Death to the 7th Inning Stretch?

MLB is currently attempting to reduce the duration of baseball games through their pace of play initiatives.  One of these initiatives is targeted at the breaks in between innings and is broken down as such:

A second new component to the pace of game program is the addition of timers that will measure non-game action and break time between innings and pitching changes during each Major League game. One timer will be installed on or near the outfield scoreboard, and a smaller timer will be installed on the façade behind home plate near the press box. Immediately following the third out of each half-inning, the timer will count down from 2:25 for locally televised games and from 2:45 for nationally televised games. An MLB representative attending each game will operate the timers from the ballpark and will track the following events:

Time Remaining: Activity
40 Seconds: PA announces batter and begins to play walk-up music
30 Seconds: Pitcher throws final warm-up pitch
25 Seconds: Batter’s walk-up music ends
20 Seconds-5 Seconds: Batter enters the batter’s box
20 Seconds-0 Seconds: Pitcher begins motion to deliver pitch

To put this into perspective, this indicates that all playful banter between innings from the Hot Dog Race to What’s Cooking with Kirby will have to be limited to less than 1:45.  While the majority of activities should allow this to occur, the 7th inning stretch could suffer a cruel death in Baltimore.

The 7th inning stretch has encompassed “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and also more importantly a rendition of “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” from John Denver.  Based on analysis of recordings made last year, the following times are often attributed to each portion:

• “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” –  Thirty Seconds
• “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” – One Minute and 40 Seconds

And we’ve yet to even include the Sunday tradition of “God Bless America” that normally runs around One Minute and 10 Seconds.  So with all of those times included something has to go.  Orioles fans are not going to give up on John Denver now or ever.  Are Orioles fans going to be alright with the elimination of the rest of the festivities or are ballparks just going to ignore this rule during the 7th inning stretch?

EDIT:  The Orioles PR announcer Ryan Wagner chimed in pointing out that duration between innings isn’t changing with this rule, but will now be enforced by MLB.

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