Scott Franzke: No Quick Fix To Speed Up Baseball

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Phillies Play-By-Play Radio Announcer Scott Franzke talked with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about the calls from some to make changes to baseball to cut down on the time of games, saying there are no real credible solutions that will accomplish anything.

"I've always held the belief that it's not about the length of the game, it's the inactivity at times. What really leads to the inactivity, I think, are immovable objects. I just don't see commercial breaks getting shorter and I understand the reasons why. I think one thing that may help is, maybe, flirting with the strike zone a little bit, getting some umpires to widen the zone. I've always felt if they were to open up the zone a little bit more and force guys to swing the bat a little bit more that you might get a little more action, a little more activity."

He believes it is also on the players themselves to pick up the pace.

"We saw the no pitch intentional walk...What did that do? That made the game 30 seconds shorter. To me, it's not the length of the game. It's the inactivity in the game. It's the pitcher who won't throw a pitch. It's a lot of walks. That's the thing, I think."

Ultimately, he doesn't see much being done to tackle complaints about game length.

"There are people that say there's nothing wrong with the game, leave it the way it is. There are those who say that you need to get the younger generation involved and the younger kids don't have the attention span. But again, I think there's some immovable objects in the way. A lot of it has to do with the commercial breaks and the down time in between innings."