We were all there catching up on the latest baseball news with a bunch of friends, and something came up in the conversation. Apparently baseball is still very popular, but has been losing popularity with kids lately.
This can be shocking for baseball fans, because we appreciate what a great game it is, and can’t imagine it ever being de-throned as what we see as the king of sports.
I think it’s time we put out a little manifesto of why baseball needs to continue as a primier sport, and why many of us might think that baseball indeed is the best sport out there.
1) Highest skill cap in sports
Hitting a major league pitch is the hardest thing anyone can do in sports. Period. All major athletes deserve our respect, really, all of them do things that are almost superhuman on a daily basis just to compete at all at that level. But baseball has all other sports beaten. This is part of what makes it so exciting.
2) The psychological aspect.
Many other sports (hockey, basketball, and even to an extent football), have much more constant action. People sometimes feel that baseball is too quiet, but that’s because they don’t know how to follow the game. Maybe kids just need to be made more aware of what’s actually going on.
3) All games are close.
It’s no secret that any sports fan craves a nice close game, for maximum excitement. Baseball is totally and completely built around this; it’s built right into the core of its design as a game. This is the sport in which comebacks are by far the most common. Even right down to the ninth inning.
4) The longest season.
Baseball has by far the highest number of games per year, as well as the longest season, actually. And during that season there are games every day. A major league baseball schedule is no joke for the players, but it’s heaven for us fans.
5) The most loyal fans.
Baseball is the only sport where you see avid fans of all the underdog teams represented in a big way. They really know how to get behind their home teams, and sometimes they even get rewarded for their patience, as in the case of the Boston Red Sox, who finally did the unthinkable and won the Series!
Hopefully if you’re one of those people who are curious or on the fence about baseball and you clicked this, you are now re-thinking your life at this very moment. Baseball needs you at this critical juncture in history.