Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat for March 10, 2021

Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chats

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, Mick Gillispie and Kevin Reichard discuss what fans can expect when they return to ballparks in 2021—the good, the bad, the ugly—in this week’s Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat.

The good: Most MLB teams are poised to welcome fans back to ballparks for home games for the first time since 2019. Only a few are waiting on approvals from local authorities.

The bad: Fans will be restricted in what they can do at the ballpark. Most teams won’t allow fans to wander the ballpark, at least at the beginning of the season.

The ugly: Those who delight in the ballpark food/beverage experience are likely to be disappointed, as a few teams have announced only limited grab-and-go or app-ordered items available. The Oakland A’s, for instance, will not open concourse concessions.

All in all, this should make for an interesting launch to the 2021 season.

The Baseball Thesaurus term of the day: slide, including the most popular implementations of the basic baseball play: hook slides, head-first slides and pop-up slides.

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler is the Voice of the Lansing Lugnuts and the author of The Baseball Thesaurus and The Football Thesaurus from August Publications. Mick Gillispie is the Voice of the Tennessee Smokies and a spring-training Voice of the Chicago Cubs. Kevin Reichard is publisher at August Publications and Ballpark Digest.