With the Yankees headed back home for the first time since the All*Star Break, I got to thinking about something that was discussed a lot during the Home Run Derby, where Aaron Judge put on a show. Aaron Judge puts on a show during batting practice everyday. Yet Yankees fans never get to see that show unless they go to a road game.
It's a long-standing baseball practice that the home team hits first in batting practice. This is standard across the Major Leagues, and I'd imagine it's the same in the Minors. What I'm not sure of is whether or not it's a rule that the home team has to go first. But I wouldn't imagine Because it doesn't really make that much sense.
In college baseball, it makes complete sense that the home team takes batting practice first. The visiting team is most likely traveling by bus from either their campus or a hotel. By taking batting practice second, they have extra travel time and no long break between BP and the game.
I would imagine that travel considerations are part of the reason Major League Baseball has kept that traditional order of home team first/road team second. (Although, how many road teams are traveling any further than from a hotel to the ballpark these days?) It's also very familiar to the players, who have their pregame routines that they've become comfortable with. Are those good enough reasons to stick with the status quo, though?
Major League Baseball is evidently looking into the batting practice order and considering a change. Which they should. Because Aaron Judge isn't the only player who puts on a show during BP. There are plenty of sluggers who do. Except they're doing it in empty stadiums. Even the fans who come early to check out BP don't get to see them. Because they're doing it before the gates open!
Fans aren't coming to the ballpark early to watch the visiting team take batting practice. They don't care who the guys on the other team are. They just want a baseball. But if you switched the order and had the home team bat second (just like in the game), my prediction is that the number of people who come early to watch BP would at least double. And they wouldn't just be trying to catch a home run ball, either. They'd be there to watch the Aaron Judge Show. Or the Giancarlo Stanton Show. Or the (insert hometown slugger here) show.
The Yankees understand the ridiculous desire their fans have to watch Aaron Judge take batting practice. That was one of the reasons they had the "BP Block Party" earlier this season, where they opened the gates an hour earlier so that fans could, among other activities, watch the Yankees take BP. Of course, it started to rain, so the BP part of the BP Block Party ended early, but the idea is one that more teams should embrace.
When I told my dad about the BP Block Party and everything they were doing, he told me about how much fun he used to have when he was a kid and would do the same thing. Except they did it all the time back then. The game started at 2:00 and they opened the gates at 11:00, meaning the hometown fans would get to watch Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris and Yogi Berra take batting practice every day. Nowadays, the only batting practice you get to see is the other team.
A simple solution would be to just to do what they did back then and open the gates an hour earlier. However, it's a lot to ask of the fans to spend three hours at the ballpark before the game even starts (even if it does mean you'll have significantly more beer sales). There's no reason to open the gates early, though. Not when there's an even better solution out there.
Baseball is for the fans. And the fans don't want to just hear the stories about the majestic bombs Aaron Judge hits in batting practice. They want to see them for themselves. Right now, they can't do that. But if Baseball simply switched the batting practice times and had the home team hit second, after the gates open, they'll be able to. And it'll be a win-win for everybody.
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