Game 7 Doesn’t Save Ratings

The exciting finish to the World Series may have been a case of too little too late for NBC’s ratings.

The overnight rating for Game 7 was a 26.0 with a 39 share, Nielsen Media research said Monday, the highest rating for a Series game since the 32.2 in Game 7 of the Twins-Braves in 1991, the last Series to go seven games.

But the 1997 Series will finish as one of the two lowest-rated World Series since records began in 1959. The current low, 16.4, came in the 1989 Series sweep by the Oakland Athletics over San Francisco Giants that was interrupted by an earthquake.

Entering the weekend, NBC needed to average a 20.3 for the final two games to avoid the distinction of being the lowest-rated Series in history. The combined overnight average for the two games was a 22.0, but that will probably fall when the national rating is released today.

While the Game 7 rating was more than 50% higher than any previous game in this Series, it was the lowest for a Game 7 since 1968 when the Cardinal-Tiger game got a 21.2 rating in an afternoon game.

Sunday night’s game got a 20.3 rating and 32 share in New York, a 19.9 rating and 31 share in Chicago and a 29.5 rating and 44 share in Los Angeles.

The rating is the percentage of television households in the nation tuned to a program, and each point represents 980,000 homes. The share is the percentage watching a broadcast among those televisions on at the time.

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It took only a few hours after the end of the World Series for baseball’s business season to begin, with Andres Galarraga, Brady Anderson and John Olerud heading 36 players who filed for free agency.

Cecil Fielder, Randy Myers, Bobby Witt and Rod Beck also filed on the first day of the 15-day window.

Outfielders Otis Nixon and Darren Lewis, acquired late last season by the Dodgers, filed too.

Baltimore prevented Eric Davis from filing by exercising the team’s $2.5-million option, and the New York Yankees stopped Chad Curtis from going free by exercising a $900,000 option.

San Francisco passed on its $400,000 option on catcher Damon Berryhill.

Players have until Nov. 10 to file. Once they file, they can talk with any team but they can’t discuss money until Nov. 11.

General managers don’t expect any signings until after the expansion draft on Nov. 18, since they can protect only 15 players and don’t want to add players to their roster until after the draft.

Protected lists must be filed by the teams on Nov. 11.

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The San Diego Padres envision a new ballpark on the downtown waterfront.

But taxpayers, when asked to vote on a ballpark sometime next year, may not possess such romantic notions.

If the Padres do not get their new stadium, will they leave when their lease expires in March 2000? That’s the $200-million question.

It seems the club cannot survive financially in Qualcomm Stadium. Formerly known as Jack Murphy Stadium, it was expanded to 71,600 seats this year in a $78-million deal to keep the NFL’s Chargers in town through 2020 and to accommodate next year’s Super Bowl.

The Padres say they are willing to pay their fair share and welcome a public vote, something the Chargers did not have to face.

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Dave Stewart, a four-time 20-game winner known for his menacing glare, will be named pitching coach of the Padres today.