Alan Greenwood

We can hope, if not trust, that while Major League Baseball’s owners and players understand that they can announce their intentions to have a season, those intentions are far from guaranteed.

The pandemic is more than capable of staring them down.

But hope is much more than they had a few days ago. They managed to work out their differences, none of which should have been so powerful as to fester for weeks and months. There are positive test results scattered among team employees, including players. Should COVID-19 cases continue increasing through its 30 teams, MLB should reevaluate its decision to begin a 60-game season in late July.

And if a surge in coronavirus cases takes on great strength in the country at large, they may be ordered to put the bats and balls back in storage until next year – or whenever public safety is deemed sufficient for fun and games.

The chance of playing games in empty ballparks has not dissuaded them; after all, the TV money they were almost forced to forfeit will bring some relief to the financial hit.

There is continued talk of TV and radio broadcasts will employ fake crowd noise, which would be a farce. If we’re lucky someone will hit the “boo” button at the worst moment possible and leave fake audience reaction to sit-coms.

If they are playing this summer, the game’s lords are going to experiment in trying to slow the game’s slide into national ambivalence. Sad to say that it required such a crisis to make MLB look in the mirror and acknowledge its blemishes, but at least they are finally willing to try something.

Forcing the DH on the National League is going to anger purists, who’d like to see it permanently deleted from the American League. Since eliminating those jobs will never happen, there is only one alternative to achieve uniformity.

Purists will also bark at MLB’s attempt to speed up the game, ignoring the reality that most fans simply have no desire to invest four hours in one sitting. Extra innings will begin with a runner on second base, which may look clunky but is worth a shot.

At this point, with so many fans more disgusted than angry, anything is worth a shot.

TIME TRAVEL: June 28, 1975 – “The Hampshire Hills State Junior Tennis Singles Championships wound up yesterday with some of the area’s top junior players battling for age-group trophies.

“… Winners included Brett Burgess of Concord, 12-and-under boys; Laurie Higgs, Concord, girls 12-and-under; Sandy Straw, Peterborough, boys 14-and-under; Kristen DiMambro, Durham, girls 14-and-under; Peter Pelge, Manchester, boys 16-and-under; Kim Colson, Hollis, girls 16-and-under; Fred Bailey, Dover, boys 18-and-under; and Holly Manoogian, Amherst, girls 18-and-under.”

Contact Alan Greenwood at 594-1248 or agreenwood@nashuatelegraph.com.

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