Covering All Bases
Crisp September nights at the ballpark aren’t supposed to be quiet. These are the nights when franchise-defining moments happen, when champagne bottles are open, or when heartbreak occurs in Game 162.
Growing up watching the 2010’s Mets changes those expectations.
As walk up songs and warm-up music echoed off the empty plastic seats at Citi Field on a cold September night back in 2021, the Amazin’s were long-since eliminated. March being synonymous with hope and September with disappointment felt inevitable yet again. So why had I — along with roughly half a stadium’s-worth of other fans — been compelled to make the trek to see a meaningless game?
Because going to the ballpark is about more than the game itself. It’s about the atmosphere and being around those who have the same unbroken passion as you. It’s about the little things you would miss on television: seeing your favorite player pull a defensive alignment card from his pocket and move to the perfect position before making a great play, watching bench players mingle in the dugout, seeing the grounds crew make the infield dirt just right after the third inning. It’s a reminder that the box score you read in the paper and the K-zone you see on TV are fake, but the players on the field are as real as ever.
My love of the game has brought with it a love of the game within the game. Not just the battle of each at bat as the batter and pitcher try to out-guess each other or the increasingly complex signs the third-base coach will give to the speedster on second trying to steal. But the work of all of the unsung folks who make the game itself tick, who work day in and day out to ensure that ten minutes past the hour the first pitch will be thrown no matter what.
For the overeager kid to be able to enter the park when the gates open and watch as big-leaguers launch balls toward him in the outfield, a hidden army of ballpark employees makes sure that the stands are clean and the gates are ready on time. The casual fan who wants to tune in and watch a game in real-time across the country implicitly expects a crew of dozens to ensure it happens without a hiccup. The stats nerd who wants instant information about exit velocity or spin rate has researchers and engineers to thank for this new trove of information.
When everything goes well, it’s easy to take for granted how seamless it all is. When it doesn’t, well that’s another story.
Why aren’t the gates open yet? It’s already 11:20! The damn broadcast went out again, they must not know what they’re doing over there. Statcast data isn’t up yet?
As my eyes would drift toward the camera wells during a 13-2 blowout or to the chatter behind home plate before a game of another 70-something win season, my appreciation for these less highlighted moments took shape.
Covering All Bases aims to bring these aspects of America’s greatest pastime to light while not losing sight of the towering home runs and intense pitchers’s duels that make it all worth watching in the first place. My hope is to hone in on what makes baseball work, focusing on the people, technology, and processes behind the sport’s best moments.
Let’s take a deeper dive this season into seeing how it all actually works.