MLB's Extra Innings package tests true fan's stamina

Randy Holtz, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 3, 2007 at midnight

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I have a confession to make.

I have been a sports reporter for the Rocky Mountain News for 25 years now and, for the most part, I'm pretty ambivalent about sports.

It's my job, and I do my job. But if the Broncos win or lose, I really don't care. Same with the other local pro and college teams.

Yet there's one sport I truly love: Major League Baseball.

My love of all things baseball owes largely to the fact I grew up in St. Louis, which is - not just in my estimation, but in the estimation of learned baseball people all over the country - the finest baseball town in America.

St. Louis isn't a great overall sports town. But it's a terrific baseball town.

The Cardinals are every bit as big in St. Louis and the surrounding area as the Broncos are around here. People know, love and worship the game.

One summer in the early '70s, when I was 14 and the Cardinals were terrible, I went to 67 of the 81 games at Busch Stadium, riding the bus downtown and listening to the riveting stories of old men smoking cigars in the bleachers when old men could still smoke cigars in the bleachers.

Thanks to the MLB Extra Innings package on TV - which offers up to 15 out-of- market games every day - I can climb headfirst into those stories every day from early April to October. Without the cigar smoke.

So I got this harebrained idea: I would watch at least one inning of every game offered on one day and relay my random thoughts to the readers. I didn't think my bosses would go for it, but they were in a good mood that particular day and told me to go for it.

So I went for it. I watched at least an inning - in most cases, several innings - of every Major League Baseball game played Wednesday. That's 14 games. It would have been 15, but Texas at Detroit was rained out.

I saw great plays, horrible plays. I listened to great announcers, lame announcers. I watched, nonstop, for 10 hours and 16 minutes, from the first pitch of the Rockies- Cubs at 12:20 p.m. to the last pitch of the Dodgers-Diamondbacks at 10:36.

I learned this: Baseball, no matter whom you listen to, is alive and well. On these pages are some of the highlights of my day of watching baseball.

Tough job, but somebody had to do it.

Quote of the day

"Give up a solo homer and it's one run. Give up a three-run homer and it rocks you to your socks."

Jim Palmer, Orioles announcer and Hall of Fame pitcher

Grimiest batting helmets

It's a tie between Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox and Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels. These guys have more pine taron their helmets than their bats.

The downside of HD

During ESPN's high-definition telecast of the Mets-Cardinals game, you could see every sweat droplet on Chris Berman's massive forehead. Not a pretty sight.

Least resourceful team

The Angels lost to the Royals 1-0 despite hammering out 10 hits.

Calling the game

• Best announcing duo

Too many good crews to pick one, but Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper of the Giants and Daron Sutton and Mark Grace of the Diamondbacks are among the best. Both duos are informative, relaxed, funny and comfortable with each other.

• It's all about me

At least five times during every broadcast that includes a former player as analyst, the play-by-play guy will ask the ex-player about his career. The player then will drone on and on about his career highlights and about how things were done when he was in uniform. The worst is the Cardinals' Al Hrabosky. The former relief pitcher known as "The Mad Hungarian" talks more about himself than Terrell Owens talks about himself. The human ego can be a dangerous thing.

• Best announcer (solo)

Vin Scully of the Dodgers does mostly home games on L.A.'s FSN Prime Ticket, and listening to the Hall of Famer is always a treat. One, Scully works solo, giving him plenty of time to spin his folksy yarns without verbal interference. Two, he will say something every game that makes you shake your head and chuckle.

• In his words: For example, after the Dodgers stole four bases in four innings off San Diego pitcher Chris Young on Friday, the camera showed a tight shot of the beleaguered Young's pained face. Intoned Scully: "The Dodgers have lifted his wallet. Now they're working on his watch." Scully, 79 going on 35, is an absolute gem.

Commercial of the day

A tie between two AFLAC insurance commercials - the one set in the barbershop with Yogi Berra and the one in the office with the bewildered boss and the goat chewing on paper. AFLAC, with its omnipresent duck, has eclipsed Bud Light for the title of most creative commercials seen on sports telecasts. The GEICO caveman commercials are also very cool.

Most TV time for a guy who didn't play

17 shots of Barry Bonds in the dugout with the Giants down late and the left fielder not in the starting lineup. The FSN Bay Area cameras focused on Bonds while the announcers suggested he might pinch hit. Bonds never reached the plate in the Giants' 4-2 loss.

Best example of the globalization of baseball

In the Boston-Seattle game, Daisuke (Dice-K) Matsuzaka went up against likely Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki. Dice-K was relieved by another Japanese pitcher, Hideki Okajima.

Hair apparent

Among the most unusual hairdos among players: Jered Weaver of the Angels and Khalil Green of the Padres, sport long, straight, flowing locks. Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox has dreadlocks bouncing and cascading all over the place. And Todd Helton of the Rockies could hide a baseball in his goatee.

Raise a glass to the umps

At least a dozen times during the 10-plus hours of baseball watching, telecasts showed replays of close calls on the bases. The umpires got every one right, without the benefit of replay. The men in blue mess up occasionally, but not often. That's why they're working in the majors.

TV booth guest of the day

Rocker George Thorogood, right, wearing an oversized Chicago Cubs jersey, led the Wrigley Field crowd in a stirring rendition of Take Me Out To The Ball Game during the seventh-inning stretch. Thorogood brought out his trademark singing stutter when he crooned, "Take me out to the b-b-b-ball game."

• Booth guest runner-up: Jared Fogle, the once-obese Subway spokesman, visited the Cubs booth to promote healthy diets among young people and proudly held up his old, size-60 pants. He's now a size 34.

Kerry saved day for fans on cable

Thousands of baseball fans around the country can thank a politician, of all people, for their live television access to hundreds of Major League Baseball games.

When the season began April 2, it appeared cable subscribers would be unable to buy the MLB Extra Innings package, which last season provided cable and satellite customers with up to 15 out-of-market games a day.

But cable subscribers would be out of luck this summer, it seemed, because baseball had signed an exclusive seven-year contract with DirecTV to provide the package.

When Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., heard thousands of fans with cable would be unable to get the games, he called for a congressional hearing on the matter, claiming baseball's exclusive deal with DirecTV compromised antitrust laws.

The Capitol Hill pressure - along with cable companies' agreement to carry baseball's new 24-hour baseball channel when it kicks off in 2009 - forced the powers-that-be to continue offering the Extra Innings package to cable customers.

Between cable and satellite customers, an estimated 75 million Americans have access to the package.

The package is especially desirable if you live in one area and your favorite team is in another.

Nearly all your team's games are available on MLB Extra Innings. Local teams are blacked out to allow local broadcasters to show the games.

The only other restriction is MLB Extra Innings can't broadcast games in the Saturday afternoon or Sunday evening windows, times when Fox and ESPN have exclusive rights.

Paying for more

• Comcast charged Colorado customers $199 for MLB Extra Innings this year for the full season. For fans who want the package now - halfway into the season - the cable carrier has a deal for $159.

• DirecTV charges $199 for the Extra Innings package.

• For fans who prefer to watch or listen to games on their computers, every major league game is available on MLB.TV through Major League Baseball's Web site, MLB.com. A season package to watch computer video is $69.95.

• All games also are available on radio at MLB.com, a season's worth of Gameday Audio going for $14.95.

holtzr@RockyMountainNews.com

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