Last month, I watched part of Game 2 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees with a colleague. While watching, it dawned on me that this was the first game of this year’s baseball post-season that I’d seen. To me, that is a significant revelation regarding the plight of Major League Baseball and its trajectory for the future. I’d consider myself one of baseball’s more hardcore fans, one who has unfailingly watched postseason baseball games for more than 30 years, even if my team, the Cincinnati Reds, are not in the postseason (which unfortunately has been the case most of the nineties and in the 2000’s). I’m the type of fan who can still recite most of the uniform numbers of Reds players and their main rivals since the 80’s and also can mimic the batting stances of most of those players as well.
The fact that I didn’t watch any of the divisional and league championship playoff games to me is not a good sign for baseball. Now, I’m not saying that I didn’t know who won each game—I still look at the headlines on espn.com, cnnsi.com or Yahoo! sports and listen to sports radio or watch Sportscenter on ESPN so I will always be informed. And this month has been pretty busy with my work and personal life, but every year is busy and I’ve found ways to watch games in the past. To me, it’s a sign that my interest has waned, my passion has subsided, and I’ve found other things to occupy my leisure time in October (and now November with the ever lengthening baseball post-season schedule).
In his book, The Meaning of Sports, Why Americans Watch Baseball, Football, and Basketball and What They See When They Do , author Michael Manelbaum walks his readers through the history of baseball.
From an anthropologist’s point of view, he links the history of baseball and the purpose it served to the dominant agrarian economy and lifestyle of America during its rise. The agrarian society at the time was slow paced, slowly waiting for crops to be developed during the summer and then harvested in the fall, just as the long baseball season of 162 games proceeds during the summer and culminates with the World Series in the fall. The lack of a clock in baseball also reflects this type of life. Today’s fast paced lifestyle with constant appointments and meetings down to every hour more closely resonates with the timed experiences of football and basketball. Baseball on the other hand, reflects an era where people would say, “I’ve got all day available” – not “I don’t have all day”. While his analysis seems a bit too convenient and simple, I certainly believe that the link to American tradition is a key driver in the sports popularity over the years.
And the fact that this type of tradition is really subsiding from today’s lifestyle seems to me the biggest link to its decline in comparison to football and even basketball. Today’s society is typified by on the go, constant accessibility for both personal and work life, and what may be called widespread ADD, baseball will naturally lose popularity. While I still love baseball, and the drama of a late inning post season is hard to be matched, the pace and length of the season which used to be celebrated is starting to become a grind. In the past, I could watch the post-season even if my team, the Cincinnati Reds weren’t in the playoffs. Now it’s becoming more of a nice to have in terms of being able to watch a playoff game—not a must do. Of course, if the Reds make the playoffs again, I’ll certainly be there watching and my love affair with baseball will start up again all anew.
Reading, Writing, and Reflecting 
It is true! The Baseball is one of the rare, but very popular sports which does not have a time limit and it did relate to an attitude of “living a life, not just rush through it”! Hopefully, we don’t lose it completely!
I do think that baseball will always have a place in the crowded sports world and its unique ability to compare different eras through statistics will allow older generations to keep today’s baseball relevant to older fans…..the key challenge will be to get the younger fans engaged, which seems to have certainly declined in recent years.
Baseball is awfully boring; look at MLB attendance this year…this is just the beginning! Good riddance, baseball, you won’t be missed much!
I *LOVED* watching baseball as a kid and teenager in the late 70’s and 80’s. I still cheer for my Yankees, but I can’t deny baseball has become soooo boring!
My suggestions (which I doubt will ever happen):
A 162-game season is ridiculously too long. I say shorten it to 100 games.
Start a player on 2nd base to start each extra inning.
Go back to only four teams making the playoffs.
Contract teams if needed.
Stop selling beer & alcohol entirely at baseball games. (It’s pathetic to see how rowdy people get. Yankee Stadium is NOT a place for kids.)
Just a few thoughts… 🙂
@ Steve- I like some of your suggestions, although others I can’t ever see happening.
* Shortening the season from 162 games is something I think that could help and may happen, but baseball is so record conscious and statistics oriented, that losing that historical comparison will be an issue.
* Starting a runner at 2nd base each inning?– never will happen.
* I don’t think having less playoff teams will happen unless teams are contracted. Contracting by a few teams may happen over time I think,
* Not selling alcohol– sports leagues won’t ever stop selling alcohol, but perhaps last sale could be even earlier.
Akadema Pro comments on baseball’s perceived declining popularity and attendance: Although, other sports like soccer, have seen a steady decline in participation, very few articles are published on it. Many articles focus on 1 time participation with sports like volleyball, basketball, tennis and others. While baseball participation reflects actual league and team participation.
Baseball, like other mature sports, goes through ebbs and flows (2010 8.9% increase on participation). Kids have more options today, with longer seasons and more sports and recreational offerings. They tend to play their sport of choice longer, while choosing a secondary sport for more recreational purposes. This two sport focus leads to a lack of participation in all major sports. A sport like football has low participation but a large fan base, due mainly to the fact that the sport is an event played once a week and is an opportunity to throw a party. NBA basketball is at an all time low with back to back years of falling attendance and Soccer participation has declined since 1997 according to a Highbeam Business article: “Participation in soccer grew 18.4 percent from 1987 to 1997, with some 18.2 million Americans playing the game at least once in 1997. Participation figures declined from there, reaching 13.6 million in 2009″.
Baseball Attendance:
MLB Baseball has been experiencing it’s largest ticket sales and overall revenue the past few years. Plain and simple baseball is financially the strongest it has ever been: See article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101004&content_id=15410876&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb.
Team Sports Results.
On the team sports side, there were large participation gains in the larger sports, but declines in others. Basketball and baseball led the team sports with 10.1% and 8.9% increases respectively in 2010.
Some of the results from Sports Participation in 2010 Series are below:
Basketball – 10.1% increase to 26.9 million participants.
Baseball – 8.9% increase to 12.5 million participants.
Ice Hockey – 7.9% increase to 3.3 million participants.
Football – 4.8% increase to 9.3 million participants.
Soccer – 0.3% decrease to 13.5 million participants.
Volleyball – 1.0% decrease to 10.6 million participants.
Participation Results
Baseball is possibly the only sport mentioned above that only pulls participant data from the demographics of Male and age range of 7yrs old to 18yrs. Other sports participation takes into consideration league and recreational participation and any age or either gender. Baseball numbers are based on actual league participation. A true measure of baseball popularity is to combined (like all other sport polls on participation) all ages, gender and all forms of the sport. Meaning combined mens baseball 18yrs and up, girls fastpitch ages 7yrs and older, men’s slowpitch and windmill softball all ages and you will find the combined in excess of approx 26 million participants…Making it, along with basketball, the largest team sport
When I read the original post few years ago, I agreed with the point being made about the slowness of the game! But last week, when 6th game of the World Series between Cards and Rangers took place, I really appreciated the true meaning of the baseball and as such I enjoyed the game!
This is what I commented on the Facebook on Friday, October 28th about the charm of the baseball:
“I turned on to the game after Jon Stewart Daily Show at 11:30 PM! I decided to turnoff TV 5 times in those last 3 innings, but did not! What an exciting finish! The Yogi Bera phrase “It is not over till it is over” was so true last night!… It was fascinating to think and observe how the players and the managers of both theams lived that one hour of excitement and anxieties! Of course, the spectators in the stadium were fully involved too in that experience! WONDERFUL! Baseball does reflect life in many ways! Slow, but unpredictable and exciting for few moments. Seize those moments!”