As my family and friends will immediately confirm, I’m not a big fan of change. I still have a flip phone that mostly sits in my car. I don’t text, even when not driving. I believe the bottoms of shirts, unless they’re T-shirts, are meant to be tucked in, and real Christmas trees are preferable, if only for the smell.
I also believe beef, even high-end ground beef, is best consumed medium rare, coffee isn’t coffee once you crown it with whipped cream, salted caramel syrup and whatever else that used to be reserved for ice cream sundaes, and that staring at one’s cell phone when you’re supposed to be sharing a meal with others is the height of rudeness.
Yes, I have become a grumpy 66-year-old.
Sorry.
But on the subject of all these time-saving rules changes for Major League Baseball this season, I’ve seen the light. I not only like them, I think I love them. Games are noticeably shorter _ an average of 26 minutes shorter, to be precise _ television shots of the young and old nodding off are less frequent and you can comfortably show up on time for work the next morning following a night game without needing a double espresso.
Chattanooga Lookouts president Rich Mozingo has been dealing with the pitch clock for a couple of seasons now, the minor leagues having been a test kitchen for the majors on such changes. He has seen his attendance increase at AT&T Field, especially this year with the Lookouts winning the first-half pennant, though he admits there are always variables with minor league attendance. Is your team winning? Are there hot major league prospects to see? How many nights are you having fireworks after the game?
“I’ve said this for years at civic club meetings,” said Mozingo with a chuckle of the fireworks component: “If you blow up stuff in Chattanooga, people will come.”
To that end, the Lookouts lit up the sky on Friday night as they usually do when home on that day of the week and intend to shoot them off tonight (Monday), since they’ll be on the road this year on the actual Fourth.
“Our crowds are up at least 35 percent on the nights we have fireworks,” Mozingo said. “Maybe as much as 40-to-45 percent.”
But he also believes the shortened games due to the pitch clocks and such are helping at the turnstiles.
“I think just people hearing and reading about the games being shorter may have more of them coming out,” he said. “I also think the (Atlanta) Braves having the year they’re having helps, too. When the Braves are winning big, there’s more excitement about baseball around here. That may not make you drive to Atlanta, but it makes you want to get out and see a game more.”
And no month may create more baseball excitement until the calendar turns to October and the playoffs than July. First, there’s the Fourth to celebrate. Then the All-Star game arrives. Then the trade deadline. There’s a reason beyond the oppressive heat that August is known as the “dog days of summer.” It comes after the fireworks of July.
And nothing celebrates the Fourth of July, our nation’s Independence Day, more than fireworks. In case you didn’t know, the first Fourth of July fireworks show was staged in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777, one year after the Declaration of Independence was declared. A similar fireworks celebration took place that same night in Boston Commons.
Pretty much ever since then, fireworks and the Fourth have been inexorably entwined.
But as war rages in the Ukraine, we appear more divided every day here at home, gun violence soars and our differences seem to overwhelm all we have in common, it’s worth returning to a radio message the legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully gave the nation a month before his August 2 death last summer.
It read: “Friends, this is Vin Scully reminding you there's a difference between July 4th and Independence Day.
"A long time ago, a brave group of people risked everything to formally declare America's independence. It was the moment that our belief in a fair democracy resulted in a declaration of independence. It was the moment that the greatest nation on earth was born, and it just happened to fall on July 4th, 1776.
"Today we take July 4th as a national holiday complete with flags and parades, fireworks and apple pie. But as much as we're thrilled by the fireworks and parades, please take a moment to remember who and what we're thankful to be celebrating.
"It's not just a date on a calendar. It's the bravery and vision of (Thomas) Jefferson, (Benjamin) Franklin, (John) Adams and more than 50 others who made America an independent nation on that day. And that's why the fireworks are brighter and the apple pie is sweeter - because it's Independence Day."
So as we celebrate the Fourth, and Independence Day, over this unusual four-day (at least for some folks) holiday weekend, let us commit to change our level of respect for those whose views and circumstances are different than our own in much the same way baseball has changed its rules for the better.
Just don’t ever change our nation’s 246-year tradition of shooting off fireworks on the Fourth of July.