Baseball vs. ESPN a Fall Classic

You keep thinking baseball will drop its suit against one of its most devoted broadcast outlets, ESPN, over moving three games to ESPN2 to make room for the NFL. However, recent events suggest peace isn’t at hand just yet.

During the recent All-Star weekend, ESPN officials complained that off-camera personnel were denied credentials to the home run derby. Baseball lifted the ban--but only after the Boston Herald inquired about it.

When Fox carried the game the next day, ESPN reshowed the women’s soccer World Cup final, which New York Times TV critic Richard Sandomir called odd.

After the All-Star game posted its second-lowest rating, Chief Operating Officer Paul Beeston, who is supposed to be baseball’s new peacemaker and marketing ace, said he was disappointed with ESPN.

The game and the network have a trial date in the fall and it looks as if they’ll need it.

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Trivia time: New York has hosted more World Series than any other city. Which is second?

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Hold the parade: The Philadelphia 76ers are celebrating the release of the NBC schedule, which has 11 of their games on it.

The 76ers appeared once on NBC last season, after a late schedule change.

“No team is on more than we are,” Dave Coskey, team vice president, told the Philadelphia Daily News. “That’s pretty cool. It tells us that the league and the network have decided we’re one of the most exciting teams.”

Of course, they could ask the Lakers, who had a record 54% of their games televised nationally by NBC and Turner last season, what excitement is worth in the end.

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Different: Mike Schmidt, old-timer, on comparing players of different eras:

“You see guys these days throwing the ball behind their backs, catching the ball between their legs, doing things we only did when we were messing around in batting practice. And they’re doing it in the games. . . .

“How can I compare Sammy Sosa and Roberto Clemente? . . . Sosa plays when the ball goes 10 yards farther and the fences are 10 feet shorter. I flew on charters and Eddie Mathews took a train between cities. All that matters.”

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Trivia answer: St. Louis.

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And finally: Pete Sampras, on being deemed boring: “I wonder what Joe DiMaggio would be today?”