Growing up, there were two main sports that almost everyone played, baseball and hockey. I grew up in New England, so it is easy to imagine that the seasons pretty much dictated what kind of sports you played. Sure kids played other team sports, but baseball and hockey were, by far, the most popular. Back then, baseball was still THE American past time. Now, the sport of baseball as a whole is waning fast and the grim reaper is knocking at its door.
In the last twenty years, professional baseball has seen its share of troubles which have led to a drastic decline in both ballpark attendance and television viewer ship. These issues have included labor strikes, rising ticket prices (not to mention concession prices), and now steroid scandals. As a result, kids today aren’t watching the sport. If they don’t watch the sport, then they aren’t finding heroes to emulate by playing the same sport and wearing the same jersey numbers.
Having lived in many places in the United States and meeting many people who have played youth sports, I have found that the sports that they participate in tend to be very regional. For example, hockey was popular in many Northern states while baseball was popular in many southern states and basketball and football very popular in Midwest and Plains states. From talking with these former athletes and analyzing my own viewer ship patterns as an adult, I have come to realize that often times it is the sports that we play as a youth, that we watch and attend as an adult. This presents a catch-22 of sorts, as fewer people are playing because they aren’t watching and fewer people are watching because they aren’t playing.
A couple of coaches in Indiana are finding that there are several additional factors to the declining interest in baseball as well. In this article, they point out also that there are so many more choices for competitive sports now than there were twenty years ago. But even with all of these choices, many youth athletes are choosing to focus on one or two sports and less on playing multiple sports.
The growth of elite level sports, baseball in particular, has also led to a decline in recreational baseball leagues and consequently participation by youth athletes with already busy schedules. Add to all of that, the decline in parents who are willing to coach youth baseball, (Probably as a result of their disenchantment with the sport due to the labor strikes, prices and scandals.) and you have a recipe for the poison that could potentially kill baseball as the national pastime.
