Baseball on the decline in US?

[sydrogerdavid]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

World is becoming more fast pace. Most people I know who like sports likes at least basketball.

Most people I know that doesn't like baseball doesn't like it because they say it's boring. I sorta agree, but only when it's games not containing a team I like(or I'm not playing it, either in video game or real life). Hockey/basketball I can watch whether it's the team I like, or just a good overall matchup.

I'd rather watch heat-bulls or canucks-flames over yankees-redsox.

But it's probably from the way people grow up too. If you're surrounded by people who don't like something, you'll prob not like it either. And in school,people play basketball during gym or recess and hockey can be easily played in the schoolyard or in a gym as well. It's hard to play baseball in a school yard(and impossible to play inside a gym,real scary trying to take fielding practice inside a small gym cause it's rainy outside and field is flooded. Even worse if you're a pitcher lol)

So you can't really enjoy a sport if you don't play it that much.

This plays a huge roll. When you live in cities without baseball teams, like Buffalo, you are forced to like the professional teams that are in town. You grow up watching only that sport/team because that is the only option and you don't get the opportunity to learn about the other sports, which makes you ignorant and hating other sports because you never learned about them.

My roommate is from Buffalo and loves football. He now goes to school in the most baseball city in the country, St. Louis and yet, he used to claim to hate baseball. Why, because he knew nothing about it. I think this post season helped him to realize that baseball is more perfect than football. You can't comeback like the Cardinals did in football, there's the clock.

[CBG]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

Ok, so this is a response from a kid who has played Little League Baseball, American Legion baseball, CYO School baseball and Township 14+ ball
all in the past 2 years.

In my town, 9 years ago when my brother played we had 6 teams in our 12 "Majors" Little League division, two years ago, we had 2. and last year we had 1, both years we were forced to travel to the other townships fields and play there, the thing is; it wasn't only us.
almost every other township was suffering number wise, with the most i've came across was 4 teams.

Our 13,14 league has 10 kids on one team.
Our legion team doesn't have cuts because we're lucky enough to field 12...
Fall Baseball is no longer an option as only 9 signed up for a combined township team...

I absolutely love baseball, and I think a response someone said "it's not cool to love baseball more"
Well, at least in my social group, that statement is true.

everyones either LAX, Football Basketball and Hockey.
and baseball is becoming more and more niche, at least in my opinion.

all of my friends call me a junkie because if I could I would talk about nothing but baseball, but there's really no one to talk it with.
Now being in a Philadelphia Suburb, one might think our numbers have gone up after the phillies success, but not really, people watch the phillies because their good, not because they love baseball.

Another response I saw was how it's difficult to field 9v9 on a baseball suitable field...in the cities I suppose that is true. However, one could argue that having a glove and ball is suitable to play baseball with friends.

I would honestly agree that baseball is on the decline simply because "it's not cool anymore"


I mean honestly, straight up baseball fans really do fall into a niche category
i think it takes more to be a baseball person than it does to be a football person.

[nomo17k]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

I would honestly agree that baseball is on the decline simply because "it's not cool anymore"

The question is *why/how* baseball has gotten "uncool" amongst youth though.

I myself haven't met many *hardcore* baseball fans in person in U.S. I grew up in Japan (where baseball I believe is still a No. 1 pro sport) when I was very young, but I remember talking about baseball much more than I have before I moved to North America. But even then, there's this rivalry between soccer and baseball as a sport to actually play to enjoy (not just watching).

As the sport hasn't basically changed for a long time (not just baseball but other sports as well), what made it lose the edge in popularity it once enjoyed? Has the game gotten "stale" because the in-game commentary (especially Dave Campbell) has not been overhauled for years? jk

As much as I enjoy baseball, due to the lofty requirements (equipment, field, etc.) and the complexity in rules, I think the sport is not intrinsically made to become so widely popular... I wouldn't be surprised for baseball to keep losing edge to other sports that are simpler and more flashy.

Generations of young girls would keep loving Justin Bieber and the likes, but most wouldn't actively discover Jazz or classical music, because it takes more effort to enjoy them. I'm afraid baseball is becoming the latter kind.

[CMH]

Just yesterday on my way home from practice, an older gentleman approached me having noticed my equipment and bat and asked where I'd been playing (since its so cold out in NY). I told him practice at the cages, etc. We then got into a talk about baseball.

He told me about his dad (now 85) turning down a contract from the New York Giants because he was dating the guy's mother. We talked about the Cape Cod League, players from various regions growing baseball athletes, some intricacies of the game and so on.

Anyway, that conversation was the most in depth I've had with another person outside of my brother or this board in years. I think talking baseball with college buddies was the last time someone was so engaged in the sport with me.

And I never hear anyone talk about baseball unless they are heading to the game. But then it's mostly about the team's performance and what's been going on. If I see kids around its almost always basketball or football to a lesser extent.

Sometimes it's nice to find an older person because they seem to appreciate the history of the sport. Perhaps one day I'll be that guy fr some younger man or teenager.


Sent from my mobile device.

[Perfect Zero]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

Another thing to remember is that it takes a lot of effort just to follow baseball. The regular season has 162 games in baseball compared to 16 (mostly) Sunday games in the NFL. There are a lot of people that don't want to take the time to follow a sport that plays over half the year, with most of it being during the week.

That also ties into my next point, in which baseball is a sport for mature people. I feel that a lot of kids are drawn into football and basketball because of the simplicity of the rule set and the ease in which one can join. Now, this is not to say that football and basketball players are lazy; they work out just as hard for their sports as baseball players do. The problem is that baseball is a game that is very complex, even in its simplest form.

I once had a pen pal from Germany, and in her English class she was researching the game of baseball. She asked me a number of questions about it, and it took a good amount of explanation to even communicate the rules to her. It takes a lot of focus to really enjoy the subtleties of baseball, and unfortunately the younger generations just don't have that focus, especially in this new world.

I will say this; baseball isn't going to fall off the face of the Earth anytime soon. We aren't at the level of IndyCar racing or horse racing (two of my other joys). There are still numbers of kids who play baseball, and colleges that are feeding athletes to the professional levels. I went to Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington the other day to watch Houston Baptist take on UT-Arlington. The game was pretty mediocre (HBU's pitcher gave up six runs off of three hits, six walks, and three balks), but there were about 1,000 fans (estimation based off of 2,100 capacity with half of the ballpark full), and of those about 3/4ths of them were college kids. Our sport is still healthy, and I'm not too down about the recent downturn of kids playing ball as much as some others are.

[CMH]

Perhaps the kids with little talent are recognizing this sooner than later.

The ability of pro players hasn't died down. Guys still throw incredibly hard and hit the ball incredibly hard.

So the really talented kids are sticking with the sport. I'm sure there are a number of potentially talented kids that won't make the Majors because they gave up on/lost interest in the sport, but the talent is still marketable.


Sent from my mobile device.

[Bellsprout]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

MLB's archaic new media policy doesn't help, either.

What's the first thing that happens when something cool happens in the NBA or NFL? Someone uploads it to Youtube, a bunch of people watch it and send the link along to their friends. It creates buzz.

MLB, meanwhile, murders those videos before they ever get up and running so that you have to go to their website to watch them, which nobody does, so they can't create the type of buzz online that other sports get.

[Chrisksaint]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

Just look at Mike Stanton, he's considered one of the future stars in this league with his power but to him as a kid baseball was always the 3rd sport behind football and then baksetball.

To the average kid today there are not many that consider baseball their favorite sports. To go off what Dayman said, when I worked at an aftercare in the computer lab I'd show kids videos of good football/basketball plays that's something you can't really do with baseball

[nomo17k]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

MLB's archaic new media policy doesn't help, either.

What's the first thing that happens when something cool happens in the NBA or NFL? Someone uploads it to Youtube, a bunch of people watch it and send the link along to their friends. It creates buzz.

MLB, meanwhile, murders those videos before they ever get up and running so that you have to go to their website to watch them, which nobody does, so they can't create the type of buzz online that other sports get.

Yeah, I think mlb.com has gotten better over the years, but if they want to be so uptight about copyright and stuff, I hope that they at least do a better job of delivering more contents somehow. I want to watch classic players all the time it's very scarce.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

MLB's archaic new media policy doesn't help, either.

What's the first thing that happens when something cool happens in the NBA or NFL? Someone uploads it to Youtube, a bunch of people watch it and send the link along to their friends. It creates buzz.

MLB, meanwhile, murders those videos before they ever get up and running so that you have to go to their website to watch them, which nobody does, so they can't create the type of buzz online that other sports get.

Abso-****ing-lutely. Been complaining about this for SO long.

MLB's online presence is atrocious.

[Money99]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

CBG, CMH, etc, lots of good opinions.
The 'cooler' and 'difficulty' factors seem to be a big reason why less kids are playing, and sticking, to the sport.

My kids have really gotten into baseball over the past few years, but it would have never happened if I hadn't introduced them to the sport.
Meanwhile, both kids love soccer and basketball, two sports I never played and never pushed on them.
Both sports are simple and very easy to pick-up-and-play.

So it seems unless a kid has a strong baseball influence in their lives, chances are they won't play the sport.

I blame some parents on that too though.
I know of a few parents that took their kids out of baseball this season. They said their kids didn't care for it so they didn't push them.
But they never helped promote the sport either. In one case, both parents were good ball players, with the mother still playing softball. Yet, their 8-year-old kid couldn't catch or swing a bat.
At the start of the year, the mother begged one of her coaches to teach him how to play the game - to provide a lot more one-on-one time with him.
She was desperate for her son to be a good baseball player and yet, neither she nor her husband, had spent one minute with him in the backyard.

It's not like it was in the old days where kids were thrown out of the house to find something to do. And back then, baseball was a very viable option.
So if kids can't find empty sand lots and 10 friends to get a game going, parents have to do more to get their kids involved in the game.

[sydrogerdavid]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

CBG, CMH, etc, lots of good opinions.
The 'cooler' and 'difficulty' factors seem to be a big reason why less kids are playing, and sticking, to the sport.

My kids have really gotten into baseball over the past few years, but it would have never happened if I hadn't introduced them to the sport.
Meanwhile, both kids love soccer and basketball, two sports I never played and never pushed on them.
Both sports are simple and very easy to pick-up-and-play.

So it seems unless a kid has a strong baseball influence in their lives, chances are they won't play the sport.

I blame some parents on that too though.
I know of a few parents that took their kids out of baseball this season. They said their kids didn't care for it so they didn't push them.
But they never helped promote the sport either. In one case, both parents were good ball players, with the mother still playing softball. Yet, their 8-year-old kid couldn't catch or swing a bat.
At the start of the year, the mother begged one of her coaches to teach him how to play the game - to provide a lot more one-on-one time with him.
She was desperate for her son to be a good baseball player and yet, neither she nor her husband, had spent one minute with him in the backyard.

It's not like it was in the old days where kids were thrown out of the house to find something to do. And back then, baseball was a very viable option.
So if kids can't find empty sand lots and 10 friends to get a game going, parents have to do more to get their kids involved in the game.

I experienced this first hand this past summer when my brother and I were asked to help coach a pitching machine league.

First of all, this lawyer wanted to sponsor a team, but the league was short on coaches and they told her she would have to coach if she wanted to sponsor the team. Of course, she never coached a team in her life, neither her husband or anybody else she knew.

So we were out there, my brother and I, trying to teach 8 and 9 year old kids how to play the game, FROM THE GROUND UP! Heck, even my mom knew more about how to play baseball than all except for one of the other parents. A lot of the kids played tee ball the year before, but I guess they didn't pick up anything. They couldn't throw, catch, field, hit, or run, AT AGE 8/9! All they wanted to do was whine and complain about how it was hot outside and talk about video games. (It wasn't even about The Show either.) Some of the kids, you wondered, if they even comprehended anything you said to them.

The reason this was so surprising is because my dad started teaching us how to play the game as soon as we were able to walk and these kids couldn't even throw. I also think that was why it was so difficult for us to teach them. We had not gone over the most elementary details of the game since before we were 5.

There was one kid on the team who could do all of this. He could throw, hit, field, run, catch. Obviously he was the best on the team, just because he could do these basic tasks. Why was he able to do these, but the other kids couldn't? He was out there with his dad and brothers learning how to play the game from an early age. In fact, this kid was a younger brother of another guy I know who had played on my brother's baseball team for years.

Luckily, we taught them enough by the first game so they were able to win. But man, those games were so boring to watch and coach, but I just had to choose 3rd base coach. Silly me. Then you had other teams coaches teaching how to do things during the game.



I also think ESPN has much to do about baseball not being cool anymore. Look at how much more time is spent on basketball and football over baseball and hockey. We have NFL Live year round while Baseball Tonight is only during the season and Winter Meetings.

[bigdaddykraven]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

I experienced this first hand this past summer when my brother and I were asked to help coach a pitching machine league.

First of all, this lawyer wanted to sponsor a team, but the league was short on coaches and they told her she would have to coach if she wanted to sponsor the team. Of course, she never coached a team in her life, neither her husband or anybody else she knew.

So we were out there, my brother and I, trying to teach 8 and 9 year old kids how to play the game, FROM THE GROUND UP! Heck, even my mom knew more about how to play baseball than all except for one of the other parents. A lot of the kids played tee ball the year before, but I guess they didn't pick up anything. They couldn't throw, catch, field, hit, or run, AT AGE 8/9! All they wanted to do was whine and complain about how it was hot outside and talk about video games. (It wasn't even about The Show either.) Some of the kids, you wondered, if they even comprehended anything you said to them.

The reason this was so surprising is because my dad started teaching us how to play the game as soon as we were able to walk and these kids couldn't even throw. I also think that was why it was so difficult for us to teach them. We had not gone over the most elementary details of the game since before we were 5.

There was one kid on the team who could do all of this. He could throw, hit, field, run, catch. Obviously he was the best on the team, just because he could do these basic tasks. Why was he able to do these, but the other kids couldn't? He was out there with his dad and brothers learning how to play the game from an early age. In fact, this kid was a younger brother of another guy I know who had played on my brother's baseball team for years.

Luckily, we taught them enough by the first game so they were able to win. But man, those games were so boring to watch and coach, but I just had to choose 3rd base coach. Silly me. Then you had other teams coaches teaching how to do things during the game.



I also think ESPN has much to do about baseball not being cool anymore. Look at how much more time is spent on basketball and football over baseball and hockey. We have NFL Live year round while Baseball Tonight is only during the season and Winter Meetings.

I agree with the whole point of its up to the parents to get your child involved. Many times if you aren't good at something you lose interest, rare occasions they'll remain interested once they fail a few time.

I use myself as a point here. I had a dad who would go out and throw with me, help me bat and was even my coach for a few years in little league. I had some traveling teams watching me, scouting me to potentially join them when I was old enough. Then things fell apart, my dad and mom divorced and I no longer had a father around to throw the ball.

From there my skills diminished and if I didn't already love the game so much I could have easily quit. I still play ball in adult leagues now (I'm 28) but I really suck at it. I look back at that 12 year old I used to be who played toe-to-toe with some guys on the HS team that ended up going to the state tournament that year and the only thing I could think of that ruined it for me was the lack of practice and personal care with my dad. My mom tried to help but I was always afraid of hurting her so I laid off.

The fact that Football, then Basketball are being pushed above baseball, which in my school got little to no support from the faculty and student body doesn't help. Also you have to look at the internet came into swing over the last 20 years with technology booming that could have swayed many of those young kids who would have been playing t-ball. Sure MANY of the kids who play t-ball don't make it past the lowest level of little league but they take that love of baseball with them.

Its also harder to get to a pro game...yeah the Minor Leagues are good to go to too (we have the Knights here in Charlotte) but its at least 4 hours to the closest pro team in Atlanta. I know going to a pro game is where I first got that sparkle in my eyes. There's just so many factors AGAINST baseball its a shame.

[Giants4Natic]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

Baseball is not nearly as good as Football and Basketball in terms of wanting to play it.

African Americans are hard to find in baseball and mostly due to the fact that in baseball it usually takes years to crack the majors and even more years to get paid big time money.

The NBA people were coming from college and now 1 or 2 years into college and making big money and having the ability to play in the pros from day 1

Same with football.

Look at the drafts: Which drafts get the most pub NFL and NBA because it condenses the talent to the big time players

In baseball you got picks nobody heard of and most likely will die in triple A

Summer time you got people out in the basketball court

And when a young boy watches football or basketball they are amazed at what they do and all the glory and riches that come with it and endorsements

If it was me, I would say the same thing at that age as compared to baseball where I know that I have to go ride a crummy bus for a few years after high school or college and if I do make it to the pro's it will be a while before i get paid well.

There is also no lime light with drafting a player and no endorsement commercials.

That is where baseball falls greatly flat on its face.

And watching a baseball game is incredibly boring for all 9 innings pitch by pitch

It is a slow as snails pace and kids just dont like that

[55]

Re: Baseball on the decline in US?

And watching a baseball game is incredibly boring for all 9 innings pitch by pitch