, tying the 2020 record.
It’s slower than ever, with starters pitching fewer innings, relatively anonymous middle relievers throwing more and fewer balls in play. That will only be exacerbated in April and May by the short spring the lockout caused.
And unless you’re the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves or St. Louis Cardinals, you have reason to be concerned about attendance this season with inflation, high gas prices and various other excuses to watch games from home instead of making the trip to the ballpark.
The Tampa Bay Rays can’t draw in their air-conditioned dome despite having one of the best teams. The Cincinnati Reds and Oakland A’s were among the teams that sold off star players this winter. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians and Washington Nationals are barely trying. The rebuilding Cubs are back to promoting the Wrigley Field experience with the slogan “It’s Different Here.”
Spring training attendance numbers have been down from pre-pandemic levels, though the late announcement that there would even be a spring training probably had something to do with that. We won’t really know until the regular season begins next week how much the offseason animosity affected fan interest.
In 1995, a concerted effort was made to have players sign autographs, as the Sox and Cubs did, feeling that interaction with fans was the best way to get their forgiveness. Before one spring game in Sarasota, Fla., Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen walked into the stands in full uniform to converse with fans in a handicapped section.
But the giveback from players didn’t last all season, and it’s unlikely today’s players would even make an attempt to appease fans. Only a few superstars even make it a point to sign before and after games, so usually you see the same players — fan-friendly guys such as Lucas Giolito and Kyle Hendricks — signing over and over again.
Most pretend they’re on their phones while walking through crowds or simply put on headphones and ignore fans. No one wants to be bothered.
Besides, players might not feel they need forgiveness for the labor dispute. Most polls showed the majority of fans blamed owners for prolonging it. Owners won’t be asking for forgiveness because they blame the players.
Sure, it would be nice for MLB owners and players to give back to fans as an act of contrition over the way baseball treated them this winter to show they won’t take them for granted again.
But as Al Michaels once said: Do you believe in miracles?
