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Tomorrow Today

Technology hits a homer with baseball

ballpark
Banc One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona sports many high-tech features
VIDEO
CNN's Rick Lockridge looks at pro baseball's score with high-tech
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Don Ketchum of the Arizona Republic talks about using computers to help cover baseball
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PHOENIX, Arizona (CNN) -- Baseball's All-Star game was played Tuesday night at Boston's historic Fenway park, a place full of musty, low-tech charm.

But modern baseball is feeling the effects of technology in ways Abner Doubleday could never have foreseen.

Look around some of the new baseball stadiums going up these days -- retractable roofs, giant multimedia displays, even swimming pools. It's baseball's newest marketing pitch: the BALLPARK as entertainment.

"It offers a whole family experience that is not dependent on the game," says Steve Goldberg, Diamondbacks Multimedia Director.

Nor is the experience dependent upon the weather. Banc One Ballpark, the two-year-old home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, closes its giant swinging doors and its two-part rolling roof when the weather gets too hot, which is often.

It costs $11,000 to air-condition the stadium for a single game. Maybe the Babe didn't need air conditioning but he didn't play in Phoenix in the summertime, either.

multimedia graphic
The multimedia crew keeps the crowd occupied with music and video clips   

The multimedia crew at Banc One Ballpark fills every break in the action with a music or video clip. They're out to give an artificially quick pace to a game that often crawls along at a slow one.

But while some fans may yearn for the good old days before "jumbotrons" showing home plate and radar guns, the Internet has proved itself a perfect medium for baseball.

What are baseball fans, after all, but stats junkies? And what is the Web other than a giant number-cruncher?

"I look for my favorite players and then I, like, find out their stats and see if they are doing well or not doing so well," says Albie Goulder, a young fan.

If stats are a fan's elixir, they are also a coach's ammunition. Arizona hitting coach Jim Presley uses his computer to break down opposing pitchers.

pool
Yes, Arizona's ballpark even has a swimming pool in the outfield   

"And we know kind of exactly how he pitches this day and what he's got, what his "out" pitch is. So like I say, nothing is secret these days," Presley says.

Baseball's own sense of history and tradition may help it keep its bearings as technology buffets it from all sides. Even with all the high-tech marvel at the Phoenix stadium, they decided to use an analog clock.

CNN Correspondent Rick Lockridge contributed to this report.



RELATED STORIES:
CNNSI Baseball
  • CNNSI - Destination: Stadiums
The ballpark that time forgot: Fenway celebrated
July 13, 1999

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Arizona Diamondbacks
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
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