Baseball might take a tip from 1960’s sitcoms!

Hi, it’s Rich Dale.  Besides both being as American as can be, I never thought that there’d be much similarity between major league baseball and The Andy Griffith Show.  But taking a cue from the “canned laughter” or laugh track of old sitcoms (before most went with no audience or a live audience), MLB is experimenting with using fake crowd noise for TV broadcasts AND pumping it into the empty stadium!

The 2020 MLB season is set to begin on July 23rd and of course the stands will be empty.  Mets reporter Tim Healey shared some video from from a Mets intrasquad game, where the sound system played a ‘low murmur’ of a crowd, followed by a cheer when the hitter made contact and a louder cheer when the outfielder made the catch.  Other teams are experimenting as well – in fact, MLB has provided teams with an ‘approved soundtrack’ of cheers and even a few boos.

Now I really can’t wait to watch baseball!