“Make Baseball Fun Again.” That is what was on a hat that Washington Nationals' star outfielder, Bryce Harper, was wearing in an interview at the beginning of this year’s MLB season. Could it possibly have to do with the upcoming election and Donald Trump’s saying, “Let’s Make America Great Again?” Yes, it is possible, but at the same time in our fast-paced world we are becoming less and less intrigued with our nations pastime that is baseball.
“Baseball’s tired.” Harper said recently in an issue of ESPN The Magazine. He is right. I agree with Harper 100 percent. Over 50 percent of people who watch baseball in America are over fifty years old which is up from 41 percent just ten years ago. The younger generation is shying away from the sport, which is rather slow-paced. The fastest part of the game is the pitch, which is only swung at every third other pitch, and contact is made every third pitch. In 1986, over 35 million people watched the World Series.
In 2015, that number has dropped to just 14.7 million, the fifth least viewed World Series ever. The worst viewed World Series came in 2012. The top five least viewed World Series have all come since 2008. So, I think that is enough to tell that this game is less popular as ever. Younger people are becoming interested in more exciting and up-and-coming sports like lacrosse, hockey or even sports like paintball or Spikeball.
Do I enjoy baseball? Yes, a lot. I have been to almost half of the stadiums in the U.S. and have been to almost a dozen spring training games in the past three years. I am a Colorado Rockies fan, which really doesn’t help my cause for loving baseball considering they only have one World Series appearance and it came in 2007 when the Boston Red Sox swept them. But I do love baseball. I love the walk-off home runs, I love the excitement of a no-hitter, I love when a fan makes a great catch and in turn hands the ball to a young fan, I love the game.
But I don’t like the idea of spending three hours a day, 162 days out of the year watching this sport on a television. The commercial breaks after every half inning are awful, the slow pace of the players who make more money than in any other American sport and the constant arguing of many calls per game can get very boring. So how do we fix America’s pastime and help “Make Baseball Fun Again?”
In the past few years, there has been a rule implemented that there can only be a two-minute span in between each half inning. That is too long. If it was up to me I say we cut it down to one minute and 45 seconds. It is not much of a change but it will add up. Next up, the season is ridiculous. It doesn’t take 162 games to tell us that the Padres will miss the playoffs again and the Cardinals will make the playoffs…again, even though they will likely be behind the Cubs this year.
We can make it 140 games and allow for more off days. I also believe that will increase the pace of play and enthusiasm among the players. I am sure they can even get bored with the 162 game schedule. Factor in Spring Training and a playoff run and we are up to 200 games a year. Lastly, let’s widen the strike zone a couple of inches. Regardless of how big the strike zone is there are going to be complaints, it is inevitable. Let’s make it a tad bigger to get these outs to happen quicker and move the game along, if you are a good hitter then it won’t matter and you shouldn’t complain.
Am I right about these changes that should be put into place? Maybe, who knows? But what I am right about is that this is a dying game for the time being. There needs to be a change, and we need to go with our friend Mr. Harper and try to “Make Baseball Fun Again.”
