Baseball Declining in Popularity?

The sport of baseball is an important part of America’s culture and history, but it seems to be declining in popularity among teenagers today. The game that once flooded every boys mind is now often called “boring” or “lazy.” There are still kids who are baseball-crazed, but as I asked around the school, they seemed hard to find.

Gavin Campbell, a freshman football player at Urbana, had quite strong feelings about the sport. “It’s a lazy man’s sport. It doesn’t take any physical fitness or athletic ability to hit a ball with a stick.” Our conversation was mainly Campbell sharing his negative opinions about many sports such as baseball and soccer. “Any sport that doesn’t involve your hands is stupid,” said Campbell. He then ended our interview with the following brief statement: “Baseball sucks.”

In October of 2010, the Tampa Bay Rays had an important game near the end of the regular season. They were half a game up on the Yankees, and it would be a close race. A large crowd was expected to attend such an important game, but surprisingly the stadium was only 35% full. The Rays have an indoor stadium, so weather conditions were not the reason for the poor turnout.

One theory is that baseball is not fast-paced enough for today’s generation. Our lives are beginning to revolve around speed. For example, the best phone to own is the fastest. If an Internet page takes more than 5 seconds or so to load, then we begin to get impatient. Perhaps people just don’t have a strong enough attention span to watch a three hour baseball game.

There are still some people out there, like myself, who enjoy watching the sport. The feeling of being at a ball game is especially enjoyable. It is sad to see such a huge part of our history on the decline.

Junior Miles Kelley, an outfielder on the Urbana High School baseball team said, “I love baseball for the excitement and thrill I get while playing. And I really appreciate watching the pros play, because of the amazing talent and skill. Baseball is an American pastime and I definitely think it’s an important part of our history.”

“A lot of people are into basketball, soccer, or football these days. Those sports are faster paced and action packed. This could be a big reason that most teenagers don’t like it as much as me,” said Kelley. “Another reason for losing popularity could be the heat. Baseball is played in the summer and a lot of people probably aren’t willing to stand out in the heat for several hours at a time.”

While it appeared that baseball was slowly dying among today’s generation, something happened on October 27, 2011, that rekindled a love for the sport in some people: Game six of the 2011 world series. On that exciting night, millions of American children watched as the Texas Rangers found themselves one strike away from a World Series title, but the cardinals miraculously tied the game and saved themselves – twice!

After the first time, many teenagers like myself realized what makes baseball so enjoyable to watch. Drama-packed full count situations, with one last chance to stay alive in the game. Twice, the St. Louis Cardinals swung at what could have been the last pitch of their season, and made contact.

I am a White Sox fan myself, and hadn’t really chosen sides in this World Series. But when the Cardinals did the impossible the first time, my eyes were glued to the TV screen when they did it again.

Finally, in the bottom of the 11th, David Freese sent a ball screaming into the grass in center field, giving the Cardinals a 10-9 win, and one more game to finally decide who would take home the trophy. It would be St. Louis this time around.

Although teenagers sometimes find baseball hard to watch, and don’t prefer it to other sports out there, I think deep down most people know how to appreciate the game – we just need an occasional reminder.