By TERRY LYONS
ATLANTA – Welcome to Game 3 of the Unincorporated Community of Cumberland Series. After two games at the Harris County Series, Major League Baseball will stage its first pitch of the first truly local, everyday series with the Harris County Astros tied with the Cumberland Braves, 1-game apiece.
Gone are the days of the World Series and amazing feats like the Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff which brought the 1951 NY Giants to an early version of the Local Series, called a Subway Series which was lost to the New York Yankees in six games. Gone are “I can’t believe what I just saw” moments, as no one will see it.
“We don’t market our game on a nationwide basis,” said Manfred as the series opened in Harris County, Texas. “Ours is an everyday game, you’ve got to sell tickets every single day to the fans in that market. And there are all sorts of differences among the clubs among the regions as to how the games are marketed.”
That is certainly true and to be fair to MLB and Manfred, he was explaining how every MLB club must compete in each MLB town to attract fans, sell tickets and get TV eye-balls on their regular season games. It’s a difficult task multiplied by 81 home games in the heat of summer, the cold dampness of April in the northern USA cities and the sad reality of being 20 games back in September for the cellar-dwellers.
Manfred was defending MLBs attempt to be “apolitical,” Yet, and in all seriousness, with the Atlanta Braves in the 2021 World Series, baseball found itself in the State of Georgia where they left this summer’s All-Star Game behind to make a stand against the obvious voter suppression laws being enacted by state lawmakers in reaction to the upset election of two Democratic United States Senators (Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock) in a State run by a Republican governor. The All-Star Game went to Denver, Colorado and baseball found itself right, smack in the middle of politics in these formerly United States.
Apolitical?
Let me say this,” Manfred said. “It’s harder than it used to be. It sure is.”
That brings us to the Braves, the club name and the (adopted from the Florida State Seminole fans) Tomahawk “Chop.”
“We have 30 markets around the country. They’re not all the same,” said Manfred. “The Native American community in that region is fully supportive of the Braves program, including the chop. And for me, that’s kind of the end of the story.”
Note to PR practitioners: When someone hoping to end a story says it’s “kind of the end of the story,” the public relations people still have a story and potential crisis on their hands.
While scores of athletic programs (college mostly) dropped mascots and program nicknames like, “Warriors, Redmen, and Indians,” and the North Dakota Fighting Sioux dropped their college nickname and have yet to replace it, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish look on. Two professional teams found themselves as the major focal points of the politically incorrect position of promoting their franchises as the Cleveland Indians (MLB) and the Washington Redskins (NFL).
The Redskins made the PC move to become the Washington Football Team two seasons ago but are yet to come up with a suitable team name. The Cleveland Indians made the announcement that they would become the Cleveland Guardians but were recently sued in U.S. District Court by a Roller Derby team claiming ownership of the word “Guardians.”
No matter what the case may be, someone, somewhere and somehow will be offended – some rightfully and others trying to make a fuss or a buck but the Braves and Astros will play Game 3 of the Series of the pastime formerly known as national.