by Mitchell Karcher

Once America’s pastime, baseball was a powerhouse other sports could barely compete with.  However, since its prime during the 1970’s-1980’s, baseball has been steadily losing steam. Once wheeling in about 80,000 viewers per game the viewer ship has since decreased to about 30,000 per game, raising the question is baseball dying, and why?

Attendance can be attributed to to various factors such as interest. As varsity baseball player Keaton Hamilton was quick to point out, “I don’t know if baseball is actually dying. If there is less attendance, like you said, it could be attributed to loss in interest for current players.”

If baseball is not dying, there is no debating the fact that baseball is not as popular today as other sports. With the last seven World Series being the least watched (with exception to the 2016 series), other sports have surpassed far in popularity among younger generations.

A poll given in 2000 stated that roughly 8.8 million American kids were involved in baseball, however in 2013 that number plunged down to roughly 5.3 million kids.

So why has baseball lost its cool?

Baseball being a slower sport compared to football and basketball has a huge impact, and in a generation with such a fast paced society such as ours today, it’s no wonder that the majority of baseball fans nowadays are 40 years and older.

Wanting to know what more of the current generation, multiple students around GHS were asked about what they thought about the sport. When asked what she thought about the statement “baseball is dying,” Paige Gkekas said “I don’t doubt that claim. Baseball, I have always thought was very slow, and I never had a great interest for it.”

Though the counter argument can be made that baseball is still thriving. It is financially at its peak, with the league making 7 billion dollars. This can be largely attributed to inflation rates and effective commercial advertising. With constant change in a fast paced world, the question that now stands is “will baseball ever return to its peak, or will baseball eventually die out?”