Baseball Tries Again to Speed Up Games

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Even baseball admits its games are a drag.

In an effort to cut 15 minutes from the average time of nine-inning games, owners said Wednesday that pitchers must throw the ball within 12 seconds after a hitter settles into the batter’s box with no one on base.

“We’re trying to cut some of the dead time,” said Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, a consultant to acting Commissioner Bud Selig.

The unions for players and umpires already have agreed to the new procedures, outlined in a Feb. 13 memo, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press.

Baseball pushed for a speedup in the middle of the 1995 season but the initiative was largely ignored in 1997. The average time of a nine-inning game was 3 hours, 1 minute in the AL last season, up from 2:52 in 1991. In the NL, it was 2:52, up from 2:46 in 1991.

It was even worse in the World Series, when the average was 3:31, prompting criticism--even from management.

“The Unfinished Symphony had a better chance of finishing before that game last night,” Selig said after he watched Game 3 between Florida and Cleveland take 4:12.

“The pace of the game is the question,” Gene Orza, the union’s No. 2 official, said in New York. “We’re going to meet next week with the idea of tailoring the rules a little more.”