In the movie ``A League of Their Own," Tom Hanks uttered the famous line, ''There's no crying in baseball!''
There's also no BOGO in baseball.
Buy one, get one, also known as BOGO, is very popular in stores, but major league baseball wants no part of it.
Doubleheaders were once a common occurrence in major league baseball. ''Real'' doubleheaders, which were two games back-to-back for the price of one ticket, were the norm on Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day years ago. And they were also rather popular on Sundays.
Also during the season, if a rainout occurred, more doubleheaders might pop up. That meant a team could play as many as 20 twin bills in a season.
In the 1960s, a ''strange'' thing called the day-night doubleheader popped up and I first heard of it happening in Houston. One game was played in the afternoon, the stadium was cleared and then the second game was played at night. The catch was a ticket had to be purchased for each game.
Day-night doubleheaders are about the only twin bill you'll find now in the major leagues. With multi-million dollar contracts, there is no way owners want fans to see a game for free.
That was obvious on Wednesday.
In the past there would have been a slew of July 4 doubleheaders. On Wednesday there was a full schedule in both the American League and National League and all the games were single contests.
And that's the way it's been for nearly the last 40 years.
In 1992, there were also all single games on July 4. In 1982, there was again a full schedule on July 4, but there were two doubleheaders hosted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets.
It was the same in 1972, with doubleheaders hosted by the Mets and the Atlanta Braves.
The 1970s was when the lack of twin bills began.
Just 10 years earlier when each league had 10 teams and on July 4, 1962, there was a full schedule that included all the AL teams playing a doubleheader and there were three in the NL.
In 1952, there were only eight teams in each league and on July 4 all the American League teams played in a doubleheader. The only single game in the National League was Brooklyn at New York.
And it was the same in 1942. The only teams to play a single game were Cincinnati at Pittsburgh.
But it should be noted that July 4 in 1942 was a Saturday. Sunday was usually a doubleheader day and July 5, 1942, was no different. On July 5, all the teams in both leagues played a doubleheader. And that was after 14 of the teams had played a doubleheader the previous day.
In two days, the fans got four games for the price of two.
That would be BTGF (Buy two, get four)?
Don't even mention that to today's owners.
And don't mention tripleheaders. There have been three in the major leagues, but only one in the 20th century. That was on Oct. 2, 1920, when Cincinnati won two of three games at Pittsburgh.
It should be noted that Pittsburgh won the third game 6-0 and it was called after six innings. But for all three games, it took a total of five hours to play them.
One Red Sox-Yankees game can take that long now.
Maybe that's the way we should look at today's lack of doubleheaders. You might not be getting the same amount of innings for one admission, but you are getting the same amount of minutes.