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A National Pastime No More?
It’s a testimony to the traditionalist bent that runs through Ricochet — and our shameless attempts to lure George Will over — that some of the most prolonged discussions in the site’s history have involved baseball (I recall at least one discussion of the designated hitter that resulted in casualties). Increasingly, however, we seem to be the outliers. We may still call the game “the national pastime,” but the title is largely vestigial. These days, baseball is more of a regional interest than a national obsession. From Jonathan Mahler in the New York Times:
On Tuesday night, the first game of the 2014 World Series drew just 12.2 million viewers to Fox, making it the lowest-rated Game 1 on record. Game 2 on Wednesday night fared somewhat better, with 12.9 million people tuning in.
It goes on:
For most of the last century, the start of baseball’s World Series — with its red, white and blue bunting and occasional ceremonial first pitch from the president — was always a major event. The opening game of the Fall Classic has provided some of the country’s most enduring sports memories, including Willie Mays’s over-the-shoulder basket catch (1954), Sandy Koufax’s 15-strikeout performance (1963) and Kirk Gibson’s walk-off home run (1988).
But this week, more people watched “NCIS: New Orleans” and “The Big Bang Theory,” and — for that matter — “The Walking Dead,” the cable show about zombies. The audience for “Sunday Night Football,” a regular season game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos, was almost twice that of Games 1 or 2. Even last Saturday night’s college football matchup — Florida State University versus Notre Dame — drew more viewers than either World Series game.
Perhaps the most compelling statement about baseball’s relative standing among American sports fans is this: Last summer’s World Cup match between the United States and Portugal drew 25 million viewers, roughly double that of the World Series opener.
OK, if you’ve witnessed an Obama first pitch, you know it’s probably not a net loss to the game to forego the presidential imprimatur. That’s form you wouldn’t accept from an eight-year-old girl. But that World Cup line? American exceptionialism is dead. (Further proof of this fact: my spell-check always flags the word “exceptionalism.” The bile that rises in that moment is biological proof of conservatism.)
Now, you can argue that television audiences for everything have fractured, which is true so far as it goes, but, as noted above, baseball’s biggest moment of the year isn’t even competitive with regular season fare from college or professional football. That may be partially attributable to the presence of a small-market team (the Kansas City Royals) in this year’s World Series, but the allure of the Royals’ Cinderella story (it’s been nearly 30 years since they’ve been in a championship series) ought to mitigate at least some of that. Still, there just aren’t many eyeballs to be found once the games get underway.
There’s a long-standing debate over what’s caused the decline in the game’s popularity. Was it the fallout from the steroids scandals (or at the least the fall-off in offensive production that occurred once the league cracked down on PEDs)? The fact that the American people no longer have the attention span for a game played at such a comparatively glacial pace? The fact that a 162-game regular season schedule dilutes the product?
Questions for the Ricochetti: is baseball’s second-tier status in American sports a cyclical phenomenon from which it will recover or is the game in the midst of a decline from which it will not return? Have you found your own interest in the game waning? And what — if anything — could arrest the slide?
Published in General
I’m gonna throw out another possibility. I wonder if we, as a society, have become more and more enamored of athleticism. As John Kruk once famously said: “I ain’t an athlete, lady. I’m a baseball player.” It’s pretty clear baseball requires less athleticism than other major sports (note I am not saying less skill, just less athleticism). I wonder if over the years, we have lost an appreciation for other talents and skills, and instead focus our attention on the greater athletics inherent in sports like basketball and football. Just a thought.
No, but the schedule has been formulated so that in a 7-game series there is only one direct conflict with the NFL and that will be game 5 on Sunday.
Our local team pulls them in at the stadium. I think a big factor is that, at least here, ticket prices are reasonable, and on a nice summers evening people love to go to the park.
Plus, no one’s selling sushi!
The existing rule is vague and prone to capriciousness of any given ump in it’s application.
A clear standard needs to be set the fix the problem, and one that doesn’t rely on the ump staring at a stop watch.
Speaking for myself, interest in this year’s World Series declined when the O’s were swept.
Man, it hurts to rip that scab off so soon…….
Throughout the early 90s I was an avid fan. Then after the 95 strike, things changed. I, as well as many others, had lost some of my enthusiasm. I still followed baseball but not as religiously. Then after the 1998 season I totally stopped following baseball. It was clear that something in baseball was amiss. Either the players were using PEDs or the league had changed the makeup of the ball itself or both. The whole thing felt contrived in an effort to bring back fans. Records be damned. It also felt as though everything that was happening was because of greed.
I haven’t watched a MLB game in probably 15 years. I can’t tell you the names of more than a handful of current major league players. Frankly, I just don’t care anymore. At this point in my life, I don’t see myself ever caring about MLB again. While MLB certainly achieved short term gain in 1998 and for some years afterwards, it did itself irreparable damage. It should be a lesson to us all. When you sacrifice your morals and ethics for short term gain, you will end up regretting it in the end.
Actually, there is, but they don’t enforce that either. Game times could be cut by roughly 1/3 just by enforcing those rules, but then you’ll get romantic nonsense about how baseball is a game without a clock.
Oh, I still love baseball. I’m not watching the World Series this year because I hate the $&@!! Giants.
I did, however, watch a vast majority of the Rockies’ losingest season in franchise history. As only a true fan would.
There’s another member here with whom I think you share this angst. His initials are MLR.
What’s up with you two? Even a Yankee fan can appreciate the depth of the Giants’ pitching.
And yet, you’re speaking for me as well. I don’t go to any live sporting events any more, because I’m fed up to here with the loud music. Seriously, are they afraid I might have a conversation with the person I came with? It’s like an old joke, “I went to a heavy metal concert, and a baseball game broke out…”
“Professional baseball is on the wane. Salaries must come down, or the interest of the public must be increased in some way. If one or the other does not happen, bankruptcy stares every team in the face.” -baseball player, manager, executive and founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods, Albert Spalding 1881
“Baseball . . .has begun to topple from its ancient pedestal, as the one-time fervid fans turn to new sports.” -Journalist Jack Kofoed 1929
“ . . .there aren’t enough of ‘em . . . boys don’t take the game as seriously as we used to. I remember when we ate, slept and lived baseball.” -former major league player Hooks Wiltse 1937
“Frankly, baseball, love it though you may, is a complex game requiring more organization and enthusiasm than boys today are willing to give it.” -Westbrook Pegler 1945
The death of baseball has been a story annually since the great game was invented.
In 2013 MLB teams took in about $8.5 Billion in revenue only 10% of which was from national TV contracts. The NFL in 2013 brought in slightly more, roughly $9 Billion, but over a third of that came from national TV deals. Baseball is far more local and, in fact, has never been healthier on the field or at the cash register.
Play Ball!
Many people, especially New York-centric baseball writers, would describe the late 1920’s through 1941 as a golden age of baseball. Countless books have been written about the 1927 Yankees as the gold standard of baseball. And it was one heckuva team. But, by today’s standards nobody ever saw them play. They weren’t on TV, of course, so it would seem natural that “The House that Ruth Built” must have been packed to the rafters for every home game.
Nope.
Average attendance at Yankee home games in 1927 was 15,117. Good seats are still available to see Ruth, Gehrig, and Combs. Maybe Hoyt’s pitching. Let’s go!
Of course it could have been worse, the rival Red Sox drew only 305,275 for the entire year. And they didn’t even have the worst attendance in the AL. That dubious distinction went to the St. Louis Browns who couldn’t attract 3,250
suckersfans per game.Remember this was at a time that horse racing, prize fighting, and baseball ruled the roost. The Golden Age of Baseball!
Now that it’s “dying” the Yankees draw 42,000/ game and command multi-millions for their local media contracts. I just wish I owned an MLB team now that baseball is so unpopular. I wonder if Mike Ilitch will cut me a good deal…
The city of Detroit already cut him one (thankfully) with Comerica and the new Wings Stadium (no name yet)!
I’ve noticed that as well.
Football fans will watch their favorite team play whenever they can, but that’s only 1 game a week. But they’ll also sit on the couch all day Sunday and watch whatever’s on, watch Monday and Thursday Night football, watch every playoff game, plus watch dozens of bowl games over the holidays.
Baseball fans seem more likely to follow one team, at least check the box score every day, from when pitchers and catchers report until their team is eliminated from the playoffs — then lose interest in the sport until spring training rolls around again.
For me, if the A’s were in the World Series I’d be glued to every pitch, but even with the nearby Giants in it I’m just not all that interested. Whereas I haven’t missed a Super Bowl in decades, even if I hate both teams playing it’s still must-see TV.
I couldn’t agree more. I was outside all day today in sunny, 60 degree weather and kept thinking what a great day for baseball.
Thoughts: (1) If you are in a hurry, why are you watching a ballgame? For the love of Pete, what sort of grizzled old grump heads to a game, grabs a dog and a cold one, and turns his thoughts to obsessing about when he gets to leave? (2) Learn how to keep a scorecard. You’ll have a new admiration for the game. (3) Turkey will never beat cow; soccer will never beat baseball. Anyone who takes issue with any of the foregoing is French.
For the record, I’ve caught every game but either watched on my phone or listened on my phone. None on TV.
It’s all about red state versus blue state for me!
Wait, the world series has started?
Sadly, I’m not joking.
The ratings issue has a lot to with the fact that the network has decided that all the games start at 5:00 west coast time. When the big market team in the series is on the west coast, you are killing the opportunity for the most interested part of your audience to watch. The games should start at 6:00 in the west. The major markets in NY and Boston aren’t interested anyway, but those who are can turn I the game at 9 pm just like they do for prime time football. You’d get more viewership with a smarter programming schedule. I have no idea why the idiotic decision to play the games at the time they are.
I must say I’ve only been to one professional baseball game in my life, and had a blast! However, I’ll probably never go again, and the primary reason is the same as why I gave up going to the movie theater a long time ago: cost.
There’s more to it than simply the cost of tickets – there’s food and beverages (the price for beer is outrageous!), the inconvenience of having to “pay the rent” on said beer, hot dogs sold at filet mignon prices . . . I could go on.
The average fan (or even non-fan) has been priced out of the market for years now. With the investment of a 58″ plasma HDTV in the basement, my StadCave has now become the focus of my sports viewing. The cave has a small cooler, a bathroom upstairs, a grill outside for burgers & dogs, pizza delivery, and free parking.
I will say that both pro and college football have practical advantages. Even though costs have risen for those sports too, there are not nearly the number of games being played, plus only about half the games are at home. The low number of games also means each regular season game is crucial to a post-season appearance.
And I haven’t even talked about aesthetics of the game . . .
Stad – There are baseball teams that have tackled the cost aspect. In Cincinnati, the Reds allow people to bring in their own food and drink provided it’s in a soft container and plastic bottles have their original seal. They are one of a handful of small market teams that need to draw from a large regional base. They recognized a long time ago that out-of-towners were purchasing tickets for whole series, driving in and staying in hotels. They think about the whole budget for the families in the seats.
Same thing with the Orioles – you can bring in your own food and soft drinks. We always buy our hot dogs and peanuts from the vendors outside the ballyard.
According to the pricing, the hot dogs sold inside of Camden Yards must be made of unicorn meat…..
I used to love day games, but in the middle of summer, it can be too hot sitting in the sun, waiting for the shade to finally arrive at my row. I used to have season tickets for all the Phillies Sunday games, but sometimes it was brutal sitting in the hot sun. I switched to night games.
Every time I go to a game I marvel at the seemingly working class people shelling out big bucks for beer and food. I could never pay those prices. I’d rather starve.
The major league stadiums I’ve been to allow food to be brought in, but minor league stadiums don’t, and their food prices aren’t that great. That makes it harder to afford those games, as much as I would like to go more often.
The Brewers do the same. I once brought an entire pizza from Little Caesers into the game – one of those $5 hot & ready specials. Felt like an idiot carrying it through the parking lot and gates, but I ate well, and for less than the cost of a slice inside the stadium.
I’ve read that back in the days of the Milwaukee Braves in the 1950s you could bring your own beer in. There was one guy that had 2 season tickets. One for himself, and one for a place to put a case of beer.
Spring training is like that too – the ticket prices are cheap, but the food is a lot more than at the Major league ballpark.
One of the things that’s really got me frosted for next season is the requirement from MLB that everyone has to go through metal detectors on their way into the stadium.
I don’t understand what problem they’re trying to solve. They’ve been doing bag checks for years, which should be sufficient to stop the Boston marathon type bombings, if that’s what they’re worried about. So they must be looking for handguns and knives. But if there’s been a rash of shootings and stabbings at Major League games the media has been remarkably quiet about them. If they’re worried about fights and tempers getting out of hand, last I checked they’re still selling baseball bats at the stores inside the stadium.
Meanwhile, anything that makes it more painful to go to a game, or waste even more time getting in, only makes my 82″ TV at home that much more attractive. If it takes an extra 5-10 minutes to get into the game that’s not a big deal for someone who goes to 2 or 3 games a season. If you go to a whole bunch of games it starts to add up.
It’s good to hear that there are teams doing what it takes to bring folks back into the stands.
Actually, that sounds like a good policy to me. One of my persistent gripes is that administrators of schools, malls, movie theaters, workplaces, etc. spend 29 cents to put up a sign creating a “gun free zone,” but don’t take responsibility to enforce it or protect the people inside the zone (which would cost real money).
Furthermore, they say the 9/11 attacks succeeded because we had a “failure of imagination.” Well, it doesn’t take much imagination to consider the large crowds at a baseball game to be a terrorist target and/or a mass shooting target.