Mickey Lolich, star of the 1968 World Series for the Detroit Tigers, spent a half-inning in the TV booth Tuesday night and said some very interesting things when asked if he watched many Tiger games.
Lolich admitted he had never been a huge fan of watching games, even as a kid. He said he watches many of the Tiger games now, but often flips channels. The pace of the game is too slow for him. “You have to remember,” he said. “I used to pitch a nine-inning game in two hours and 15 minutes.”
He hit on one of the biggest problems with today’s games. There are too many pitching changes, too many delays for batters to adjust hitting gloves, too many trips to the mound, too many long at-bats…. just too much time wasted.
Did you ever notice how often get-away games (the last game of a series when the teams have to move on to the next city) are played in less than three hours.
The players can pick up the pace when they want to.