One of my "tradition rewatches" is watching 61* before Major League Baseball's Opening Day. As per usual, a particular scene caught my eye and I needed to write about it.
At the 40-minute mark of the Billy Crystal-directed 2001 film, there's a scene in which then MLB Commissioner Ford C. Frick (Donald Moffat) calls a meeting with a number of journalists from New York to brainstorm what to do in the event that Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane) or Roger Maris (Barry Pepper) breaks Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a single season. The issue was that 1961 marked the first time that the league played 162 games, which was eight more games than the 154 that Ruth played when he set the record in 1927.
As the gang of scribes starts to agree that The Babe's record "must be protected", in comes Milt Kahn (Richard Masur), and becomes the proverbial Juror Number 8. Kahn successfully offered every sort of reply in the name of progress after his colleagues expressed their displeasure at the threat against tradition. All to no avail.
I can personally tell you that this is not unlike the modern day. I was a daily sports journalist for many years in Puerto Rico during the past decade. I felt I identified with Kahn's character. The sports media climate on the island is dominated by older individuals or by younger people with traditionalist approaches. And yes, predominantly male.
I found myself as Kahn (or, for that matter, Juror number 8) in many issues, because everyone generally pushes back at change. There are changes I advocated for in sports, coverage, etc., a good 7 years ago, and only NOW we might be starting to see them.
None truer than in the past few years as the new MLB rules were set to be implemented (pitch clock, runner on 2nd for extra innings, bigger bases, shift restrictions, etc.). The constant debates about whether they're "good for the game" and "baseball wasn't played like that in 1920!". My argument has always been: "We gotta get with the times".
That scene felt like that to me. I'm sour on tradition and nostalgia, especially if they're over-glorified at the expense of progress.
Comments