Tonight the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets face off in game one of the 2015 World Series. A lot has changed in the 29 years since either of these clubs won the Series: a tenfold increase in the average player's salary, the commercialization of fantasy baseball, and four new expansion teams. And 'America's pastime,' has become increasingly multi-cultural with players coming from around the world.
Another change we've seen is the huge expansion of data being used in the game. While pitch speed has been clocked since 1917, we're now witnessing everything from computer graphics superimposed over home plate to the exit velocity of a homerun ball from the hitter's bat displayed on-screen. Video replay has also made its way into baseball-- a development which some approve of but others argue makes a slow game even slower.
This hour, as we prepare ourselves for the 2015 Fall Classic, peanuts and Cracker-Jacks in hand, we sit down and talk with sports journalists and a former Major League Baseball player about the sport's evolution.
GUESTS:
- Ginny Apple- Former sportswriter and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the Hartford Courant
- Steve Metcalf- Journalist, critic, arts consultant and composer. He writes the weekly Metcalf on Music blog for WNPR.org, and is the curator of the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series at The Hartt School
- Doug Glanville- Former Major League outfielder who played for the Phillies, Cubs, and the Rangers. He currently contributes to ESPN and is the author of The Game From Where I Stand
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Colin McEnroe, Chion Wolf, Tucker Ives and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show.
