There鈥檚 no way of confirming this, but Major League Baseball must be among the biggest customers of the fireworks industry, with teams offering roughly 150 postgame fireworks shows. Surely, Bill Veeck, the former White Sox owner, can take credit for starting this tradition when he introduced an 鈥渆xploding scoreboard鈥� in 1960 at Chicago鈥檚 old Comiskey Park, where White Sox home runs were celebrated with pyrotechnic flourishes.
The Detroit Tigers have 19 fireworks games. Other teams make them a regular feature of Friday nights, such as the Houston Astros with its 鈥淏ig and Bright Friday Night鈥� series and the Miami Marlins with their 鈥淔ireworks Fridays.鈥�
The fireworks may start as soon as five minutes after the final out, but 15 minutes is more typical, especially where fans are allowed onto the field. The length of the shows varies, too. Cleveland鈥檚 weekly shows are 10 to 12 minutes, but it also has a couple of Rock N鈥� Blast extravaganzas that are between 30 and 40 minutes long. The Colorado Rockies keep the length of their shows a secret.
