FORT WORTH, Texas — The purists who loathe the MLB’s changes to baseball need to turn down George Will, or nearly all ex-players, and listen to a kid.
Specifically, a kid named Ted Michael.
Ted Michael is 11 years old and, according to his mother, “acts like he’s 17, and tells people he is 12.”
Ted Michael is a fifth grader who plays baseball, basketball, soccer, flag football, and video games.
He’s a great kid. (Full disclosure: He’s my nephew.)
On a recent visit I asked him a handful of questions about sports. Without really knowing what he was talking about, he’s an expert.
What he said should scare the food out of all of the stomachs of the people who run Major League Baseball.
“I really like playing baseball,” he said.
Great!
“I really don’t like watching it,” he said.
Not great.
“The innings are so long. It takes forever. If it goes to (extra innings) that’s just more pain,” he said. “Just watching it constantly is terrible.”
Again, this is a young person who likes playing baseball.
This is why MLB, in all of its limited wisdom, is shoving a handful of new rules in the game in the prayer that maybe kids like Ted Michael will come around and enjoy watching a game he likes to play.
Even the MLB Player’s Association, renowned for its willingness to be unwilling to agree to anything up to an including the time of day, signed off radical rules changes.
This spring training, baseball purists have howled at the new 15-second pitch clock, the banning of the infield shift, and the increase of the base sizes.
The whole idea is to create action, and get the game moving so it’s no longer a three-hour long affair.
MLB had no choice; it had to do something. Even the union knew it.
MLB and baseball are not dying, but the game is firmly entrenched as a niche sport. Baseball’s place in America is behind football, basketball, and somewhere nestled around soccer and hockey.
MLB had to try something to entice kids who like to play baseball into wanting to watch baseball.
“Baseball, while super fun to play it because there is action. While the pitcher is throwing it, it’s exciting. If the ball is coming at you, it’s exciting,” Ted Michael said. “The crack of the bat is exciting. It’s just more exciting to play it than to watch it.”
And what about watching a home run? Everyone loves watching a home run.
“Yeah, it’s exciting. For a second. But it’s over the second the next batter comes up,” he said.
The only thing that Ted Michael said that could make baseball more interesting to watch is if they do the “Everybody clap your hands” more frequently during games.
At this point in the conversation, Ted Michael’s father interjects and says, “The thing I think that would make baseball more exciting is that if the ball, or the bat, were on fire simultaneously while they played.”
He’s not kidding.
Ted Michael was unable to name any Major League Baseball players. He has not heard of Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, or Bryce Harper, either.
There are sports Ted Michael likes to watch, namely basketball. He knows some of those players, too.
“LeBron James. Michael Jordan. James Harden. Stephen Curry. Shaq. Kevin Durant. Luka Doncic,” he said. “I watch a lot of videos on the NBA.”
And football, “Patrick Mahomes. Every single boy at my school talks about football,” he said.
“I like watching basketball because it’s insane what some of those guys can do out there. Maybe a guy breaks an ankle. There is more to watch. Maybe a guy makes shots from around half court. There are game-winning shots. Three pointers are exciting.
“Football is exciting to watch, but it’s not something I’d like to do every single day. If a game is on Sunday, I’ll go down to the basement and watch it with my family. My attention will drift off and my brother and I will go to our iPads.”
Ted Michael has no agenda here. He’s not being mean. He has nothing against baseball, or MLB.
He’s a fifth grader who is just being honest.
The purist who wants baseball untouched must acknowledge the bigger picture, and that isn’t a collection of angry sports writers who want the game to move quicker so it will end.
The bigger picture are kids like Ted Michael.
He loves to play baseball, while watching it “is pain.”
His words.
And they should scare the food out of every single MLB executive.
