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Children Are Abandoning Baseball

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Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#31

Post by jlgaddis »

yareally wrote: post #26
agumonkey wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me wonder why did this sport ever become so famous. It's like cricket, except there are two large competing sports (football and basketball, even hockey and tennis somehow).

Baseball, in its original form (circa 1860s and 70s) was played with a softer makeshift ball and a modified axe handle and no gloves. It was an activity a small town could play together as well as a community event where two nearby communities would come together to play. I believe the American Civil War played a part in spreading it thoughout the country in a time where news didn't travel as fast. Basketball also ca…

I'm not a big fan of baseball anymore but we watched one of these "historic" games a few years ago at a casino/resort we stay at often.

It was pretty neat to watch, although it took me a bit to understand it as the rules then were significantly different from present day rules.

Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#32

Post by pool »

When my father was growing up, teenagers in the towns around were self-organizing and played baseball on their own, the guys from this town against the guys from that town. All summer.

When I was growing up, the grown-ups organized everything and decided who played when, and we had...maybe ten? games in a summer, with a few practice sessions before that. It's been a while, but I have the idea that if you were good enough to be in the lineup regularly, you'd get something like 25 chances to hit a baseball per year. Or wait, I think we had games that were more like seven innings. Maybe 25 was an overestimate.

PS Also, something about the death of the baseball card and how the major league strike of 1994 led a generation to move on.

PPS I remember it being fascinating to learn that teenagers were allowed -- or had the idea it was possible -- or something -- to do something so on their own.

Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#33

Post by [deleted] »

brandonmenc wrote: post #25
w1ntermute wrote: post #19

That's because baseball is terribly boring, especially compared to football or basketball. Who wants to spend 90% of the time standing around?

> Who wants to spend 90% of the time standing around? If you've never managed to throw a nice curveball, or hit a homer, or make a great diving catch, you'll never understand. You do something like that once, and you can easily get hooked on standing in line for another chance to replicate it. It's kind of like golf, but it sounds like you probably don't like that game either.

[deleted]

Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#34

Post by kbar13 »

coldicetea wrote: post #28
douche wrote: post #16

Let's see... 1.) You need a shit-load of people to play baseball anything like for-real. At minimum 15-20 people for two teams. Pretty tough to do as a kid, unless you're free to roam free all over town to gather a crew, which approximately 0% of kids have license/protection from CPS to do. 2.) You need a big enough area for a baseball diamond, where you don't have to worry about knocking out a window with a foul bal…

Interestingly though, lacrosse is gaining popularity and hits most of those points as well: 1. It's difficult to play without least a couple midfielders, a goalie, and some defenders 3. Everyone needs at least a lacrosse stick, and a ball (although lacrosse balls are small and easy to lose, so it's better to have a few on hand) 4. Same It's also one of the most expensive sports to play, and few schools (high schools…

anecdotal but the lax bros in my childhood come from some of the richer families in town

Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#35

Post by amalcon »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #9
rogerthis wrote: post #8

Didn't read it but, as a non-american, non-japanese nor venezuelan, i wonder what is the fun of playing baseball, as it is mostly a still sport, with some sporadic movement. I really enjoy watching it because I can easily read a book without paying much attention to the game, which I can't do by watching basketball. But I usually sleep over the book and when i wake up, the game hasn't finished yet.

I can do this while watching soccer, too. A lot of movement, nothing actually happening.

I actually compare soccer and baseball a lot; it's useful for explaining the appeal of one sport to people who like the other. In both, it's not always clear what's going on unless you are familiar with the game. If you're familiar, though, and you understand the subtleties, there's truly a lot to do and to watch.

In both, scoring events are usually rare, which leads casual spectators to think that not much is happening most of the time. Because of the rarity of scoring events, though, it almost always feels like either team can still win. That's actually a huge appeal, and something often underestimated.

The similarities basically end there, but those two pieces are big parts of the appeal of each sport. It's not the case that someone who likes one will also like the other, but it helps people understand a little better.

Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#36

Post by remarkEon »

I've heard this sentiment more and more and I don't feel like arguing about it being boring (I don't think it's boring at all...)

...But I do wonder if there may be a reversal of the trend on the horizon as the backlash against football grows.

Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#37

Post by firebones »

w1ntermute wrote: post #19

That's because baseball is terribly boring, especially compared to football or basketball. Who wants to spend 90% of the time standing around?

That sounds like American football too. 3.25 hours of clock time, 60 minutes of a game, and 11 minutes of actual action (or closer to 96% of the time standing around.)

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/64441086/nfl-statistica...

Good quote:

It's curious that few complain about NFL game lengths, considering they take 13 minutes longer, more time than the 11 total minutes of actual game play during an NFL game. In other words, you could fit all the action of an average NFL game into the spare time after an average baseball game ends.

Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#38

Post by graeme »

douche wrote: post #16

Let's see... 1.) You need a shit-load of people to play baseball anything like for-real. At minimum 15-20 people for two teams. Pretty tough to do as a kid, unless you're free to roam free all over town to gather a crew, which approximately 0% of kids have license/protection from CPS to do. 2.) You need a big enough area for a baseball diamond, where you don't have to worry about knocking out a window with a foul bal…

Most of these sound good, but aren't true. If you go to poor countries where baseball is popular, you'll see people practicing in the street, with whatever makeshift ball and bat the can find. I saw Cubans practicing with sticks and balls of paper.

However, it's difficult to get adults to organize that kind of thing. I wonder if the fact that kids need adults to drive them is a factor.

That last bit is speculation. What's true is that numbers 1-3 aren't really a bar to practice, if the kids actually care.

Re: Children Are Abandoning Baseball

#39

Post by diego_moita »

It is not only baseball. The graph on the article shows decline for soccer and baseball, too.

And the same decline is happening on Brazil and some European countries (for soccer).

I'd suggest another reason: computer/phone games and internet.

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