Baseball

The controversy about the pitch clock expiration ending the spring-training game is about as clear as one can get. One-run game, bases loaded, two outs, full count, and the batter does not get into the batter's box in time and is called out on a third strike. 

I no longer follow baseball, and even when I did it was mostly following statistics and history. When the Red Sox have a shot at the World Series I have started following it later in the year, and in the years that the Sox were often good, I followed it even a bit more than that. But I can't be counted as a fan.

Baseball is trying to speed up the games in order to attract more fans, as its base is old and dwindling. The joke on this is that "baseball purists" will object to the pitch clock - which may be true but misses the point. Going to a baseball game used to be a big deal a hundred and twenty years ago because there wasn't much other entertainment. And for that extra dash of fun, you could score the game with paper and pencil, knowing what all those little symbols meant. But when you have to try and sell that idea on The Art of Manliness these days, that tells you that it's over. Then the livelier ball came in, and with it home runs, and the fans remained. Then radio came in, and MLB kept up its fan base with that.  They could make money without you even showing up by selling advertising. Then games were televised, another heightening of interest that generated money and kept sports fans involved.  But by this time college and professional football were competing, then basketball came and muscled in on baseball's hegemony.  Remember when it used to be called "America's Pastime?" Humorous now.

The best players increasingly come from other countries, which should make it more interesting, but doesn't.

Baseball is running out of things to do, because the experience of going to a game is increasingly irrelevant. Fans go once a year to enjoy the experience, but watching the game is difficult - because the fan remembers "Oh, yeah, you can't actually see the game that well from most seats. And there's no replay or camera angles or guys telling stories that I've gotten used to." Those are increasingly necessary to keep the fan involved.  Baseball has been rescued by changes many times, but eventually the string is going to run out, because it's just not that interesting. Starting a runner from second base in extra innings - sure, good luck with that. I hope it helps. 

If we didn't already have so much territory already given over to baseball in towns all over America, I wonder if we would even bother to build it again. Even this song is forty years old now, and it is about his own childhood, so push that back even further. Plus grandfathers are figuring prominently in it, which would be less likely in a kids' football or basketball video. And as the video reminds us at the end, it's not even really about baseball. Fun though.  So if you are still a fan, hang on as best you can.