Major League Baseball has been struggling to solve its pace of play issues for years. Yes, the games are still nine innings long, but the dead time in between pitches, at-bats, and innings keeps costing the league eyeballs. And younger generations of fans don't have the time or patience to watch uneventful games that last three-plus hours.
Baseball is essentially in crisis mode. In order for the game to remain the national pastime -- if it even still is -- the league needs to implement modern-day solutions to its modern-day problems.
And these gripes about MLB's pace of play aren't just coming from younger fans. They're also coming from former great ballplayers, like outfielder Dave Parker.
"Well, it's slow. It's really slow," Parker told The DA Show on Wednesday. "And I think that's a deterrent to the excitement. When you played the game, you'd regularly move the runners over on hit-and-runs, hit the cut-off man in situations where you needed to. They need to get back to that -- the basics. Because right now, they're not fundamentally sound, and the game is awfully slow. They need to speed it up."
According to Baseball Reference, the average nine-inning game through 73 games this season is three hours, 18 minutes. Compared to last season, this time is seven minutes longer, and so far, only two of the 30 major league teams are averaging games under the three-hour mark. Expect that number to shrink down to zero.
Parker, 69, knows a thing or two about putting the ball in play. In 19 big league seasons, he slashed .290/.339/.471, collected 2,712 hits, and drove in 1,493 runs. His elite five-tool abilities made him the National League MVP with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1978, and from 1973 to 1991, Parker appeared in seven All-Star games and won two World Series, three Silver Slugger awards, and three Gold Gloves. Somehow, Parker is still not a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 2012, Parker was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which attacks nerve cells in the brain and significantly affects body movement. His life story, playing career, and battle with Parkinson's are well-documented in "The Cobra at Twilight," a feature produced by MLB Network.
"I have good days and bad days. Fortunately, I have more good days than bad," Parker told DA. "But every morning, there's a new adventure. So, it's something I've got to deal with every morning, something new. Parkinson's is not how I wanted to spend my retirement."
The entire conversation between Parker and DA can be accessed in the video and audio players above.
You can follow The DA Show on Twitter @DAonCBS and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.
