My momma loves baseball. Has ever since she can remember. As a little girl growing up in a St. Louis orphanage during the depression, she dreamed of growing up to be a baseball player, ideally for the Cardinals. That was before some knucklehead handed her a bowl of cold porridge and told her those dreams were for boys. Doing laundry was for girls. Well, she overcame a lot in her life and is one of the most cheerful, optimistic people I know. And she has never lost her love of The Game.
When “Mama J” turned 90 last month, our whole family – children, grandchildren, her sister, nieces, and nephews – came together to honor her. That was a surprise. The part that wasn’t a surprise was her gift, a season pass to watch Major League Baseball games on TV. We buy that for her every year.
Her daily routine is the same from April to September. The only things that will change are scores and stats, and she’ll be able to cite them all for you at day’s end. Here’s how it works: in the late morning, she pulls a frosted mug from the freezer, pours herself a longneck beer, makes a sandwich, sets the lunch on her walker, and wheels her way over to her recliner. She wears an official team jersey, pulls an MBL throw blanket over her knees, and settles in to watch 2, 3, or even four games a day.
Just not her favorite teams, most of the time. Those are blacked out. The league seems to think that by denying you the privilege of watching your team on TV, you'll come to the game.
My mom lives 290 miles from the nearest Major League Baseball venue, Coors Field in Denver. But the package doesn’t include most Colorado Rockies games. She’s 548 miles from the Diamondback’s dugout and can’t see them either most of the time. She lives a 14-hour drive from Dodger Stadium, 10 hours away from where the Texas Rangers play, and also no go ‘Stros because Houston, nearly 900 miles away, is also blacked out.
I did some online research to learn more about the logic (profit motive) for this nonsense and concluded some of corporate America would be better off not having a website. See if you agree. Here’s an example of what I found:
“Home television territory blackout restrictions apply regardless of whether a Club (yea, they capitalized the C) is home or away and regardless of whether or not (they missed 7th grade grammar) a game is televised in a Club’s home television territory.” Why? Because so many thousands of you will be so frustrated over not being able to see the game, that you’ll ditch work, empty your checking account, and do whatever it takes to travel with the team for all away games???
Wait. There’s more. Here's the doozy:
“All San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics live games will be blacked out in the U.S. territory of Guam.”
Now that makes total sense! Not! There are thousands of U.S. troops stationed in Guam, and a new Marine base that opened earlier this year is “aimed at deterring China” according to a Wall St. Journal article. That’s pretty important work. Let’s pay our Marines back by making sure they can’t watch the Giants or the A’s.
One reason given for season pass blackouts is that it provides an opportunity for local sports networks to broadcast the games. I get it. We love Root Sports here in the Northwest. But admit it, MLB: local broadcasts are not available in every home to which you’ve sold a season package. Your blanket still denies thousands of people who are paying for your pass, the opportunity to see their favorite teams. And that stinks.
Postscript: Send us a Play for Mama J
Mama J deserves to see her baseball, dammit. Here is our ask: if you attend an MLB game this season, get a video of a play and post it to your social media sites, and tag the team’s sites with #PlayforMamaJ.
And tell MLB that Lynn is pissed.
I'm pissed off also! MLB Live had the Mariners game Thursday evening. But, I live 492 miles by car and 399 as the crow flies from T-Mobile Park, so I'm blacked out. 😡 I just checked. The only team I want to watch is the only team I'm blacked out.