What's Wrong with the Game of Baseball? Part II

The real problem with the game of baseball has nothing to do with what takes place on the field. It has everything to do, however, with what takes place in baseball's corporate boardrooms or perhaps, more specifically, what takes place between the ears of those who inhabit baseball's corporate boardrooms. The problem is simple: Baseball management has no appreciation for what a special game baseball is. To them, it is a mere form of entertainment and by regarding it as such, they have taught many fans to regard baseball in the same way. More than any other sport, baseball is art on an athletic field. It is subtle, nuanced, non-violent. The most important pitch may be the first one or it may be the last. You won't know until that last pitch has been thrown. If folks, especially children are not taught to appreciate baseball's nuances, then baseball will simply become--is already becoming for too many--just one more diversion and not the special game that we know it to be. The Lords of Baseball are ensuring themselves of a smaller and smaller audience, because they don't market the very elements of the game that make it unique.

The Hagerstown Suns have a playground for kids and a beer garden for adults. The Frederick Keys have a carousel for kids. Parks all over the country have moon bounces, mascots, clowns, between innings idiocy, scoreboards so big that they must be measured in acres, and signs that tell fans when to applaud. A former general manager of the Hagerstown Suns was quoted in the paper here a few years ago as saying that it didn't matter if fans knew the score when they left the ballpark, as long as they had a good time. It doesn't matter if the fans don't know the most fundamental thing about the game they just watched? Then why not skip buying a ticket and simply go to the playground or a bar? The next generation is not being taught to sit still, much less how to watch the game.

Several years ago, my family and I went to an Orioles' game on Mother's Day. Kansas City and the Birds were tied 7-7 with one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd in the top of the 8th. It was the key moment of the game. Steve Kline was on the mound for the Orioles. He came set, checked the runners, and then . . . two young men ran down in front of our section and urged everyone to do the wave. I did not do the wave. They were hollered down (guess who led that chorus) and they skulked away, but clearly they had no more appreciation for what was happening on the field than the pigeons flying above Camden Yards.

It is worth noting again--some of you have heard this before--that the first time I took Al Smith to a game at Rebels Park, he was astonished by the fact that everyone in the crowd was actually watching the game, the kids included. That is a far cry from what happens at most professional parks today and is yet another reason to consume your baseball in New Market or any of the other summer league parks.

Baseball is the greatest game in the world. Too bad that the people who run the professional game don't realize it; and that's what is really wrong with baseball.