THE KEY TO BASEBALL'S FUTURE LIES IN ITS PAST BY RACHEL WERNER

THE KEY TO BASEBALL'S FUTURE LIES IN ITS PAST

Baseball's recent struggles might have more to do with faulty perspective of the past than with the quality of the game.

by Rachel Werner @RachelW_07

7/15/2021 12:05 P.M. 

There is possibly no sport as connected with its own mythology as Major League Baseball. The past seems to haunt the sacred places of baseball. Evolving constantly since its obscure beginnings in the 19th century, baseball has somehow remained true to its underlying spirit.

Yet baseball, so we are told, is dying, and numbers support this claim. Attendance has dropped steadily for years. According to popular thought, baseball is hurt by the very history that has always made it different from sports like basketball or football.

Critics argue that baseball is old and stodgy, doesn’t allow athletes to express themselves, and is an “old man’s” sport. In an eager bid to regain fans wooed away by basketball, the MLB has begun marketing itself differently.

"Perhaps, by ignoring its own history, baseball is hurting its chances to compete with the games of tomorrow."

A few years ago they began their “Let the Kids Play” ad campaign. The campaign has tried to make baseball seem exciting, with highlights of flashy young players, huge home runs and phenomenal plays. Unfortunately, this attempt at a “rebrand” does not seem to have been successful; young fans are apparently as bored as before.

Perhaps, by ignoring its own history, baseball is hurting its chances to compete with the games of tomorrow. Babe Ruth does not bring to mind a quiet old man, emotionlessly playing the game and leading a blameless life off the field. Nor do other legendary or even controversial athletes like Pete Rose.

Baseball was once a wild sport, grimly condemned by straight-laced Victorians as an outlet for the “vices” of society. It has been full of rough-and-tumble plays, charismatic personalities, and shattering scandals.

The game is beautiful for what it has been, and what it can be. It changes with every generation, continually rewriting its own stories. MLB’s mistake is in thinking that this legacy and history is not worth marketing.

By trying to make baseball “interesting,” MLB implies that baseball was always boring. It is possible that, instead of rebranding, baseball should try to reconnect with what it has always been: the people’s game, something as exciting and timeless as youth itself.