COLUMN: Baseball far from dying

Baseball is dying in America – a sentiment heard far too often of late. Why is it heard too often? Because it’s not true. Many argue, including Volante columnist Rob Nielsen, that Major League Baseball is a shell of what it once was. Nielsen, like many others, claim the 1994 strike put a bad taste in Americans’ mouths that just couldn’t be shaken. Others argue the steroid era has killed the games popularity. And some even suggest baseball is just too slow of a game to entice a modern audience.

No matter what approach critics use, they are all wrong. Just look at attendance. The talk of late is attendance at MLB games so far in this early season is dramatically low, with less than 20,000 people attending more than a handful of the opening-week’s games.

But to make an educated, thorough analysis of baseball’s health in America, a broader pallet of numbers and statistics must be reviewed.

If baseball is dying, then why is it that more people bought a ticket to an MLB game in the last 10 years than ever before? From 2004 to 2007, post-1994 strike and the steroid era, MLB saw record attendance each year.

And the league wasn’t marginally surpassing its mark. From 2006 to 2007, total attendance increased 4.5 percent.

It is true attendance numbers have dropped since 2007, but the economy mixed with high ticket prices are more to blame than a lack of interest among the fan base.

Even amid down years for the league, more Americans attend MLB games than any other professional sporting event in the country. Sure, the National Football League is the king of the American sports landscape, but an afternoon at a football game is not as relaxing and rewarding as spending the day at a ball park with friends and family.

MLB lacks the excitement on television that the instant gratification sports like basketball, football and cage fighting offer, but it’s a three-dimensional game made to be seen in person. The luscious green of the field, the smell of hot dogs and beer and summer weather all make for an enjoyable time out, something more and more Americans during the last decade have come to realize.

So the next time someone says baseball is dying and it’s not America’s game anymore, remember this quote.

“I see great things in baseball. It’s our game – the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.” -Walt Whitman

Reach columnist Joe Sneve at [email protected].