Loud (in both verbiage and wardrobe) Canadian hockey analyst Don Cherry is talking about baseball again, and like usual when Cherry starts going on a tweetstorm, the point is quickly lost.
Cherry’s comments were in response to Harold Reynolds making a crack about Canadians not growing up playing baseball, but turned into a bizarre statement about how MLB is biased against the Blue Jays, and how no one in America knows anything about Canada.
1) Canadians are upset with ex baseball player, now commentator for Fox Sports when he said Canadians are so unfamiliar with baseball we
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
2) have a tough time catching foul balls in the stands. Harold Reynolds is just saying what most people in the States think of us as not
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
3) knowing anything about baseball. When I was on Coach’s Corner Saturday night I said we got stiffed. Having the dome closed when we play
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
4) better with it open and the noon weekday start. We just don’t play on a level playing field in Canada. I ask you, if the Yankees wanted
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
5) the dome open on a nice sunny day, you think it wouldn’t be open? You think the Yankees would play week days as 12pm? I don’t think so.
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
6) Blue Jays and Cubs in the World Series would be a disaster for tv in the United States. I’m not knocking baseball or Manfred.
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
7) I’m just stating the facts and the way it is. Canada to most people in the States is the frozen north. I know, I lived there most of my
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
8) life. They’re wrong of course. I remember the first Blue Jays game and down in the States they showed snow on the ball field and
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
9) everybody laughed. They didn’t show snow in Detroit, NY or Boston. So, don’t blame Harold for thinking we don’t know anything about
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
10) baseball and how to catch balls in the stands. I’m sorry, that’s what they think of us. They aren’t bad people. That’s the way it is.
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
11) By the way Harold, MVP Joey Votto is pretty good at first base and Harold, MVP Larry Walker won 7 golden gloves. Just thought I would
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
12) let you know
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) October 12, 2015
Oh goodness, the takes. Where can I begin…
-Cherry does have a point about the Blue Jays playing better with the roof open at Rogers Centre – they went 38-14 this season in games with the roof opened, and an additional 4-0 in games when the roof started the game closed and opened up as the game progressed.
-He also has another point – MLB *did* make the call to keep the roof closed in the first two games of the series. They also made the call to close the roof at Minute Maid Park in Houston during ALDS Games 3 and 4, a decision that the team was in favor of. Clearly, MLB is biased in favor of the Astros, despite ordering the team to *open* the roof during the 2005 World Series to their objections.
-It typically doesn’t snow in Boston or New York in April, but snow in Detroit happens frequently, and is A Thing among baseball writers – a game in April of 2014 was snowed out, and there were flurries during a Yankees-Tigers game this April. Snow has also postponed numerous games in Cleveland and Denver, including one Rockies-Dodgers game from this *May* that was postponed when Coors Field was blanketed with snow. And yes, everyone lost their minds about that.
-The Yankees are always thrust into primetime windows during the Postseason because New York is the biggest market in America. The Jays *were* in primetime on Sunday night though, and the Yankees did have a 3 PM playoff game during the 2011 ALDS…so that’s something. It’s also a matter of just poor luck – the two NL playoff matchups this year are so good that MLB would be insane to move them to afternoon slots.
-Any World Series involving the Cubs would be a ratings boon for MLB. And hell, yours truly ranked a Cubs-Jays matchup as the best possible World Series for MLB last week, and slotted Dodgers-Jays and Cardinals-Jays in the top five. Hell, Toronto winning the AL pennant is probably the best possible outcome for MLB, given the low ratings in 2010 for Giants-Rangers, the 2011 ratings before Games 6 and 7 for Cardinals-Rangers, and the low ratings for Giants-Royals in 2014. Toronto’s 1992 World Series win over Atlanta remains the last series to break the 30 million viewer mark, too.
All in all, it’s not worth getting too riled up about Don Cherry’s comments – he’s a proud Canadian (which he’ll remind you of in every other breath), and in defending his country, he’ll stretch the truth in order to make his points. His criticisms don’t have much claim, but he’s a hockey guy – why would you take his opinions on baseball seriously anyway?
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