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What happened to baseball?
Well....let's see some of the reasons for the sport's downfall.
Slow game speed
Steroid scandals
Slow game speed
the '94 lock out
threats of lockouts after 1994
over paid players
slow game speed
the media's focus on Barry Bonds like he's the only player on the field
domed ballparks
slow game speed
no replay system
the mentality that the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is the only rivalry in the sport's history
the rise in football's popularity
high prices
5 California baseball teams. I don't care if that state has more people, they shouldn't have over 3 teams!
.....did I mention SLOW GAME SPEED?
Look, I like baseball, but it's loosing popuplarity for one reason and one reason only:
The sport is separating itself from the fans.
Most Americans are loosing intrest and many people are accepting that. But is there a way to save Baseball?
Who knows?
I used to love baseball. I wanted to be a ball player and everything when I was younger. Then came the strikes. Baseball lost a lot of it's luster and appeal to me after the FIRST strike back in '94. Ever since then, I just haven't cared about it.
"Slow game speed". That one does it for me. The pace of the game is TOO SLOW!!! Not that the other reasons you listed are not to blame as they are. The strike and what some of those guys make is insane. Their overall attitude is one of the worst in professional sports. The days of the likes of Nolan Ryan are gone.
I just can not see how baseball can get prime time slots on tv when most people don't watch it. Who in their right mind can sit and watch an entire baseball game on tv from start to finish? I'd be nuts. Give me a good ice hockey game anyday.
Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.
Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.
Terrance Mann - Field of Dreams
That's a beautiful speach...but it doesn't save baseball. Baseball is definately apart of this country's history but I'm sorry to say, the sport is losing it's life and effect on the average American sports fan as we speak.
ESPN is definately part of the problem. Regardless of how Red Sox, Yankee's and the Mets are doing, thats all they like to report on. Remember in 05 when the Sox were tearing up the league? And again in 06 with Detroit? Still all the talk was Yankee's Red Sox.
Actually, I would argue the lack of a salary cap creating a HUGE disparity in talent, resulting in a lack of competitiveness between the (perennially) highest paid teams and the (perennially) lowest paid teams has contributed a lot more to the drop in interest than many are willing to admit. Think about it. Which teams are the most popular? Red Sox and Yankees on the AL side and probably the Dodgers, Cubs, and Braves on the NL side. Well, out of the 30 teams that comprise MLB, every one of those is in the top 10 as far as team salaries go. And all of those teams have no problem selling tickets and teams like the Red Sox have some of the most rabid fans in all of sports... remember the in the years before the Red Sox won the World Series, there were literally riots in the streets with burninng trash cans and cars getting turned over (and, sadly, an Emerson College student getting killed when Boston police shot her in the face with a pepper pellet)?
The point I'm making is that baseball is most certainly not dead in these successful markets. The bigger question, in my mind, is whether baseball would gain popularity if the same teams didn't seem to dominate the league year-in, year-out by simply bringing in the best talent by paying mega-salaries and then boosting ticket prices to support it. Markets like Boston and New York can do that because there's enough big business and people are affluent enough to pay upwards of $25 to sit in the bleachers for a single game and then pay upwards of $4 or $5 for a lousy bottle of water or a bag of popcorn. But I'm not so sure that people in, say, Milwaukee are willing to do the same thing, so they don't get the best talent.
So I think the salary cap for the NFL and the whole concept of free agency and revenue sharing has been a win-win for both the owners and the players (as a group... but it has not been so good for the superstars who are probably the most affected by the cap) and for the fans. Yes, it does work to break up teams when the superstars leave for greener pastures after their first few years, but it's really, really tough for one team to dominate the league in the NFL like the Yankees do in MLB because NFL teams cannot just bring in unlimited big-pay talent and pass the cost on to the fans.
And, I would argue, that may have more to do with why the NFL's success seems to make MLB look like it is losing popularity than slow game speed does.
Those are some good points, and a big part of the NFL's success is due to the Salary Cap. But you still have to admit, nowadays the majority of people want the "fast paced, razzle-dazzle" games, and baseball isn't that. Sure, there are plenty of great web gems and homerun shots the sport produces, but most of the game is just you sitting there and waiting for someone to knock one out of the park. Other sports can feature boring games, too, but not nearly as much as baseball.
The World Series is great, and at least the MLB's all-star game means something, but all in all, baseball just isn't a major competitor with the NFL, NBA, and (mainly in the south) NASCAR, which is also rapidly rising in popularity.
I use to watch baseball any chance that I got. My cousin played for the Brewers way back in the late 80s but quit cuz of his wife, dork!
I named my son after Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles, back in '98. But I quit watching in 2000 and I am sick of hearing about the Yankees cuz there are other teams and players out there that deserve as much if not more attention.
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I Love Baseball!
I hate to say it, but...
