Baseball: Yankees Good, TV Schedule Bad

Roger Kahn once wrote a reverential book about the Brooklyn Dodgers called “The Boys of Summer.” With all due respect to Mr. Kahn and to the Dodgers, I offer my heartiest congratulations to the Men of Autumn, the New York Yankees. Now more than ever, they are truly America’s team.

In the disheartening aftermath of the Sept. 11 tragedy, how uplifting has the game of baseball proven to be? And how right does it feel that New York is back in the World Series? Ruth to DiMaggio, Berra to Mantle, Reggie Jackson to Derek Jeter. New York’s storied line of October excellence remains virtually unbroken.

Whatever it is they put in the dirt at Yankee Stadium, I’m guessing a little of that mystical fertilizer should rightly be spread from sea to shining sea. Go Yankees! Do it for all of us.

Jim Mallon

San Luis Obispo

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I just looked at the World Series schedule. Every game has a 4:30 or 5 p.m. starting time. Baseball is such a better game played in the sunshine than at night. I can see playing the weekday games at night, but why can’t the weekend games start at 1? Does baseball get that much more TV money by showing a game at 5 on the weekend than it could at 1? If you’re home on the weekend, you’re going to watch the game, no matter when it starts.

This is probably true with most sports fans. Television seems to dictate more and more in sports these days, and it makes me care less and less.

Bruce Konschuh

Fullerton

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What a magnanimous country we are! And Fox Sports is at the top of the list of nonjudgmental employers. When one of Afghanistan’s top strategic defense planners decided to leave the country for a better life in the United States, he was immediately hired as a scheduler for Fox TV’s sports events. Hence the excellent plan of having two playoff baseball games on at the exact same time this past Sunday. Genius!

I so enjoyed flipping back and forth between satellite and over-the-air channels, trying not to miss a second of tense playoff action. And although I missed Bernie Williams’ home run to tie the score, I did get to see the replay. And of course I missed Durazo’s two-run blast for the Diamondbacks, but I did see the replay later on. And although I couldn’t immerse myself in either game for very long for fear of missing something in the other game, I did get to hear the commentators talk about some exciting plays that I had missed.

And the networks wonder why the ratings are down?

Jon Roe

Los Angeles

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Commissioner Bud Selig on late finishes of playoff games: “We really need to work on that. All the hitters stepping out, the pitchers pawing the mound.”

Wait a minute, you ignorant fool. Fox Sports has 21/2 minutes of commercials each half inning. Let me do the math for you--that is 421/2 minutes per game. Do you think that might be a factor?

Frankly, I’d rather watch ballplayers spit and scratch their crotches.

James E. Teiman

Culver City