Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, Mick Gillispie and Kevin Reichard discuss the big baseball issues, such as the sudden interest in KBO League action, in the May 5 Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat.
Today’s topics:
- Pent-up demand for baseball as shown in the enthusiasm for ESPN’s broadcast of the KBO League season opener in the middle of the night
- How the KBO League opener will look like MLB if play begins in empty ballparks come July: no fans, umpires and coaches wearing PPE
- How the KBO League opener was unique: cheerleading squad on hand, cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands, fans watching the game on Zoom displayed on the Jumbotron and live fans watching the action beyond the ballpark fence
- Speaking of fans: When did cranks become fans? When the term crank became a pejorative term
- Other terms for fans: seamheads, superfans, boosters and rooters
- Why every team needs a superfan or two like Wild Bill Hagy, John Adams or Ronny Woo Woo
- The status of baseball returning in 2020 and in what form
Every Tuesday the Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat features Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, voice of the Lansing Lugnuts and author of The Baseball Thesaurus; Mick Gillispie, voice of the Tennessee Smokies and spring voice of the Chicago Cubs; and Kevin Reichard, Ballpark Digest Publisher.