Baseball on TV is Moving Up

Okay, so as I am posting this on June 17, 2021, I know all Cloud Nine Higher fans and followers have taken the day off to watch the Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles on MLB Network at midday. A more likely scenario is that you rushed home to catch the Cardinals and Braves on Bally Sports South in the early evening - Eastern Time start at Truist Park in Atlanta. 

Perhaps you are a Dodgers fan or becoming a fan of Fernando Tatis Jr. and the Padres. You are stoked when either team has a late game on ESPN or MLB Network. Or you are logged on to MLB.com as I type this to watch the Tigers and the Angels.

MLB.com rocks. The articles are lively and easy to read. They can be accessed with a few clicks or taps to give you the details of the latest game involving your your favorite team. You can follow the progress of every game with detailed stats and bright graphics. 

My father Alvin Rose, an educator of over 40 years in Ashland City, Tennessee, taught me to love the St. Louis Cardinals. He grew up in Newbern, Tennessee listening to KMOX 1120 AM at night, when 50,000 watt signals can be heard in many surrounding states. West Tennessee is Cardinals country. I still occasionally tune in to KMOX here in Nashville to listen to the Cardinals or sometimes tune to WLW 700 AM - Cincinnati Reds.

The most special memories from my childhood were annual trips to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals, including on Opening Day 1983 when the club celebrated the 1982 World Series title. My mother is from Cincinnati/Norwood, Ohio and once sang the national anthem alongside other singers at Crosley Field. So during our summer visits to Cincinnati, we often went to games at Riverfront Stadium.

But the television options were limited. NBC carried the "Game of the Week" on Saturday. Playoff and World Series games were on national television. But nightly baseball on television was unheard of.

The arrival of cable television in my town in the 1980s brought WGN (Chicago Cubs), TBS (Atlanta Braves), and WOR (New York Mets). One of the local stations began carrying some Cincinnati Reds games. There are many Cubs fans in the Nashville area who grew up loving to watch Harry Caray broadcast games with many enjoyable antics on WGN.

I clearly remember in high school when ESPN announced that it would have a camera in every big league baseball park. My buddies and I were delighted to realize that the network would now have the ability to instantly join a possible no hitter in progress or some other game of significance on short notice.

FOX, ESPN, and Bally Sports regional channels now have awesome coverage with players wearing microphones, short interviews with managers during the games, pans of family members such as Freddie Freeman's wife reacting to his home run on Mother's Day, etc. 

Most every game is now on TV somewhere. If you like the Braves, you're in luck. Bally Sports South carries most of their games. ESPN and MLB Network bring a steady stream of baseball from all corners of the league.

It is refreshing to me since some have written off baseball in the modern day. I happen to think that with the right marketing and coverage, the national pastime will continue to come back stronger than ever as COVID-19 vaccinations increase.

In more recent years, my friends have stated that there are too many games and that baseball is no fun to watch on TV. Even if you don't like it on TV, this is a great time to head for First Horizon Park for a Nashville Sounds game. Our AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers didn't get to play in 2020, and there are many cool promotions to attract you this summer.

So don't miss out on baseball this year. In person or socially distanced on TV.

James A. Rose 

Publisher