[Seven]

Baseball itself is predicated on its history. Baseball has prided itself that it is nothing without its past. I think also being the National Pastime and the most popular sport for the majority of the 20th century also helps. The basics of the game have barely changed, I think it's well agreed upon that the hardest thing to do in any era is to hit a baseball. The gaudy numbers that players like Cobb, Ruth, Johnson, Gehrig, Wagner, put up also have a ton of staying power. Plus we have the mythos and legend that surrounds the pre-war era, which, only adds to the prestige of these players. Even at the nations worst moments, baseball was there. It provided an escape. It endured the first world war, the depression, it became the great equalizer.