Chris: It’s not often that I have the chance to fill out a survey and be included in the same demographic as Panamanian night monkeys and vampires, but when the opportunity arises to side with Nosferatu, I am squarely in favor of night baseball over day baseball.
Joe: I like day baseball when I can sit in the bar, throw back a few suds and kill the afternoon (remember, I’m retired). I like night baseball if I am going to the game, because it sparkles under the lights. In fall, the air is crisp, clean (sounds like a commercial) and the crack of the bat brings the excitement of the game to you in person.
Ralphie: I like baseball during the day better because it makes it easier to see the ball.
Chris: Day baseball also makes it easier to conduct a phosphene festival in one’s retinas while eyeballing the sun.
Brad: I prefer night games. It gets to be to be too hot sometimes at day games. And the night games seem more like your local hometown team playing on a Friday after dinner. Everyone seems more into it and having a great time. Even the players seem to enjoy playing more.
Chris: Major League Baseball has made a concerted effort in recent years to have earlier start times, particularly for playoff and World Series games, some of which have been moved up as much as five minutes. This decision either shows MLB’s desire to cater to its younger fans or is a sign that Bud Selig’s watch is five minutes fast.
Ralphie: It’s easier for the players to see the ball during the daytime. It would be easier for the games to be on TV, too, because there’s not that much on TV during the day.
Joe: The only positive to an all-day baseball schedule would be that people that work nights could go to more games along with all of us retirees.
Brad: The night games would be a big deal more.
Ralphie: If I’m at the game, I want it to be daytime, but I like night games on TV because I’m at school during the day.
Brad: When I am watching on TV, it doesn’t matter as much as when I am at the game. I love the atmosphere of a live game ALL the time over watching on TV, but sometimes it is just so hot out, and the players are dragging and the people watching the game are getting irritated because of the heat or rain. That takes away from the experience. It takes away from the fun of the game.
Joe: The negatives would include lost ticket revenues so that there would be no reason to strike for more money-because there wouldn’t be any. Fewer games would be on TV because the ad revenues would be down. Finally, we would all be stuck watching boring regular TV shows after dinner.
Chris: Day baseball has its advantages, seeing as how its competition is comprised of soap operas and Dr. Phil’s mustache. But unless it’s a cloudy or cool day, attending a day baseball game during the summer includes the anticipation of welding one’s shorts to the bleachers and generating enough sweat to create a substantive cooking broth.
Ralphie: It’s really hot during most of baseball season, and this is bad for the players and the fans. They’d probably lose money, too, because a lot of people have to work during the day.
Brad: Baseball games can be long games sometimes, so maybe night games during the week wouldn’t do as well. People have a lot going on during the week on school nights, which could interfere with watching the game.
Chris: Ernie Banks may have suggested playing two games in an effort to appease both the unemployed and those with fancy business cards.
Joe: What matters about day vs. night, TV vs. live, is that we still have baseball to enjoy, until its time for-football.