Wittenmyer & Williams: Is the Reds-Braves game at Bristol Motor Speedway good for baseball? Is it good for the Reds?
Wittenmyer & Williams is a regular point/counterpoint column from Enquirer Reds reporter Gordon Wittenmyer and sports columnist Jason Williams. This week, they discuss the significance of MLB's latest in-season "gimmick" to play a game at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.
Williams: Didn’t you cover auto racing earlier in your career? Then you must be excited about the Reds game at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Wittenmyer: You must be delusional. I cover baseball now, and this so-called Speedway Classic is little more than a distraction for two teams that expected to be in a playoff race this year. One of them still is. And this game counts. It’s a bad time for a marketing sideshow.
Williams: I must be missing something here. It’s one game. It’s played on a regulation baseball field – not on a racetrack. It’s not a long trip. And the Reds have Sunday off. First ever big-league game in Tennessee. Unique venue. This is great for growing the game.
Wittenmyer: I’ll tell you what’s great for growing the game. Good baseball. Exciting pennant races. And giving those teams the best chance to succeed.
Williams: It’s good for the Reds. Great exposure. They’re expecting to set an MLB record for regular-season attendance, more than 85,000 fans. Tito and Elly on the Fox national broadcast. This is fun. Get on board, you grump.
Wittenmyer: You know what’s good for the Reds? Winning a damn playoff series for the first time in 30 years. This team is serious enough that they hired one of the best managers in baseball last October, and they did more at the trade deadline this week than they have in years. They don’t need to divert their season to accommodate the big top, even if it’s only for a day.
Williams: I didn’t hear you complain about the trip to Mexico or Iowa for the Field of Dreams game.
Wittenmyer: The difference between this and the trip to Mexico – or those trips teams take to Japan – is the larger importance of actually growing the game with exposure to new fan bases. This is just a gimmick connected to expansion efforts in an American region that has had professional baseball for a century. And I’ll admit to a soft spot I have for the uniqueness that the Field of Dreams game offered to fans everywhere.
Williams: News flash! The Field of Dreams game is a gimmick, too.
Wittenmyer: Are your ears painted on? I admitted that’s a gimmick. But to me that was more of an organic baseball opportunity for a special event. This is nothing but a marketing gimmick. Crass commercialism with no connection to history, tradition or even heart strings. I mean, who will ever forget the Griffeys coming out of the cornfield and playing catch? It was corny, sure. But irresistible.
Williams: The game is being played at the confluence of Reds and Braves countries. So I’d say thousands of folks in the stands will tell you this means something to them. It tugs at their heart strings. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of fans who’ve rooted for one of these teams their entire lives but have never been to see a game in Cincinnati or Atlanta – or don’t get there very often.
Wittenmyer: That’s on them. As you said, this area is at the confluence of Reds and Braves country. And as we saw the last two games at Great American Ball Park, Braves fans had no problem traveling to Cincinnati. This isn’t about baseball allegiance. It’s a gimmick. It’s unnecessary. Go baseball – and take this damn sideshow with you.
Williams: The Field of Dreams is in the heart of Cubs country, but I digress.
Wittenmyer: Hey, I didn’t see Harry and Skip Caray out there playing catch.
Williams: Anyway, you make this out to be like it’s an afront to the game, like this is some kind of Savannah Bananas event. They’re not requiring backflips on popups and choreographed dances between outs.
Wittenmyer: I admit, it’s more oranges to Bananas. But to your point, just make it an exhibition game. Don’t put a game that might be important in a playoff race at stake for a marketing scheme.
Williams: Tell that to the Cubs, who lost both games in Japan to the Dodgers in March. By your own words, those games count as much as the games in the last week of September.
Wittenmyer: Right. And maybe those should have been exhibitions, too. At least they provided ample time accommodations for that trip. And there was the higher value of taking the game abroad. Even that game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham last year held major historic significance. It was tribute to Negro Leagues history played at the ballpark Willie Mays first played professional baseball, right down the road from his childhood home.
Williams: Man, quit yelling at the clouds. So what would you do to make this speedway game more meaningful?
Wittenmyer: You mean, other than cancel it?
Williams: Not an option.
Wittenmyer: OK, you want to make this game mean something? You want a gimmick that also comes with historic value? Run a regular-season NASCAR race on the track while the regular-season baseball game is being played on the infield. There's some heart-thumping action worth watching and paying for.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: MLB game at Bristol Motor Speedway baseball's latest gimmick event
Category: Baseball
