Baseball, Weakly

Ben Godar

A once great baseball publication continues to slide. Here's a copy of my letter to the editors of what used to be Baseball Weekly.


Dear Editors,

There was a time when Baseball Weekly was required reading for baseball fans. I have long been one of those readers. We felt slighted when you added football a few years back. Now that NASCAR is also in the mix, the message seems clear: You no longer have any interest in the true baseball fan.

I could complain about the choice of NASCAR specifically. It seems anyone who roots for an internal combustion engine covered in advertisements would be satisfied reading an auto parts catalog. But believe me, this isn’t about NASCAR. I would be just as disappointed had you added basketball, water polo or ballroom dancing.

I subscribed to your publication because it delivered baseball coverage I couldn’t get anywhere else. Trade rumors, feature stories, fantasy, the minors, college – Baseball Weekly covered it all with depth and insight.

If this week’s issue is any indication, those days are over. My reward for flipping past the football and NASCAR was a Spring Training guide that could have come from a AAA handbook and one page of aggregate news like what runs on page 77 of any sports section.

I assume your research tells you general sports coverage will garner you more readers. But why should I pay for something that already comes inside my daily paper, wrapped around the grocery ads?

By continuing to water-down your coverage, you are trading devoted fans for casual front-runners. You seem to believe you are forging ahead, but I assure you many of your core readers are being left behind.

Disgruntled,
Ben Godar