Ex-politician King elects to help draw fans to baseball
Ex-Rep. Pete King, a baseball fan since the Dodgers played in Brooklyn, is coming out swinging in an effort to keep America’s pastime relevant in the age of analytics.
King, 78, recently joined the advisory board for Save the Game, a grassroots effort to promote youth baseball while regrowing the audience for a sport once revered but now somewhat lost amid the dominance of the NFL, the NBA and MMA fighting.
Job one, he says, is simple: Speed up the game and lure a new generation of fans to the ballpark.
“I was talking with some of the guys and it bothered them how the game is now just the long ball,” King told the Daily News. “And it takes so long to play the game, with all the pitching changes. We fear as we go forward, the NBA and the NFL are going to pass baseball. There’s more action.”
The numbers back him up.
Last season, according to the website baseball-reference.com, the average nine-inning MLB game lasted three hours and 10 minutes. Over the last 10 seasons, the average game length is more than three hours — turning a visit to the ballpark into more endurance test than enjoyment.
Save the Game was launched in January by a pair of former local college baseball standouts, Kevin Gallagher (Pace University) and Pat Geoghegan (Mercy College).
The pair, joined by ex-major leaguer Jeff Frye, hope to collect 1 million signatures on a petition urging a livelier pace on the diamond.
“The moving parts, the hit-and-runs and the stolen bases and the squeeze plays,” Frye explained in a posting on their website. “Man, that was exciting.”
According to the group, the average age of a Major League Baseball viewer these days is 57 — 15 years older than other major sports, creating fears that the baseball backers will disappear like the complete game.
King is a baseball realist: He watched a wrecking ball take down Ebbets Field after the Dodgers headed west in 1958. And he knows the game has changed dramatically across the ensuing decades, with launch angles and analytics now dominating the decision-making.
But he’s not yelling for anyone to get off his lawn, just inviting them back to the nation’s ballparks. “I hate to sound like my grandfather,” said King, a Long Island Republican who left Congress in 2020. “I don’t know how many young kids talk about the Mets and the Yankees these days. We need to get the families involved.”
The organization points the finger directly at the home run-centric game of the 21st century, with lots of strikeouts and little action. Adding to the dearth of excitement is the ever-present shift, loading three infielders on one side of the diamond to take away what would typically be base hits.
“I think if the effort is made, we can get people thinking about baseball again,” said King. “It’s still the best sport, with the best weather. You get to the ballpark, watch batting practice, grab a hot dog and a Coke. It lends itself to talking during the game. It’s still a smart person’s game.”
King drops a few names during his state of the sport address, mentioning former Mets stars Art Shamsky and Ed Kranepool along with ex-Brooklyn Dodgers Clem Labine and Frank Branca.
He feels a connection with the old-time players that seems to be lacking among the new generation — unless their fantasy team includes Aaron Judge or Mike Trout.
“I’m in it for as long as I have to be,” he said of the effort. “I enjoy working with these guys. They’re good guys.”