Bat, Beer & Camera

By the million, televiewers crowded around their sets to watch the opening ?ames of the 1954 baseball season. But before the first official threw out the first ball, they had to listen to hard-selling plugs for Chesterfields and National Bohemian, Valley Forge and Hamm's beer. Beer and cigarettes are today as much a part of the league and the national game as bat and ball. Few announcers call a home run a home run: it is a "Ballantine blast" or a "White Owl wallop." Sponsors have not only moved in on the game itself, they have also lined up pre-game and post-game programs--mostly interviews with players. In Chicago, there are at least three such radio & TV shows before the game gets started. Last week Outfielder Ralph Kiner, speaking for the Chicago Cubs, announced that he and his teammates would demand a minimum of $100 for any appearance on sponsored sports shows. Said Kiner: "It seems every time you turn around someone is asking you to go on his show. We're not trying to make this a lucrative sideline. But a player on a hot day likes to take a shower or change uniforms or just rest."

Like the players, the major-league owners are taking some second looks at TV. Their continuing fear is that fans will sit at home watching games on TV rather than loyally buy tickets at the ballparks. Milwaukee has flatly refused to allow any Braves games on TV. Philadelphia is limiting TV to day games, while Detroit bans the TV cameras not only at night but on Sundays and holidays, and St. Louis will televise home games only when the ballpark is sold out. Baltimore, a majorleague newcomer, will broadcast 26 home games and 30 on the road. And Cleveland is making an experiment this season that other cities are watching: no home games will be telecast, but all road games will be seen on Cleveland TV screens. The hope is that this will whet the fans' appetite for the home games. If Cleveland's paid attendance improves radically, many other teams may switch to the same plan.

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