2025 MLB Thread

[4hzglory]

11 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

But this thinking is probably all obsolete. What they care about now are how many 7 figure corp boxes they can sell and the TV rev.  I doubt  the prole fans in the folding seats move any needles for team economics anymore.

And the Rays actually have a fairly strong TV market IIRC.  Just low attendance which like you said isn’t as important in this era.  But the low attendance is what everyone actually sees.

[gehringer_2]

48 minutes ago, Toddwert said:

Hot take... I liked George Kell more then Ernie  when i think of Tigers baseball   i hear George Kell and Al Kaline 

George and Ernie worked broadcasts together in the early 60's. As a kid I had a hard time keeping track of which of the two southern drawls was which. 

This thread led me to a story written by Lynn Henning a few years ago - almost all of which I already knew - except the part that Mel Ott had been Van Patrick's partner in Det before Kell. Had no idea Mel Ott had ever worked in Detroit.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/08/28/they-werent-close-but-kell-harwell-era-broadcast-booth-bonanza-tigers-nation/5616546002/

[Toddwert]

13 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

George and Ernie worked broadcasts together in the early 60's. As a kid I had a hard time keeping track of which of the two southern drawls was which. 

This thread led me to a story written by Lynn Henning a few years ago - almost all of which I already knew - except the part that Mel Ott had been Van Patrick's partner in Det before Kell. Had no idea Mel Ott had ever worked in Detroit.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/08/28/they-werent-close-but-kell-harwell-era-broadcast-booth-bonanza-tigers-nation/5616546002/

thats cool... I just feel kell and Bruce Martyn are two under appreciated play by play guys

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

George and Ernie worked broadcasts together in the early 60's. As a kid I had a hard time keeping track of which of the two southern drawls was which. 

I had the opposite problem when I was a kid with Looney Tunes/Merrie melodies. All the voices sounded so different to my uneducated ears that I couldn't fathom how they could all come from one guy.

[1776]

3 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/08/28/they-werent-close-but-kell-harwell-era-broadcast-booth-bonanza-tigers-nation/5616546002/

Thank you for attaching this piece. Very good read!

[Tiger337]

6 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

George and Ernie worked broadcasts together in the early 60's. As a kid I had a hard time keeping track of which of the two southern drawls was which. 

This thread led me to a story written by Lynn Henning a few years ago - almost all of which I already knew - except the part that Mel Ott had been Van Patrick's partner in Det before Kell. Had no idea Mel Ott had ever worked in Detroit.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/08/28/they-werent-close-but-kell-harwell-era-broadcast-booth-bonanza-tigers-nation/5616546002/

I could not tell the difference between Rizzs and Rathbun.  

I didn't know that about Ott.  Ott and the Tigers is a strange marraige.  

[gehringer_2]

6 hours ago, Toddwert said:

thats cool... I just feel kell and Bruce Martyn are two under appreciated play by play guys

Ray Lane was another guy who could do pretty much anything at any kind of game pretty well. He was one of the group of ne'er do-wells my uncle ran with at MacKenzie HS in the late '40. I remember the two of them running into one another and having a laugh at a Red Wings game at Olympia. Seemed like a totally regular guy.

Speaking of Olympia, there's another funny thing - Olympia was built by a bunch of Detroit guys with no particular Greek connection that I know of, and the Wings were already at Joe Louis when Ilitch bought them from Norris, but Mike Ilitch went for the obvious Greek connection to Olympia and adopted it as his Corporate entertainment  signature, which now all seems like it was completely inevitable.

[Toddwert]

40 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Ray Lane was another guy who could do pretty much anything at any kind of game pretty well. He was one of the group of ne'er do-wells my uncle ran with at MacKenzie HS in the late '40. I remember the two of them running into one another and having a laugh at a Red Wings game at Olympia. Seemed like a totally regular guy.

Speaking of Olympia, there's another funny thing - Olympia was built by a bunch of Detroit guys with no particular Greek connection that I know of, and the Wings were already at Joe Louis when Ilitch bought them from Norris, but Mike Ilitch went for the obvious Greek connection to Olympia and adopted it as his Corporate entertainment  signature, which now all seems like it was completely inevitable.

I just remember Ray being a great studio guy

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I could not tell the difference between Rizzs and Rathbun.  

I didn't know that about Ott.  Ott and the Tigers is a strange marraige.  

Mel Ott was an active Tigers broadcaster when he was killed in a tragic car crash after the 1958 season.

Edited March 16 by chasfh

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

Ray Lane was another guy who could do pretty much anything at any kind of game pretty well. He was one of the group of ne'er do-wells my uncle ran with at MacKenzie HS in the late '40. I remember the two of them running into one another and having a laugh at a Red Wings game at Olympia. Seemed like a totally regular guy.

Speaking of Olympia, there's another funny thing - Olympia was built by a bunch of Detroit guys with no particular Greek connection that I know of, and the Wings were already at Joe Louis when Ilitch bought them from Norris, but Mike Ilitch went for the obvious Greek connection to Olympia and adopted it as his Corporate entertainment  signature, which now all seems like it was completely inevitable.

One of the unfortunate memories I have of Ray Lane—not his fault, of course—was watching on TV when he announced to the crowd at a Pistons game that the new arena they were moving to in Auburn Hills from Pontiac was going to be named the Palace. The way he built up it all up during his introduction, and then his revealing the name being The Palace, brought a cascade of boos down from the stands. I didn’t like the name at first, either. It sounded cheesy to me. But I did feel bad in the moment for Ray that he was the guy getting booed for it.

[1776]

38 minutes ago, Toddwert said:

I just remember Ray being a great studio guy

I looked it up earlier today, Ray Lane turned 95 last month. 

[1776]

As of August 2022, the Major League Baseball Players Association welcomed affiliated Minor League Baseball Players into our player fraternity. This historic step means that the MLBPA is now the sole collective bargaining representative for the 5,500 Minor League players at AAA, AA, High-A, Low-A, and Complex League levels. 
 

So, I pose this question again to anyone here that may know the answer…Does, or would, a 2027 lockout include minor league players? I’m fully expecting a lockout. I would hate to learn MiLB would shut down as well.

[oblong]

On 3/16/2025 at 5:13 PM, gehringer_2 said:

Ray Lane was another guy who could do pretty much anything at any kind of game pretty well. He was one of the group of ne'er do-wells my uncle ran with at MacKenzie HS in the late '40. I remember the two of them running into one another and having a laugh at a Red Wings game at Olympia. Seemed like a totally regular guy.

Speaking of Olympia, there's another funny thing - Olympia was built by a bunch of Detroit guys with no particular Greek connection that I know of, and the Wings were already at Joe Louis when Ilitch bought them from Norris, but Mike Ilitch went for the obvious Greek connection to Olympia and adopted it as his Corporate entertainment  signature, which now all seems like it was completely inevitable.

I always viewed the Olympia thing as related to Little Ceasar's for some reason.

But Olympia arena makes sense.  

[Tenacious D]

I remember when Ray Lane was playing the Johnny Kane role with the Wings.

”Back upstairs”

[KL2]

On 3/16/2025 at 9:29 AM, 4hzglory said:

And the Rays actually have a fairly strong TV market IIRC.  Just low attendance which like you said isn’t as important in this era.  But the low attendance is what everyone actually sees.

Wait attendance isn't important?!

It hugely important, ticket sales and concession are the main revenue drive. For example, the Braves made $100 million from tehir RSN last year. Their total revenue was $663 milliion

[gehringer_2]

6 hours ago, KL2 said:

Wait attendance isn't important?!

It hugely important, ticket sales and concession are the main revenue drive. For example, the Braves made $100 million from tehir RSN last year. Their total revenue was $663 milliion

If attendance volume was that important, teams would still be building 50k+ ball parks instead of 30-35k ball parks. You can extract more revenue getting fewer fans to pay more than by having more fans some to the park in total.

[RandyMarsh]

I was always under the understanding that for majority of the teams most of their revenue came from licensing and mlb revenue sharing.

[chasfh]

[chasfh]

Attendance revenue is not nothing, but a fair debate can be had as to whether it is “hugely important”. Also, revenue sharing is not part of this probably because it’s a zero-sum source for teams in general, meaning some teams make money off other teams who pay.

[oblong]

I'm still getting emails from the Tigers about their new Home Plate Club.  That tells me.... they ain't selling that well.  I'm a nobody.  A partial ticket holder not affiliated with a company or anything like that.

 

[gehringer_2]

39 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Attendance revenue is not nothing, but a fair debate can be had as to whether it is “hugely important”.

I would emphasize the point though, that attendance revenue is not the same as trying to serve the most fans in person. The teams have learned that you can generate more revenue by restricting the availability of tickets (small parks) and loading up on lux box sales. So to me the distinction matters that maximizing ticket revenue should not be understood to mean wanting to get the most participation of the public in person at the games.

Edited March 19 by gehringer_2

[lordstanley]

 

[chasfh]

Ball's in the stands. Guy had a right to it.

Here's what I'm not 100% certain of: if the Cubs were the home team for both games, why did they wear their roads while the Dodgers wore their homes? Is it as simple as Dodger merch sales in Japan? Occam's Razor applies here?

Edited March 19 by chasfh

[oblong]

15 hours ago, chasfh said:

Ball's in the stands. Guy had a right to it.

Here's what I'm not 100% certain of: if the Cubs were the home team for both games, why did they wear their roads while the Dodgers wore their homes? Is it as simple as Dodger merch sales in Japan? Occam's Razor applies here?

I want to know.

Seems like a double whammy. You lose 2 home games and they get priority on merchandising.

 

[romad1]

22 hours ago, oblong said:

I'm still getting emails from the Tigers about their new Home Plate Club.  That tells me.... they ain't selling that well.  I'm a nobody.  A partial ticket holder not affiliated with a company or anything like that.

 

The Detroit Metro is facing enormous economic uncertainty in the coming year.