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Posnanski has a "What I'd Do with the All-Star Game" piece up today (behind a paywall). A couple of good bits:
In 1978, 47 million people watched the All-Star Game.
In 1988, 33 million people watched the All-Star Game.
In 1998, 25 million people watched the All-Star Game
In 2008, 16 million people watched the All-Star Game
In 2018, fewer than nine million people watched the All-Star Game.
He then goes on to look at why.
Issue 2: Choices
Television ratings for EVERYTHING is down because we have so many more television channels to watch. TV people tell me all the time — and they’re right — that it’s silly to compare TV ratings today to ratings of even 10 years ago, much less 40 years ago.
Sure, 47 million people watched the 1978 All-Star Game...what choice did we have? We had three channels then, and you know what our choices were?
— MLB All-Star Game
— The Death of Richie with Ben Gazarra, Eileen Brennan and Robby Benson.
— Reshowing of West Side Story.
Yeah, 47 million people are going to watch the All-Star Game if those are the other options. *
*Plus, leading into the All-Star Game, ABC had the Happy Days where, and I quote, “Potsie panics when he faces the initiation for being pinned to a sorority, but Fonzie saves the day with a surefire lifesaver.” I mean, with a lead-in like that...
The options now are to watch the All-Star Game or literally watch anything that has ever been made. So, yes, that’s a tougher battle for Baseball, even if they could bring back the Potsie lead-in.
I have corrected Joe's alarming misspelling of Potsie.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 14:05 (four years ago) link
Worst picks since 2002:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-worst-all-stars-since-2002/
In the Posnanski piece I quoted from above, he might argue--an argument made by many--that Hamilton, as the reigning MVP, was defensible: "I honestly think that one of the problems with the All-Star Game is that it is viewed more as a reward for players — who DESERVES and DOESN’T DESERVE to go — and less as a show."
― clemenza, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 22:04 (four years ago) link
I stopped watching a few years ago. It's probably better, comparatively, than the basketball All-Star game, where they score like 300-350 points--at least they continue to play something that resembles baseball--but I just don't have any interest anymore. Maybe something, or somebody, will come along that will change that, I don't know.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 10 July 2019 01:21 (four years ago) link
one year passes...