We've all been told by someone in our lives that baseball is "America's pastime." When I hear that term, I imagine a young boy or girl being taught how to play catch in the backyard while simultaneously being told by their father: "keep your eye on the ball!" Throughout the history of our country, from the late 1800s through the 1980s, the scene described above was nothing short of reality. People from all over would get together to enjoy the sport however they could. Baseball was viewed by many, in much the same light as religion. The term "America's pastime" most definitely didn't come out of left field. Many of the problems that the sport of baseball is having today were completely non-existent in those days. When did baseball stop being "America's pastime?"
Baseball was never the only sport people watched. It just happened to be the most developed in the early 1900s. Over time, other sports such as football, basketball, and hockey started to rise. I think it's safe to say that "America's pastime" has become football. Look at today's generation. Most of them would rather play any of the other sports over baseball because those sports all have one thing in common that baseball doesn't share: Quick pace of play. Kids want to stay moving and always be a part of the game. Rarely do you see kids put the team before themselves when they are six years old.
Baseball is a couple steps behind these other sports. Other than the obvious fact that kids would rather be running around the entire time than standing on a baseball field, possibly never getting a chance to make a play, other sports are doing a much better job individualizing the game. Football has the touchdown dances, (The Dab, for instance), basketball has "posterizing" and crossovers, hockey has the "dangles" and "flow" hair, but what does baseball have to engage people? Tradition! Baseball has tradition! Doesn't that sound enticing to you? Baseball is trying to engage kids by teaching them about tradition and the "history of the game." As a baseball lover, I didn't even want to learn about that when I was young! These kids just want to know how to "go yard" and "paint corners." If baseball wants to lure in kids, then the tradition is going to have to take a hike.
Moving away from actually playing baseball, another field that it lacks in is viewership. Every sport has its hardcore fans. Those are the fans that will watch every game and understand what's going on, and will be able to break down what actually just happened. More importantly, every sport (except baseball) has the average fan that will watch if they are with friends because they like the sport enough to watch it, but not enough to pay in-depth attention to what's actually happening. Baseball lacks these types of fans for two main reasons.
The first is that baseball games are too long to keep the attention of someone who doesn't truly love the game. The average baseball game lasts about three hours, and that's with the MLB trying to shorten games. Now if a football, basketball, or hockey game lasts three hours people will still watch. That leads me to the second reason.
Lack of exciting plays. The only reason people would actually watch any of those other sports if they lasted three hours is because of how common exciting plays are. They keep those basic fans engaged. Plays like hits, dangles, crossovers, and baskets happen fairly often, thus keeping the attention of these people. The two exciting plays in baseball to a basic fan are home runs and diving plays, which will usually happen a combined two or three times a game if you're lucky.
Taking all of these things into consideration, it's time to accept the decline of baseball fans. Barring a few major changes to the sport of baseball, most kids will keep choosing to play the faster paced sports that keep them involved. Baseball is unlike any sport in the sense that it takes a true fan of the game to play it. There is too much to learn about baseball before you can even step into a game, or progress as a player. You will also never know everything about how to play baseball, which frustrates many kids. For every ten or so young kids who don't want to put in the time it takes to learn how to play baseball and succeed at it, there is one young soul who will. That one kid is why I'm at peace with the diminishing number of baseball fans because the tradition will live on in the hearts of those truly dedicated to learning the art of baseball.
