Posted on 05/21/2015 5:49:56 AM PDT by BlueStateRightist
Black kids in big cities don’t play baseball anymore because they don’t see the instant millionaire show that the NFL and NBA Draft provides. Hockey and baseball are played for the love of the game. Rush was flying in to NYC on EIB 1 and said all the baseball fields were empty. But there was an overflow crowd on the BBall courts. It also doesn’t help that the cost of a glove or metal bat is out of sight.
Golf, soccer, baseball. Boring. Jmo
It’s my belief that the decline of baseball in America is indelibly linked to our cultural decline. That is, it’s the most historically significant in that it had a centripetal force on our society, a cultural cement if you will. Also, unlike basketball and football, any size will do, from shortstops weighing 150 to behemoths like the late Frank Howard who well upward of 200 pounds. It also requires significantly more skill than other games. There have been many guys who could play the other games but they really couldn’t cut the mustard in baseball. It’s just harder. Hitting a baseball is the most difficult thing to do in all of sport. Succeeding just 3 times in ten is the benchmark of excellence. But, make no mistake, the game is in decline. It certainly needs to be speeded up.
And you baseball fans will love this:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/libvf100.shtml
Yes it is!
I’m worried about the coordination between islam and the left in the destruction of Western Civilization and the permanent erasure of Individual Liberty not only as a political reality but as an intellectual concept.
As much as I like baseball — and I do — I just can’t get that worked up about declining MLB spectators in coming decades, which is really what this article is all about.
Sad, but...
The kids in early baseball know nothing about that very minimal part of MLB.
Outrageous parents at Little League games turn off many kids.
If a kid is not taken to baseball games, especially Pro or Semi-pro, they never pick up the game. Fearful helicopter Mom’s are NOT often baseball fans, FutBol is their pick.
The population of age 7 - 17 has declined from 2000 to 2013. 2000 was the millennial peak.
All sport have become specialized. Talent is quickly picked up in competitive leagues leaving traditional clubs behind. This is not a negative, but the outlet for kids just to play the game is gone. I did not make my HS Basketball team, but played in a club all through HS.
Lack of Fathers. Let's face it, sports is between a Dad and a son or daughter. There are less Dads in the home and the one that are there are less engaged.
America is becoming a nation of "Cup Cakes". Everyone gets a trophy is ruining sports. Also, some parents won't let kids play sport because they are dangerous- as opposed, to sitting on the couch, eating, watching tv and getting fat.
I have four kids. They have all been in BJJ for years. A lot of kids are doing BJJ, Judo and other martial arts.
I played baseball. It is not harder to master baseball than BJJ or Judo.
The reason baseball is dying has nothing to do with the game, which I love, and everything to do with over-organization and regulation and protection by parents and governments.
For my kids to play baseball the way I did, by riding their bikes down to the field, figuring out new rules to make up for missing players, etc., they risk being picked up by the police and being put in a foster home because we let them play on their own.
I took my kids to Hefner Park here in OKC with my wife. I was getting ready for a ruck and they were riding their bikes. I gave the kids a radio so I could reach them at any time and they could call in any issues they had. Guess who caused an issue? Two old ladies who were threatening to call the police if they didn’t see us in five minutes. I got there in time and told the hags off. My kids weren’t doing anything wrong and they were being very polite.
There was an empty baseball diamond right across from where these fat hags were sitting. Imagine if they had found a whole field full of kids playing. Baseball was popular because it was what we did as kids with other kids.
There is no freedom in baseball here in OKC. I imagine that is similar elsewhere.
Indeed. They have changed the flavor of the game.
Even a pickup game at a local park needs to be organized by parents - kids can’t go off by their own anymore because CPS is called that kids are more than ten feet away from their homes.
I played baseball with my friends on the corner. No uniforms or leagues were required. Few of us were in a league. Expenses were: cheap glove, one of the kids had to have a bat.
Adults killed baseball when they decided kids were too stupid to do it on their own.
In this age of globalization and diversity, baseball is simply too American.
Most days, it’s ballplayer or coach this or that talked about or some game blaring over the tv/radio/and or Internet.
I’m glad I have headphones.
I also have a couple of old Jeeps around and motorcycle that gets announced on Saturday. My parents and a sarcastic uncle know about it.
My birthday present to me.
Your comment: If a kid is not taken to baseball games, especially Pro or Semi-pro, they never pick up the game.
Absolutely true that going to the games fosters a love of the game. Unfortunately, taking a family to a MLB game has become seriously cost-prohibitive. Tickets, parking, concessions ... there’s no way I can afford to take my five sons to the Major League ballpark with any regularity.
“If a kid is not taken to baseball games, especially Pro or Semi-pro, they never pick up the game. “
That’s your government funded baseball stadium talking. Kids won’t pick up the game if they don’t play it with their friends and find it fun. I NEVER went to a pro game as a kid, and we all loved the game because everybody played it.
You nailed it.
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