Derren Iha

Baseball is dubbed “America’s Pastime” because it’s a sport that people remember growing up playing and watching and continue to enjoy doing so throughout their lives. However, “America’s Pastime” may soon become a thing of the past as far as mainstream popularity is concerned at the rate that interest in the sport is dropping.

I’ve seen the decline in popularity and interest in baseball both firsthand and read others’ opinions on why the sport is where it’s currently at. As someone who grew up playing and watching baseball and has been people who love it as much as I do, it was a little shocking to find out when I got to school here how little interest there was among those who were never around it much growing up.

The other major sports – football, basketball and even hockey – seem to me to attract more interest from casual observers who weren’t around those sports their whole lives than baseball does. Rarely have I met someone who enjoys following baseball that didn’t play it growing up. At the same time, I’ve crossed paths with lots of people who played baseball at a point in their lives but don’t care to follow or watch the sport anymore.

To me, there are lots of factors that play into the decline in interest in the game. From the slow pace of play to the lack of charismatic superstars in comparison to football and basketball, there are many things to point at for baseball’s shortcomings in the popularity column.

I think it can all be boiled down to the fact that kids just aren’t exposed to the sport at a young age like they were before.

Lots of kids would rather play other sports when they reach the age they can start playing in organized leagues and don’t even give baseball a chance. By signing their kids up for baseball in addition to all the other sports, parents will give them a chance to choose themselves what sport they like best. That’s not to say that parents should force baseball on their kids or that playing baseball should be mandatory for all children, but that if a kid shows interest in sports, they should give as many sports as possible a try.

For me, the ability to play baseball year round in Hawaii played a big part in my love for the game to this day. However, in most places it’s not possible because of weather to play in organized leagues year round, so it’s even more important to keep giving kids an opportunity to be around the game by showing them games on TV or taking them to games in the area.

Even I didn’t really like playing or watching baseball when I first started, but after a certain point, I couldn’t get enough of it. That is why I believe that for a lot of kids, all it takes is some time for them to warm up to the sport before they really start to get in to it, just like lots of other things in life.

While making a push for more parents to sign their kids up for baseball won’t solve all of the sport’s popularity issues, it would be a huge step in the right direction. By focusing on growing the game in the youth of the world, baseball has a chance to continue being “America’s Pastime” for future generations to come.