Michael Kay backed Rob Manfred's 'golden' idea, which made headlines last week.
The MLB committee's comments on the “topic” surrounding the “golden at-bat rule” on the podcast “The Varsity” released last month have garnered a lot of headlines in recent days.
The potential idea, which is still in the “discussion only” stage, would allow teams to choose one at-bat each game to send their best batter, even if it's not his turn to bat.
This has also angered baseball traditionalists who lament any change to the game. At least, that appears to be what Kaye meant during his rant on Tuesday's ESPN New York radio show.
Kay took notice of some of the reactions on social media (including from fellow broadcaster Howie Rhodes) and fired back during the show.
Rose said this week that the idea for X was a “joke.”
“Perfect? No. Do you approve? Probably not. But what kind of outcry would there be because a guy is trying to do something to weaken a match that is about to be undermined?” Imagine that,” Kay said. “And all the people who say this is like blasphemy…what do you think? You're there. It's the young guys, we don't have them. So we're going to use the ninth inning as our best player. It needs to be turned into an event where it's against the closer. And there's no value in that because you can't change anything because baseball is a religion, not a sport.”
Baseball broadcasters didn't stop there, continuing to target baseball purists who didn't want anything to change about the game.
“You all have to get your head out of your ass. How dare you jump over a man who was trying to bring about legitimate change,” Kay continued. “For thinking about legitimate change. Even the man I love, Howie Rose. 'This has got to be a joke.' No, it's the loss of baseball's eyeballs. That's a joke, Howie! There has to be something to stop the decline of this great game. We have to appeal to more people. young people. Those are the people we don't have.
“And you're going to crucify Rob Manfred because he thinks outside the box. You've got to grow up too. And you've got to open your eyes and… , you have to see what's going on in the game.”
