Is Baseball a Dying Sport?

Is Major League Baseball on the way out as 'America's Favorite Pass-time?' Some would claim that the sport lost that distinction years ago as the NFL surpassed baseball as the most-watched sport on TV. That may or may not be true. In actuality auto racing draws the largest number of fans in America and has for quite some time. In addition, although the NFL has consistently scored much higher ratings on TV than baseball, no one can deny that in any given year more fans enter the turnstiles at U.S. baseball parks than at football stadiums.

I am not here to argue the point, however. I fear that baseball is a dying sport. This year's World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals hit a record low in television viewership.

As a baseball purist I could point to a number of precipitating factors that have hurt the sport, such as implementing the Designated Hitter, embarking on an expansion program that lead to over-saturation, the addition of the 'wild card' and an extended play-off series which makes the World Series almost anti-climactic. I do believe that each of these things have hurt rather than helped the sport.

A deeper look reveals some other less obvious factors. Baseball came of age prior to the TV generation. Football on the other hand, at least the NFL variety, came of age at the same time as the advent and growth of television. Football is a sport that tends be more tailor made for TV than baseball, which is most definitely best enjoyed at the ball park.

In addition, baseball has been sorely lacking in leadership at the top, in the Commissioner's office. Today the Commissioner tends to be a pawn of the owners. It was not always so. The last strong, independent advocate for the sport was the late Bartlett Giamanti, the Harvard President who resigned his post in order to devote his life to his passion--baseball. Giamanti died in office almost 20 years ago.

The game itself is deeply embedded in the soul of America. The French writer de Toqueville said, 'If you want to understand America, watch baseball.'

I have been watching all my life. And perhaps herein is the problem. America has changed, and not always for the better. I came of age when baseball players were larger than life heroes who played not for money or fame but for the sheer joy of the game. Sunday afternoons were spent at my Grandfather's house watching 'Yankee Baseball' on CBS with Dizzie Dean and Pee Wee Reese. Those were the years that Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris, Joe Peppitone, Bobby Richardson, and Elston Howard graced the diamond, much to the delight of us boys who fancied ourselves as the next baseball stars on the horizon.

Through the years I watched Willie Maize make his famous 'basket-catch,' Steve Carlton pitch his no-hitters, and Carl Yastremski thrill audiences at Fenway Park in Boston.

These baseball giants were by no means perfect, but one had the distinct impression that the talent they possessed was honed by hours and hours of practice rather than artificially induced by some muscle-enhancing drug. The tacit expectation was that they were supposed to be role models to the nation's youth. Whether they were, in fact, roles models or not was not the point. In public they lived into that role.

Today the game suffers from wealth-seekers, dishonest 'athletes' who artificially enhance their performance with substances that mask their under-achievement, and a consortium of owners who make decisions based upon what will bring them the most revenue rather that what's best for the game.

Those periods when players either went on strike or threatened to strike certainly didn't help matters, particularly when you are arguing over 30 million bucks vs. 20 million.

There is still time to save the game. First, confidence in the integrity of the game and its players must be restored. Then, the players must at least give the fans some sign that they play because they love the game rather than to advance to multi-millionaire status. It's ok to make millions if you are good, but just don't throw a tantrum like a 2-year-old if you don't get everything you want. That makes the players look cheap, disingenuous, and petty in the eyes of the fans.

Of course, I would make further changes, such as getting rid of play-offs and going straight to the World Series featuring the two teams that won the most games in their respective leagues.

But even if I don't get that, I would settle for a restoration of the integrity of the game first and foremost.

America needs this sport. It's part of our soul.