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October, post-season baseball. You can just imagine it. Every pitch, every at-bat, means something. Capacity crowds stand and cheer. Tension is built into every single action and decision. Now it’s late in a game. Maybe tied, maybe a team down one with the tying and winning runs on base. Maybe a pitcher takes a bit more time than usual, or perhaps a hitter strays outside the batter’s box to gather his thoughts.

If so, in 2023 that could mean a ball or strike is tacked on to the count, depending on the offender. Or if there’s too many throws to first, the runner automatically advances.

Imagine the uproar, the controversy, should such a move alter the course of a game or series.

Well, maybe you don’t need to imagine it. In the early days of spring training, we’ve already seen a few instances of umpires penalizing hitters for stepping outside the box more than once or pitchers who take more than 15 seconds in between pitches.

This is jarring to some lifelong fans who cling to baseball’s traditions, one of which is the notion that there isn’t a clock, that you get four balls, three strikes and 27 outs in a nineinning game, however long it takes.

Yeah, about that length. Once games were routinely over in under two hours. In 2022, it took an average of more than three hours to traverse nine innings.

It wasn’t because the commercial breaks got longer. It was because hitters and pitchers took……their……time trying to make sure everything was perfect, and wasted the time of those watching, both in the ballpark and at home.

Knowing this, Major League Baseball began, a few years ago, experimenting with pitch clocks

To the Editor: Respond to the letter. Answer our appeal. Give generously.

Volunteers are stuffing envelopes with a letter seeking donations for Liverpool Dollars for Scholars from district residents and local businesses. Letters will be mailed later in March.

Liverpool Dollars for Scholars is the volunteer community organization that raises money for scholarships for Liverpool High School graduating seniors. Nearly 160 scholarships worth more than $118,000 were awarded to members of the Class of 2022 currently enrolled in two and four year colleges, trade schools, technical institutes, hospital nursing and other health related programs, adult BOCES courses, and apprenticeships. The Mail-a-thon is our largest annual fundraiser. As the cost of higher education continues to rise, the Mail-a-thon is more critical than ever to generate funds for scholarships. Please help us reach our goal of a scholarship for every eligible college bound senior who applies.

Even if you are not contacted, consider making an online donation to this worthwhile cause at liverpooldfs.org or mailing a check to Liverpool Dollars for Scholars, PO Box 32, Liverpool, NY 13088-0032. Any donation, regardless of size, will be appreciated by the Dollars for Scholars Board of Directors as well as the scholarship recipients and their families.

There are other ways you can help, too. You can establish your own scholarship in honor of a special person or event. Perhaps, someone close to you passed away and you would like to sponsor a scholarship in that person’s memory. Smaller donations will be pooled with funds from other sources to award scholarships and sponsor fundraising events. Maybe you would like to become a member of the Board of Directors and help with projects to raise money for scholarships. Contact John Cerrone, Liverpool Dollars for Scholars president, by email at jcerron1@twcny. rr.co m or cell at 315-263-9249 if you have questions.

Without tremendous school and community support, this worthwhile program to honor Liverpool High School graduates would not be possible. Thank you for your help!

liverPool DollArs For sCHolArs and other time-saving methods in the minor leagues, to great success and reviews.

Everyone associated with the sport knows that its biggest problem is the aging of its fan base. Simply put, anyone under 50 is accustomed to having things done in a hurry, and baseball, safe to say, wasn’t changing to adapt to that reality.

In fact, a good segment of the fan base took pride in all the delays and dawdles, noting how some of the game’s most dramatic moments (think Kirk Gibson, 1988) were enhanced by the length of the confrontation.

Needless to say, they haven’t taken the pick-up-the-pace ideas well, deeming it yet another lame attempt to cater to the short-attention-span crowd who might never get converted to baseball.

Yet that also reflects something else. Because so many of the game’s traditions go back to the 19 th or early 20 th century, any alteration, small or large, is met with far greater resistance than in other sports.

Whether it was the shift from single divisions to two (and later three), an expansion of the playoffs one (and later two) rounds or concepts like the designated hitter, each of these initiatives garnered the same reaction from the same circles, but once they were in place, a general acceptance took hold.

Really, though, everyone who loves baseball should welcome a faster-paced game. As with music, anything with rhythm and pace is just more enjoyable than endless (long) stops and (short) starts.

What’s more, the pitch and hitter clocks, along with a ban in shifts, ought to swing the balance toward hitters, something long needed. Having the league’s leading hitters land closer to .300 than .350, and having sluggers go deep 40 times and strike out 200, makes for a game with far fewer variables.

Also, it works both day and night. Afternoon games are done long before dinner. Evening games, especially if they have a first pitch at 6:30 and not 7:30, could end around 9:00, a sane bedtime for kids.

Ultimately, it’s about seeing a sport rich and deep in history remain relevant and strong for those born in the 21 st century who have found basketball, soccer and other sports all doing well because they don’t take too long to complete.

And the hope here is that all of those clock violations dotted throughout March in exhibitions in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues are mostly out of their system by the time the games count. Once used to a faster pace, it’s doubtful anyone will go back to the long slog.

Phil Blackwell is sports editor at Eagle News. He can be reached at pblackwell@ eaglenewsonline.com.