RIP, AP baseball gamer

[HanSenSE]

Remains on display until July. Looks like the same format they used during spring training.

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/256590/ap-cuts-baseball-stories-in-half/

 

[Steak Snabler]

Seems like the right thing to do. If a guy pitches a no-hitter that's one thing, but I can't imagine many publications are holding an extra hour for that 24-inch wrap-up optional from a Tuesday night game in July.

 

[steveu]

I actually like this format! Like the story said there will still be a writethru for those sites that have space to use it... this is just a way to get something into the paper that has a bit more variety and "did you know" feel to it.

 

[Matt Stephens]

Definitely a smart move and I'm glad to see the AP adapting to this style. It's 2014, I don't need a long gamer. Chances are I know what happened already, so just give me the nuts and bolts with a colorful sider.

 

[Mark2010]

Strange to change formats in the middle of the season.

 

[DeskMonkey1]

I support this change, particularly if AP delivers in the promise of quicker delivery

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I remember seeing this format with college football and NFL advances last season. Did they do it with football gamers, too?

If not, I'm sure this is just the first rollout they are doing, and from here on out, everything will be this format.

 

[Mark2010]

A lot of small and mid-size papers depend on AP as their beat writer for an area pro or college team. Will be interested to see how this is received.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

In the end, I don't think it will really matter how papers receive it. They can run this new format or hire a beat writer to follow the team. Pretty obvious which one will happen.

I'd definitely be more apt to read bullet-type storylines, coming next, injury reports, etc., than a recap of how the Angels scored two-runs in a fourth-inning rally against the Mariners.

 

[Kato]

A lot of small and mid-size papers depend on AP as their beat writer for an area pro or college team. Will be interested to see how this is received.

While this is true, our deadlines continue to be pushed up, especially with us now on a hub system. As MLB games continue to go longer and longer, we barely have time to wait for the first writethrough after the initial brief, let alone wait for an optional.

 

[Mark2010]

For sure. And a lot of papers have stopped running league roundups altogether, choosing either boxscores only or nothing as a concession to limited space.

I do wonder how widely it's used outside of major metro areas. I've worked at papers within a 100-mile radius of a pro team. We might run minimal stuff in April and May when there are tons of other things going on. And then run more during the slower months of June and July. Those were the times it became more valuable, nights you'd sit there praying not to go extra innings because you had a giant hole on your front, with nothing happening locally and half the staff on vacation/furlough.

 

[jr/shotglass]

What I'm not quite sure about is this: Are their optional ledes out the window? Are they just doing the 300-word ASF and done for the night?

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I am surprised the gamer is still kicking at all in 2014, especially in print.

 

[HanSenSE]

I remember seeing this format with college football and NFL advances last season. Did they do it with football gamers, too?

If not, I'm sure this is just the first rollout they are doing, and from here on out, everything will be this format.

They did it with NFL and Top 25 previews ("Five things to know about Podunk Tech vs. Shelbyville A&M"), and even in spring training. Like everyone else, with a shrinking news hole, a greater push for local news, and earlier deadlines with us going to an RDC, outside of a special even like a no-hitter, opening day or in September, trying to remember the last time I ran a gamer during the regular season. Now, they start effing with the capsules ...

 

[MileHigh]

About eight years overdue.

 

[jr/shotglass]

I don't quite know about that, but I don't have any problem with it in today's climate.

 

[spikechiquet]

Now, they start effing with the capsules ...

They already have...they combined it into one capsule, no more AL or NL separate caps. I find this annoying.

 

[DancesWithDirt]

My biggest problem with AP right now - and maybe it's just perception - but it appears they sit on stories that are already completed. They send out that 40-word NewsNow that nobody uses. Some of them are for features and already read like the start of a feature, giving you the impression the finished product is already there. However, my impression is that far too often AP sits on it to keep a story flow going in a set amount of time (i.e. get the NewsNow on the wire within 10 minutes of a game ending, then the no-quote lead on the wire within 25-30 minutes). When I was a stringer for AP, we had to have baseball game stories in the bureau after the seventh inning, then we just updated as we went along. That would presumably get them on the wire almost immediately upon the completion of a game. However, now that I'm saddled with far more desk work than I care to perform, I am stunned at how long it takes to get even the 100-or-so-word AP baseball story. If we're on deadline and a Tigers game ends 15 within 10 minutes of deadline, we just skip it - there's no chance we'll have the 100-word story in time.

I didn't like the format AP used in spring training, primarily because there were notes on both teams. In Michigan, readers won't care about the changes in the Cardinals' batting lineup. You might as well pitch half the notes automatically.

 

[spikechiquet]

My biggest problem with AP right now - and maybe it's just perception - but it appears they sit on stories that are already completed. They send out that 40-word NewsNow that nobody uses. Some of them are for features and already read like the start of a feature, giving you the impression the finished product is already there. However, my impression is that far too often AP sits on it to keep a story flow going in a set amount of time (i.e. get the NewsNow on the wire within 10 minutes of a game ending, then the no-quote lead on the wire within 25-30 minutes). When I was a stringer for AP, we had to have baseball game stories in the bureau after the seventh inning, then we just updated as we went along. That would presumably get them on the wire almost immediately upon the completion of a game. However, now that I'm saddled with far more desk work than I care to perform, I am stunned at how long it takes to get even the 100-or-so-word AP baseball story. If we're on deadline and a Tigers game ends 15 within 10 minutes of deadline, we just skip it - there's no chance we'll have the 100-word story in time.

I didn't like the format AP used in spring training, primarily because there were notes on both teams. In Michigan, readers won't care about the changes in the Cardinals' batting lineup. You might as well pitch half the notes automatically.

Good last point there. Didn't think of that. It is going to have some useless crap in it.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Update on this.

From what I'm seeing today, they are still running APNewsNow, first ledes and optionals -- home and away optionals.

Those bullet points are just being added to the end of those stories.

We like. And I get the feeling this wasn't the original plan, but somebody made it clear that the members weren't too crazy about that first idea.