Finding Common Ground With the Commissioner

GLENDALE, Ariz. — When a center reliever printed a candid e-book in 1970, the commissioner of baseball ordered him to his workplace to formally categorical dismay. When a center reliever was writing a e-book that was printed this 12 months, the commissioner granted an interview for it.

Joe Kelly isn’t Jim Bouton, whose “Ball Four” offered thousands and thousands of copies by perfecting (and all however inventing) the style of inside-the-clubhouse memoir. Kelly’s “A Damn Near Perfect Game,” with Rob Bradford, is each a protection of baseball, an evidence of its evolution and a suggestion handbook for how you can enhance it.

For the final half, Kelly turned to Rob Manfred, the present commissioner of Major League Baseball, who had lengthy drawn his ire. From his disciplinary workplace to his dealing with of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal to his function within the 2022 lockout, Manfred was Kelly’s perceived enemy.

Then Manfred visited the Chicago White Sox’ spring coaching camp final March to start to restore his relationship with gamers. That impressed Kelly, and the cellphone interview for the e-book satisfied him: The commissioner is probably not so dangerous.

“I was like, ‘This guy’s just acting to save face,’ so when I called to interview him, I still didn’t trust him,” Kelly mentioned this spring. “And then when I was able to talk to him and he got more open, that’s when I had a change of heart. I mean, we’re all people, right? I think the flow of the conversation got him to be more open, and I understood him as a person.”

As commissioner, Manfred should promote the game whereas additionally making an attempt to enhance it, a activity that always veers into criticism. His exasperation with the sport’s current tendencies — extra useless time between pitches, fewer stolen bases, exaggerated infield shifts — appeared to mirror a frontrunner who didn’t significantly like the game he was main.

After the lockout, a 99-day slog that worn out a lot of spring coaching final 12 months, Manfred acknowledged the necessity for higher communication with gamers. So when Kelly referred to as to ask for an interview, Manfred obliged.

“We had a back-and-forth in the meeting, and that was fine; you get a little better feel for each other,” Manfred mentioned. “So then he called and said, ‘Would you do this?’ And I’m pitching the idea that I’m happy to talk to you whenever, so it’s hard to say no. But he was great, he really was.”

Manfred informed Kelly that baseball’s “business model is broken,” largely due to blackout guidelines that forestall followers with out cable tv from watching their native groups. Teams profit from blackout guidelines by profitable cable rights offers, however Manfred fears the long-term harm of future clients — that’s, youngsters — by no means getting hooked on the sport.

“None of it will happen if they don’t see it at home, and because it is so limited, we are missing that generation,” Manfred informed Kelly. “We’re completely missing it.”

When Kelly identified that the N.F.L. and the N.B.A. do a greater job of reaching extra followers, Manfred didn’t dispute it.

“Their business is better,” he informed him, “and we have to fix ours.”

The encouraging factor, Manfred mentioned, is that baseball’s dwell product is the most effective in sports activities. The problem was to “make sure we’re putting forth the best form of baseball,” he mentioned, and the brand new guidelines ought to assist obtain that aim.

Kelly has a whole lot of concepts to transform the game: one inning per sport through which the supervisor can restart the lineup, a delegated participant to pinch-run thrice per sport and so forth. But, for now, Kelly is enthusiastically supportive of Manfred’s three essential improvements for 2023: the pitch clock to quicken the tempo of play; the ban on infield shifts to generate extra hits and promote athleticism; and greater bases to encourage stealing.

“The rule changes aren’t doing anything different than what I grew up watching on TV,” mentioned Kelly, who’s 34. “Think about it: The games were faster, guys stole more bases, pitchers didn’t take forever on the mound.”

To Kelly, the pursuits of league officers and gamers are naturally aligned: A extra interesting, accessible product would earn more cash for all. When Manfred made his rounds right here this spring coaching, he didn’t get skepticism from Kelly. He obtained a present.

“At the end of the meeting he ran out and had an inscribed copy of the book for me,” Manfred mentioned. “It was really nice.”