Games this late get cold reception
FROSTBITE FALLS, Mich. -- It gets cold and windy in Detroit in October. Big surprise.
The Tigers and Cardinals went back to work at
A few snow flurries peppered the park earlier in the evening. Tigers infielder Placido Polanco looked ready for the Iditarod on a night suitable for Adam Vinatieri kicking in Foxborough, Mass., against the Oakland Raiders. It's bad for MLB's image when Fall Classic photos look like Currier & Ives Christmas cards. Maybe they'll add snow globes to the memorabilia shelf in the World Series store.
There's no global warming in baseball and a lot of that is owed to later dates for World Series play. It's a matter of calendar and geography. Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New York, and Boston play in domeless ballparks and the threat of World Series games in cold temperatures increased when the regular season was expanded and rounds of playoffs were added.
For the majority of the last century, the World Series was over by Columbus Day. In 1918, the Red Sox won a World Series against the Cubs on Sept. 11 -- that Series started Sept. 5 because of war restrictions. In 1967, the Red Sox lost Game 7 to the Cardinals Oct. 12. Things started to creep toward mid-October when the first playoff rounds were added. Now there are two rounds before the Series, and baseball's showcase event edges closer to Halloween.
In 2001, because of the week lost to the 9/11 attacks, the Yankees and Diamondbacks finished the Series Nov. 4. We still remember New York tabloids labeling Derek Jeter "Mr. November" when he homered to beat Arizona in Yankee Stadium in the 11th month.
Baseball didn't start keeping temperature stats until the 1975 Series, which was rain-delayed for several days in Boston while we waited for Game 6. During one of the Hub delays, commissioner Bowie Kuhn earned a chuckle when one of his PR guys announced, "The commissioner would like to announce that it has stopped raining in New Jersey."
There was snow on the ground in Baltimore on the morning of Oct. 10, 1979, the first day of the Series between the Orioles and Pirates. At game time that night it was 41 degrees. When they went to Pittsburgh, it was up to 42 degrees. Kuhn made all the papers by refusing to wear an overcoat as he sat in a box seat by the dugout. He looked like Charlie Brown on the mound in the middle of a torrential rainstorm, wondering where all his teammates went.
In Series history, there has been only one game postponed because of cold and that was Oct. 9, 1903, when the Red Sox and Pirates faced off. As reported in the Globe, the temperature in Pittsburgh that day was 57 degrees. Two years ago at Fenway, game-time temperatures for Series Games 1 and 2 were 49 and 48 degrees, respectively. Anyone remember complaining?
Old Baseball Axiom No. 101 holds that cold weather helps the pitcher because he is the only warm person on the field. The man on the mound is in constant motion and hitters get a fistful of bees when they connect in the cold climate.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa commented on that theory last night, saying, "Most times we all assume it does [favor pitchers] because they're working and they're warmer. But just from my experience, past history, there are a lot of games in conditions like this where the balls are so slippery you just can't get the right grip on them and pitchers lose that fine command."
Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, the only pitcher to win World Series games in three decades, never wore long sleeves when he pitched -- no matter how cold it got. Reached on his cellphone at a golf course yesterday, Palmer said, "There's two ways to look at it. Sure, you're moving around and maybe a little warmer, but the hitters all wear batting gloves now and the dugouts are heated. For a pitcher, the ball is slick and it's hard to throw your breaking ball. What's pitching? It's touch and feel. You might want to throw more two-seamers in the cold because the ball moves a little bit more."
Tigers designed hitter Sean Casey said, "The big thing you have to remember is that both teams are playing in it. When it's cold out there, sometimes as a hitter, it can affect you a little bit. But for the most part, your adrenaline gets going and I don't think it's that big a factor."
Still, it's unfortunate. The biggest games should be played in the best weather. Bleacher fans are supposed to be drinking cold beer, not hot chocolate.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is dshaughnessy@globe.com. 
