European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 26, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday october 28, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 23 a i i i i i i my Iii la Ebli  i a Jill a Iii a i i i ii i i Iii i i i All night series gets Cool reception baseball s All night world series an Experiment in Prim mime television programming often played m Chilly october temperatures has been greeted Coaly on some non network fronts. The capricious weather in Boston and Mew York sometimes it s Indian summer sometimes there s an autumn Frost in the air leaves players and fans shivering and sometimes affects the Quality of the game. It s awfully Tough to tit when it s that cold said boston1 Bill Buckner a Ioo-rb1 Man during the regular season whose Bat has been quiet so far inthe series. The night games All were scheduled to Start Well after 8 . And ended Well after 11, Long after most youngsters baseball s next generation of fans had gone to bed. Keith Hernandez of the new York Meu who plays without a sweatshirt no matter what the temperature could not ignore the clock it s unfair to kids he said. An 8-year-old kid can t watch the game with school the next  and 8-year-old kids used to be what the world series was All about commissioner Peter Ueberroth sensitive to the criticism has said he wants to restore at least weekend Day games to the the world series schedule. But that May not be possible until the current  billion network contract expires in 1969. The contract shared by Abc and Abc Calls for All weekday world series games to be played at night with the starting times for weekend games to be set at the option of the network involved. In 19b4. The lint year of the agreement Abc opted for daytime weekend world series games. Last year however Abc chose night games Tor the weekend and Abc followed that pattern this year. It May be difficult to Retreat now. Baseball does not get extra Revenue for playing the weekend series games after dark according to Bryan Burns executive vice president for broadcasting. The Only financial offset in the network contract involves reduced playoff series he said if for by reason the playoffs Are not Best of seven the Dollar package is  however Burns said the original television pack age was inflated by the All night world series  there is some financial incentive for the net works to broadcast baseball in prime time instead of in the afternoon. A 30-second advertising spot Dur ing abcs world series coverage in 1984, when Day games were part of the package sold for j22s.ooo. Thirty seconds in prime time this year goes for be tween 1250,000 and 1255,000. For television to make a profit on its world series investment of rights fees and production costs it needs six games Worth of advertising Revenue. So when the mets battled Back to tie the series against Boston in guaranteed the venture would make Money for Abc. Until 1971, Al world series games were played in the daytime. The schedule changed for the first time when Pittsburgh and Baltimore played game 4 of the 1971 series at night almost As an Experiment. It attracted an estimated television audience of 61 Mil lion fans and raised some eyebrows at both the net works and within baseball gradually the schedule of non Day games was increased until in 1985, Kan Sas City and is. Louis played the first All night world series. Those games were played in the Midwest time zone and started at about 7 30 ., prime time inthe East and coincidentally the same time regular season night games Start. The All Northeast world series however started an hour later than that to acc Omodele programming needs. Abc for example was unwilling to disturb the ratings Bonanza of the Cosby show and pus Hedback the Start of thursday s game 5 to 8 45 . The game ended at 11 52. Baseball benefited from Cosby s Lead in with the red sox and mets gaining 29.8 Nielsen rating 10th highest in world series history and a 47 percent share of the audience. Al though impressive the figures did however rep resent a slip from the Cosby show numbers of 31.4 and 54. The nighttime schedule Lias an Impact on All of the participants. Your whole life it out of  red sox Man Ager John Mcnamara said. I get through the game then get through the interviews and i m not leaving the Ballpark until 1 30.1 get Home get something to eat or drink and by the time i get to bed it s 3 or 3 30.in the  it s not much easier for the visiting team whose player wind up dining in their hotel rooms at 4 o clock in the morning. You be got to eat Hernan Dez said. Room service gets backed  the games Start an hour later and they run later said Meu manager Davey Johnson. They want to play night games Why can t they Start at 7 30t each of the first five series games ran Over the 2 hour 43-Minule average time of regular season Gomes. Game 2 lasted the longest 3 hours 36 minutes and game 3 was the quickest 2 hours 58 minutes to is the bos Hernandez continued. They pay the Money so they Are the  ask me the nicest time to play and i la Tell you it s in the Sunshine said Detroit manager spark Anderson who is working on lbs radio s Broad casts. But it comes Down to Money. If i m an owner t want All the Money i can get if i have to pay these big salaries. You be got free agents who want these fancy figures $47 million for three years,$15 million for his Grandfather $10 million for his future son in Law. The Money s got to come from  network Check books came through with generous rights fees to provide the needed funding. They May not be so generous next time though. Broadcast executives concerned Over product inventory backlog see some softness in advertising Revenue and have said it will result in lower rights tees in future con tracts. Whether that Means baseball can restore Day time world series games remains to be seen. Gretzky stretches hat trick record to 38 bar us associated pits Edmonton the Edmonton Oil ers May be struggling this season but Wayne Gretzky just keeps rolling along. Gretzky contributed three goals Fri Day night scoring i hat trick for a re Cord extending 38th time in his career in leading the up and Down oilers to a 6 2 win Over the Boston Bruins. Gretzky also had career assist no. 874 to move past sex Bruin Phil Esposito into fourth place on the National hockey league s All time Lisl. When you pass Guys like that Esposi to. It s a Little Especial Gretzky said. Once you get into the top three or four you re talking about the Best players in history Guys like Gordie Howe and Bobbert on and Jean  the Victory was Only the fifth m nine games so far this season for the oilers who won Stanley cups in 1984 and 1985. Dup the oilers started quickly As Craig Mactavish and Dave Hunter beat bos ton goaltender Pat Riggin with the first two shots of the game. Grezky then beat him on Edmonton s fourth shot scoring at 5 26 on a Short handed breakaway. Gretzky also scored on a Power play before the period ended and added an even strength goal in the final minute of the secon period. Cam Neely scored twice for Boston once in each of the first two periods. In other nil games Friday night capital 8, North Stan 1 Landover i Rookie goalie Bob Mason turned aside 35 shots an Larry Murphy and Michal Pivonka scored two goals apiece to Lead washing ton Over Minnesota Mason who began the season in the minors before being recalled last week end has two victories in three starts forthe capitals. Mason s performance was the tint this season in which a washing ton goaltender held on opponent to fewer than four goals and lowered his goals against average to 3.33. Bine 1, red a lop Detroit goaltender Sam St. Laurent turned aside 33 St. Louis shots playing Brilliant second period to help the red wings tie the blues. St. Louis Jocclyn Lemieux and Detroit s Steve Yzerman accounted for All the scoring in the defense minded game. Bilen Sabret Buffalo . Kevin Dinen scored two goals to lift Hartford Over Buffalo. Dinen 4 first goal helped Hurt Ford take a 3-0 Lead in the first period. His score at 14 22 of the final period provided the whalers with a s-3 Lead was the eventual game Winner Blac Uulu 2, canucks 2 Vancouver Rich Sutler of Van Couver scored in the second period and the canucks held on 10 tie Chicago extending the Blackhawk wingless Streak to six games. The canucks had Token a 1-0 Lead in the first period on a goal by Patrik Sund Hrom at 8 35. But Chicago moved in front 2-1 Ona first period goal by Al second and a Power play goal by Dennis Savard in the second Sutler Ihen tied it at 14 33 of the second period. Winnipeg Brian Mullen scored on a third period play to key Winnipeg Victory Over Calgary. With the icons tied 2-2, Mullen scored the jets second Power play goal of the night it 2 11 after he took a pass from Paul Maclean. Trevino Watson disqualified 4 share Lead san Antonio a Bench Ethaw took a share of the Lead while Lee Trevino and Tom Watson too themselves out of the tournament Friday in the rain delayed tint round of the i million Vantage Golf championship. Trevino and Watson were victims Oft Elf disqualification. Trevino for ii gang an incorrect co record and Watson for what be called a stupid  Crenshaw watched a Wool Birdie putt a spot in a four Way tie for the  shared the position with Bra hard Langer a former masters Champion from West Germany Chip Beck and Scotland s Ken Brown. Langer Birdi Edall four Par-4. A single stroke off the Pace at 66 were Phil Blackmar. Kenny Knox Wayne Levi. Bob Eastwood Curt Bynun Andre Wadsworth. Watson and Trevino were among 72players who were stranded on the Oak Hilt country club courted y rain thai a a under Par 69 in the mild Tunny weather. But he signed a icon word add ing to 68. He did not discover the error until hours later when he was watching a Tele cast of the event he called pea tour officials reported the error and was out of the tournament that often $180,000 to the Winner. I just Wist Ai careful As i should have been Trevino said Watson a five time British open Champ was one under Par through 14holes when pity Wai held up thursday after a putting session in his hotel room thursday night he put a different Puller in hit bag Ihen used it to 2-Puu for Pron the Only Hole he played Friday the 15th. That coach titular a of calf of Cuip meat in the court of a round a Viola Tion of the  said he was not aware of the infraction until after the putt i noticed Bruce Edwards hit Caddy had a kind of quizzical expression on Tut face Watson mid. He nor the that the same Putter you used yesterday Watson called for pad tour mkt offi feel pretty mad pretty stupid be said