Baseball Is Dying

[Mike D.]

'BASEBALL IS DYING': A 100-YEAR HISTORY OF DOOMSDAY PROCLAMATIONS

[BobbyStrawberry]

Many great points made already....in my view MLB is killing itself through piss poor leadership. Manfred is a disgrace to the game in so many ways.

The axing of minor league teams to save a few bucks in the short term was an awful decision for the long term health of the game...minor league are where you see families and regular people, as opposed to many major league stadium where casual fans and families are increasingly priced out (I'm looking at you, Yankee Stadium!)

[Dead-Ball-Hitter]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Many great points made already....in my view MLB is killing itself through piss poor leadership. Manfred is a disgrace to the game in so many ways.

The axing of minor league teams to save a few bucks in the short term was an awful decision for the long term health of the game...minor league are where you see families and regular people, as opposed to many major league stadium where casual fans and families are increasingly priced out (I'm looking at you, Yankee Stadium!)

Bobby you said it all brother...

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

'BASEBALL IS DYING': A 100-YEAR HISTORY OF DOOMSDAY PROCLAMATIONS

The undeniable fact is, baseball IS dying, 100 years of baseball dying history or otherwise. I truly believe the root cause is the money these days. A nine inning game on TV cannot be sped up because of money. But there is more. Interest level. With everything available to everyone, so many diverse interests today, it is unrealistic to expect baseball to be as popular as even 20 to 25 years ago.

[Orioles1954]

I must have missed the wailing and gnashing of teeth regarding the N.L. getting the DH full-time. Fans were either resigned to the fact or (more worryingly) have stopped caring.

[bmattioli]

It's Opening Day can't there be some positive vibes out there??

Come-On Man..

So happy today!!

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

It's Opening Day can't there be some positive vibes out there??

Come-On Man..

So happy today!!

+1
Though disappointed that the Yanks / BoSox game was cancelled today
Will have to wait till tomorrow afternoon

[joshleon]

The little league thing is a big deal. What you are starting to see with youth (I have 8 and 10yos) is the "specialization of youth athletics". Baseball is a great example. The kids who play baseball well, end up playing for club and/or travel teams, and the causal players from the town don't make enough of a critical mass to get the little league going. The gung ho parents who coach, coach the travel, not the rec. etc..

These factors end up causing local little leagues to die out. Many towns in the NE where I live don't have LLs anymore. The casual players don't have an option to play, then they lose interest, and the MLB has lost another future fan.

We make our boys play both rec and travel for this very reason. We cut out travel practice in the spring so they can play rec with their friends. That may sound like i'm bragging but I am also cognizant that I am part of the problem in that I have them do travel/club in the first place.

All of the points in this thread are good ones.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by joshleon

The little league thing is a big deal. What you are starting to see with youth (I have 8 and 10yos) is the "specialization of youth athletics". Baseball is a great example. The kids who play baseball well, end up playing for club and/or travel teams, and the causal players from the town don't make enough of a critical mass to get the little league going. The gung ho parents who coach, coach the travel, not the rec. etc..

These factors end up causing local little leagues to die out. Many towns in the NE where I live don't have LLs anymore. The casual players don't have an option to play, then they lose interest, and the MLB has lost another future fan.

We make our boys play both rec and travel for this very reason. We cut out travel practice in the spring so they can play rec with their friends. That may sound like i'm bragging but I am also cognizant that I am part of the problem in that I have them do travel/club in the first place.

All of the points in this thread are good ones.

Forget the organized leagues, when I was young, I remember kids from the neighborhoods just going to the local fields and playing pickup games. When was the last time you drove past a baseball field and just saw kids playing? And that's assuming you still have some ballfields in your neighborhood anymore. They're like bowling alleys it seems. They get removed and torn down, but never replaced or have new ones put up. The 1993 movie "The Sandlot" was set in 1962 and epitomizes exactly what I'm talking about. Those days are long gone. (Great movie by the way, with a Babe Ruth autographed baseball as the focal point, and James Earl Jones playing a former Negro League star player who sounds like he may have been based on Josh Gibson.)

[Touch'EmAll]

All sing ! " Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie & Chevrolet. They go together in the good ol' USA "

And by the way, my Angels with Trout & Ohtani just might go all the way this year.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Touch'EmAll

All sing ! " Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie & Chevrolet. They go together in the good ol' USA "

And by the way, my Angels with Trout & Ohtani just might go all the way this year.

Every team is undefeated at the start of opening day! Hope springs eternal!

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

It's Opening Day can't there be some positive vibes out there??

Come-On Man..

So happy today!!

There is infinitely more baseball today than yesterday! That is a good thing!

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

It's Opening Day can't there be some positive vibes out there??

Come-On Man..

So happy today!!

Agreed and the Best part is my team is Un Defeated.

[toledo_mudhen]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

agreed and the best part is my team is un defeated.

cmon man!

[butchie_t]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

It's Opening Day can't there be some positive vibes out there??

Come-On Man..

So happy today!!

I'm positive baseball is dying.


;-)

Butch

[BCauley]

I’d be curious to see stats on when baseball began “dying” by year. Are games too long? Me personally I don’t think so. I would just be curious to know the correlation between the “takes to long” and the “immediate gratification” society we are in today.

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by BCauley

I’d be curious to see stats on when baseball began “dying” by year. Are games too long? Me personally I don’t think so. I would just be curious to know the correlation between the “takes to long” and the “immediate gratification” society we are in today.

From what I understand the NFL first surpassed MLB in ratings and popularity in 1972.

[Hankphenom]

My 70+ year-old friends and I talk often about how happy we are to have lived when we did, for the many pleasures and experiences we took for granted for most of our lives that now seem to be on the verge of extinction, baseball as we knew it among them, but also great daily newspapers; wonderful music and movies; terrific neighborhood bars and mom-and-pop restaurants; affordable housing and cars; temperate climate, etc.. Of course I'd rather be young right now, but without sounding like a grumpy old man--which I don't feel like in the least--sometime in the next few years doesn't seem like a bad time to be taking leave of this place after a long and happy life. I hope the young folks are finding and creating as much fun and entertainment to fill up their days as we did. To bring it back to baseball, reading the list of changes mandated by the Poobahs in their negligible wisdom, it's amazing that virtually all of them strike me as actually detrimental to the game and the experience of it. I can't imagine what they are thinking in practically every one of these meddlesome and needless changes. For starters, all I want mandated is for the batters to stay in the box, the pitchers stay on the mound, and the runners stay on the bases, all of them ready for the next pitch. Having said all this, I am absolutely thrilled to have my Nationals to watch every day for the next six months or so. "Play Ball!", I am so happy to be able to say.

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

It's Opening Day can't there be some positive vibes out there??

Come-On Man..

So happy today!!

I'd feel much more positive if Manfred would resign. That would be a boost of adrenaline for MLB.

As a Reds fan, there's really not much to get excited about... maybe an epic impending battle with Pittsburgh for last place?

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by jingram058

The undeniable fact is, baseball IS dying, 100 years of baseball dying history or otherwise. I truly believe the root cause is the money these days. A nine inning game on TV cannot be sped up because of money. But there is more. Interest level. With everything available to everyone, so many diverse interests today, it is unrealistic to expect baseball to be as popular as even 20 to 25 years ago.

“Baseball will go broke because it makes too much money”.

You are right that the entertainment world is more niches than ever. That’s the reality…baseball will never be what it was in the 1950’s from a “general popularity” perspective, but neither will anything else.

Baseball is less “generally popular” now than it away 25 years ago (well, maybe 24 years ago), but the game brings in more money now than it did then, even adjusting for inflation.