Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, October 14, 2005, Washington Post

The Score
Before the Game, Make Your Best Pitch

Play ball! Baseball's best teams battle in the league championships and World Series for the next two weeks. These are the year's best games because every pitch and every swing might mean a championship.

So it's sad that the games are on television too late for most kids. Major League Baseball should have more afternoon or early games for its youngest fans. But that's not going to change soon. Kids are shut out unless their moms or dads let them stay up and watch.

Now let's be clear: Parents make the rules in the house. I know, because I'm a dad. If your mom and dad say no baseball, there's no baseball. Even if it is the World Series.

Still, there may be a way to persuade them to let you slip past bedtime for a game or two (or maybe a few innings of a game or two). Here are some suggestions of things to say and do that might help you see some of this year's great catches and home-run heroics.

· If it's a school night, get your homework done and in "ready-to-check" order before the game starts. Otherwise, you don't stand a chance.

· You probably should give up all hope of watching the games if you have a science project due in the next two weeks.

· Don't say that your best friend's parents let him or her stay up to watch the games. That stuff never works.

· But you can say that it would be a shame if you missed a famous, game-winning home run such as those by Boston's Carlton Fisk in the 1975 World Series, Los Angeles' Kirk Gibson in 1988 and Toronto's Joe Carter in 1993.

Play ball! Baseball's best teams battle in the league championships and World Series for the next two weeks. These are the year's best games because every pitch and every swing might mean a championship.

So it's sad that the games are on television too late for most kids. Major League Baseball should have more afternoon or early games for its youngest fans. But that's not going to change soon. Kids are shut out unless their moms or dads let them stay up and watch.

Now let's be clear: Parents make the rules in the house. I know, because I'm a dad. If your mom and dad say no baseball, there's no baseball. Even if it is the World Series.

Still, there may be a way to persuade them to let you slip past bedtime for a game or two (or maybe a few innings of a game or two). Here are some suggestions of things to say and do that might help you see some of this year's great catches and home-run heroics.

· If it's a school night, get your homework done and in "ready-to-check" order before the game starts. Otherwise, you don't stand a chance.

· You probably should give up all hope of watching the games if you have a science project due in the next two weeks.

· Don't say that your best friend's parents let him or her stay up to watch the games. That stuff never works.

· But you can say that it would be a shame if you missed a famous, game-winning home run such as those by Boston's Carlton Fisk in the 1975 World Series, Los Angeles' Kirk Gibson in 1988 and Toronto's Joe Carter in 1993.