The Wall Street Journal filed a brief in our noble crusade to reduce the amount of dead time during ballgames:
When will our dithering commissioner catch the cunning Ryan Braun?
Joe Sargent
By WSJ calculations, a baseball fan will see 17 minutes and 58 seconds of action over the course of a three-hour game ... So where did all the time go? The missing 160 or so minutes? The answer: Huge chunks of inaction that absolutely dwarf everything else that goes on in the game.
Speaking of “huge chunks of inaction that absolutely dwarf everything else,” don’t forget to tune in to ESPN tonight for the Chevrolet Home Run Derby!
By far the most time-consuming period of inaction is the “time between pitches.” This took up an average of 1:14:49.
I know that might seem like a lot, but don’t worry, Bud Selig is ON IT:
[T]here are things we can do to quicken the pace of the game... When a pitcher gets the ball, he should throw it. There’s too much stepping in and out, pitchers fooling around. This might be as critical an issue as there is right now. [e.a.]
“Right now” was 1997, but keep in mind that the commissioner has had a lot on his plate since then... stealing taxpayer money for ballparks, contracting the Twins, and finally apprehending the bandit Ryan Braun.
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