Baseball can take a few pointers from tennis
When I was in my teens, I gave up baseball for tennis. I was not interested in moving up to the ‘big field’ after Little League. Part of me regrets that to this day. But my love for baseball never waned even as the focus as a participant turned to tennis. Professional tennis is a grind, much like the grind of an entire baseball season. Baseball and tennis share similarities like the motion of the tennis serve compared to a baseball pitch, the speed of the projectiles flying at you, and the awesome feeling of making perfect contact with that projectile. But tennis is a lonely sport, and baseball is a team sport although sometimes being on the pitcher’s mound is the loneliest place an athlete can be.
This week I went to the opening day matches at the U.S. Tennis Open. Nobody calls uses the word “Tennis” when referring to it, it’s just the U.S. Open, but for those that might compare it to the U.S. Open golf tournament, I will use that distinction only once. I’ve been going to Opening Day with one of my best friends for something like 47 out of 50 years. We saw the U.S. Open on grass at Forest Hills in 1974 followed by three years on Har-Tru there before the tournament moved in 1978 to its current location in Flushing Meadow.
If you’ve ever attended the US Open, you will know that the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center sits at one end of a boardwalk that connects to the Met’s Citi Field. Planes going into NYC’s LaGuardia Airport fly over regularly. In case you are wondering, one time I did the Open on the first day AND a Mets game that evening. It was a lot of sports. I never did it again.
Tennis has shown baseball the way of the future
Pro tennis is very different from the way that it was at the outset of the Open era which began in 1968. This past Monday a record 74,000+ fans attended the event. In attending the Open today, if you’ve not been on the grounds for a few years, one of the biggest changes in tennis is the use of an automated line calling system. No longer are there foul-mouthed arguments over presumably missed line calls by tennis fans working as professional lines-people. Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and Ilie Nastase-types are nowhere to be found. The game has risen higher as has the quality of play and fans do not lament for the arguments and histrionics of the past.
As Major League Baseball contemplates when and how to bring Automated Balls and Strikes into regular play, tennis should be a place to look with confidence that being right all the time is simply better.
The U.S Open also drives big revenue. Tickets are expensive, eating and drinking is expensive, and the money generated as a result reputedly tops that which is generated for the entire home season of the Yankees or Mets. Making baseball games more event-like — a la the U.S. Open is another way baseball has followed the lead of tennis. Part of that is because going to a baseball game like the U.S. Open is a luxury experience.
Baseball seasons are the longest
A baseball season is carried out in something close to 180 days — more than 10 times the length of the U.S. Open. This year the U.S. Open qualifying week, one week prior to the tournament itself, had 200,000 people c0me and watch tennis for free. The concessions were open and people who never even thought about tennis showed up to the event and enjoyed it very much. Baseball could take a few more notes.
All sport’s seasons are about player narratives. Watching those narratives play out over 162 games in more than 180+ days makes baseball a deeper commitment to follow. Watching highlights of baseball games does give a sense of what were the big plays that decided the game. At the U.S. Open, the player narratives are carried out over 14 days. Highlights become less important since watching some actual matches does not require a six-month commitment even if some five-hour matches might feel that way.
While MLB enters its final month and the race for the playoffs is in full bloom, the U.S. Open will crown a champion on the same day as the NFL season begins. There is a certain satisfaction in following and watching an entire event like the U.S. Open. It’s ok to be distracted over the coming holiday weekend. The best part of the baseball season is yet to come.
About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.
