Whitey Herzog not a fan of TV start times

Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog is not a fan of the start times being dictated by TV.
Aug 4, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals hall of fame former manager Whitey Herzog (L) and Cardinals hall of fame former player/manager Red Schoendienst chat before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers Busch Stadium. Image Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
Here’s an idea for TBS next year: Use TNT and have two games going at the same time rather than one at a time. It’s better for the fans when you think about it.

Look at Game 2 of the NLDS between the Cards and Pittsburgh Pirates. It started at 1 PM/12 PM Central. Do you think that is fair to the ticket holders that bought tickets expecting a late afternoon or evening game? It’s not fair.

Herzog complained about the start times to USA Today.

"“You play all year when they make sure you don’t play under those conditions,” Herzog told USA TODAY Sports, “so why do you start now? Here we are, letting TV dictate what time the games starts. It’s not fair.“You watch, the left fielder is going to have a hell of a time, as well as the hitters.”"

To be fair though, FOX Saturday Baseball has been playing around the same time all season long unless they opt to air a primetime game of the week.

If one looks at the schedule for the NLCS and ALCS on days this week, the only days both games are scheduled for the same days are Tuesday and Wednesday. The ALCS is in the afternoon on Tuesday and should the fifth NLCS game be necessary, it is a late afternoon game on Wednesday for viewers living in the eastern half of the country. For those in California, it’s a 1 PM start time. It would be a getaway day so that is something that I’m sure was considered in the start time.

The past two years, FOX has scheduled games around Simon Cowell and his prized show, The X-Factor. Both times, the games were in a rain delay and started late. During last year’s NLCS, the ALCS game was completely rained out while it just happened to be a coincidence that the NLCS game between the Cardinals and San Francisco Giants just happened to get into a rain during the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs some time before Cowell’s show was due to air on FOX. The game was in a delay for 3 hours, 28 minutes.

It won’t affect the NLCS on Tuesday but the ALCS could certainly be delayed by rain on Tuesday.