david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) (06/02/85)
I was waiting for someone else to post the inflammatory news, but it
appears that many of you have missed the latest announcement out of
the Commisioner's Office.
It appears ABC possesses a clause in its contract for the World Series
allowing it to require all WS games to be played at night, and has
exercised that clause. Now this has led to much speculation as to
what the Cubs would do if they were to make the WS (speculative
indeed, since their making it to the LCS is a dubious proposition).
First, a moralistic comment. While I fully approve of demanding that
all LCS and WS weekDAY games be played at night, since I believe that
such games are the property of ALL baseball fans (not just the ones
who happen to make it) and that it is unreasonable to expect fans to
stay home from work to be able to watch, I am not so approving of
having weekEND games so mandated. REAL fans will give up their Sunday
afternoon football game to watch a WS; but, then again, ABC is
concerned with casual observers of baseball taking in "Lite" beer
commercials as well.
Second, the struggle for Wrigley lights continues! The Cubs are back
in court seeking to have legilation against night games at Wrigley
overturned. And if they lose...they are already considering other
sites. While the White Sox have already offered Comiskey Park free of
rental, Dallas Green has already expressed his preference for an NL
site (to increase pressure on the City by implying a move of games out
of Chicago and beyond Milwaukee?!?), for the logical reason that he
feels the Cubs chances would be damaged if they play in a "home" park
with which any AL opponent would be more familiar than the Cubs. The
question then arises: which NL stadium?
So third, I'll speculate on this idly (I'd bet that if it really came
down to push and shove, TEMPORARY lights would go up at Wrigley). The
closest ballparks are Busch and Riverfront. The former has great
amounts of astroturf outfield expanse, and would be dangerous for a
Cub outfield with Matthews in left (he's supposed to be back soon, isn't
he?) and Moreland in right. Riverfront, while also astroturf, is not
as large, though the Cubs play only six times a year there. Ideally,
the Cubs would like a grass field that's not overly deep in left and
right. Murphey is too roomy, and Shea would be cutting it close
(large outfield, but mostly in the alleys where Dernier could cover
for most of his fellow outfielders' gazelle-like movements). That
leaves Dodger and especially Candlestick, but that's a wee far for
Chicago fans. So Riverfront it is...and you heard it here first!
David Rubin
{allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!davidogre@mhuxl.UUCP (LO COCO) (06/03/85)
> It appears ABC possesses a clause in its contract for the World Series > allowing it to require all WS games to be played at night, and has > exercised that clause. Now this has led to much speculation as to > what the Cubs would do if they were to make the WS (speculative > indeed, since their making it to the LCS is a dubious proposition). > While the White Sox have already offered Comiskey Park free of > rental, Dallas Green has already expressed his preference for an NL > site (to increase pressure on the City by implying a move of games out > of Chicago and beyond Milwaukee?!?), for the logical reason that he > feels the Cubs chances would be damaged if they play in a "home" park > with which any AL opponent would be more familiar than the Cubs. The > question then arises: which NL stadium? > > So third, I'll speculate on this idly (I'd bet that if it really came > down to push and shove, TEMPORARY lights would go up at Wrigley). The > closest ballparks are Busch and Riverfront. > David Rubin > {allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david The temporary lights at Wrigley seems to be the most fair to the fans of Chicago. They deserve to have the game played there. It's their team and playing anywhere else would be totally unfair. I hope they can resolve the issue by at least the temporary light measure; even if they decided that they should come down after this hypothetical World Series. -- John B. Lo Coco (...mhuxl!ogre) (...szuxn!ogre) 1-201-467-7436
roth@ut-sally.UUCP (Mark Roth) (06/04/85)
You generalize a little too much. There are people who work evenings and weekends and might kill for a game at about 10:00 a.m. I'm afraid we must go with the vast majority and support evening and weekend games but at least we should make a plug for the others.