Enjoy ‘The Irishman’? Baseball Offers Much of the Same, 162 Times a Year

February 10, 2020
Sport

In the Sept. 7 game, the three biggest names were Mookie Betts, one of the best players in Red Sox history who was recently traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers; Aaron Judge, the face of the Yankees; and Aroldis Chapman, the Yankees’ six-time All-Star closer.

In a scripted movie, of course, the highly paid stars dominate the screen. De Niro is in nearly every scene, with his close friend in the movie, Pesci, close behind.

In baseball? Not so much. While fans watching on TV can expect to see plenty of a starting pitcher, if you tuned in to see Betts or Judge you might have to settle for a handful of fleeting glimpses.

In this game, Judge was hitless and had a few catches in right field, for a total of six minutes of screen time on the YES broadcast. Betts, who went 1 for 3 with a walk, received nine minutes — helped by a stellar leaping catch at the wall.

And Chapman? He came into the game at the very end, faced four batters and gave up a home run, for a total screen time of nine minutes — about 4 percent of the length of the game.