re: Anyone else surprised baseball is still popular in the United States?

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but it's been fading for a long time now

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I just think that is a misrepresentation....


I do believe baseball is a problem among youths however....

As Trey pointed out it is trending down...
Kids no longer grow up playing 5/6 sports a year they may play two and then play them all year long because of travel teams and the different leagues they have now. It seems youth sports have turned into a year round job for many youth's.

Many American's find it long, it is much easier to get paid in NFL/NBA (imo) so if you are good in baseball and another and you have a shot at those two you usually jump at them because there is no guarantee. In MLB you go to the minors, no matter how much hype you have you go and spend a year or two down there. So the instant gratification is better to go in NFL/NBA.

Baseball has done a great job building up in other countries and gaining in popularity there, in America though kids are shifting towards soccer, basketball, and football. Some of that can be attributed to cost of baseball vs other sports (not sure how much but a glove/bat/balls/etc use to be expensive when I played) and unless you have a passion you probably quit playing at 12/13 to focus on another sport you wanna play.

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the ratings for everything, save the Super Bowl, has been declining for the past 20-30 years

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College football disagrees.

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Sure thing, guy:

Football, Baseball, and the Evolving Tastes of Fans

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All this article really does is explain why football is more popular than baseball, which is something not one person in this thread has disputed.

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Long season, long games, little action, lopsided payrolls, daytime games throughout the week when people are at work (not that anyone watches all the regular season games either....too boring)

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I'll be honest, the season lasts forever. The outrageous spending doesn't encourage parity. You can't keep up with the Jones'.

I like baseball. I watch most college (LSU) that I am able. Professional, I just pass on.

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the season lasts forever.

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The MLB season seems long but really from Spring Training to WS it is on par with NFL and NBA. I've proven that several times....

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outrageous spending doesn't encourage parity.

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MLB is all about parity... the same teams aren't winning the WS nor are the highest spenders

i think people just like to beat their chest and say "I love baseball." But they really never watch any games. Like its some cool manuever or something.

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I think youth baseball players being down 24% between 00-09 is trending down in the last ten years.

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Yo would probably find more kids are less active now than ever before, probably a large group has never participated in any type of youth sport

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MLB is all about parity.

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No it isnt. The gap between the haves and the have nots seems to grow every year. The NFL is all abour parity.

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the same teams aren't winning the WS nor are the highest spenders

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That's just poor front offices, not parity.

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So you don't agree with facts due to your limited anecdotal perception? Nice

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I also don't agree because there were polls saying baseball is still the second most popular sports and it's actually gone up since last year. There's that, but you choose to ignore it.

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No it isnt. The gap between the haves and the have nots seems to grow every year. The NFL is all abour parity.

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Boy, it sure is a good thing that The Same Teams Don't Win Every Year in football, isn't it? Ehhh, wait. How come those teams in the NFL conference championship games looked so familiar? Oh. Maybe it's because three of the four also played in those conference championship games last year. How often does that happen in baseball? Ummmm, never in the wild-card era -- and not under any system since 1991-92.

• Boy, it sure is a good thing that The Same Teams Don't Win Every Year in football. Ummm, check that. Let's take a look at the eight teams that played in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs for the right to advance to those conference championship games:

Patriots -- who have made the playoffs in nine of the past 10 years.

Ravens -- who have made the playoffs in six of the past seven years.

Packers -- who have made the playoffs in five of the past six years.

Seahawks -- who have made the playoffs in seven of the past 10 years.

Falcons -- who have made the playoffs four of the past five years.

49ers, Broncos and Texans -- who have made the playoffs two years in a row.

• On the other hand, there's baseball's final eight:

The Yankees are the Patriots. They've made it nine times in 10 years.

The Cardinals are about as close to the Ravens as you could get -- six of the past nine years.

But then …

The Giants and A's each have made it twice in the past nine years.

The Tigers have reached the tournament three times in the past 25 years.

And, finally, you have …

The Orioles, which just made the postseason for the first time in 15 years.

And the Reds, for the second time in 17 years.

And the Nationals, which brought postseason baseball to Washington for the first time since 1933 (and got the franchise to the Octoberfest for the first time in 31 years).

Just the facts, ladies and gentlemen. Just the facts.

• Then there are those plucky, underdog Ravens. Did you know they haven't merely made the playoffs in five straight seasons? They've also advanced in the playoffs in five straight seasons. Want to guess how many times even the Yankees have advanced in the baseball postseason in five straight seasons, no matter what the format? Once -- when they were winning five consecutive World Series from 1949-53. But that's never happened in the division-play era. Ever.

• In fact, only one baseball team has ever advanced (i.e., won a series) in five straight postseasons during the division-play era. That would be the Braves, from 1995-99. That's it.

• Boy, it sure is a good thing The Same Teams Don't Win Every Year in football. Isn't it? You never know what team might shock the world and show up in the Super Bowl, right? Well, not so right. Did you know that since the 2000 season, the Patriots, Ravens, Colts and Steelers have represented the AFC in every Super Bowl but one? True Fact. Feel free to look it up.

• Over in that other sport, they keep on spreading the titles around. Even though your reigning World Series champs, the Giants, have won two of the past three World Series, nine teams have won a title in baseball since the 2000 season. But no matter who wins this Super Bowl, the NFL can't match that. If the Ravens win, it will be just seven different champs since the 2000 season. If the 49ers win, it will be eight. Yet one more True Fact.

• Have any of these NFL propaganda dispensers noticed that the Yankees, the franchise they constantly use as an example of everything that's wrong with baseball, keep forgetting to stampede through October? Go check. The mighty Yankees have played in exactly one of the past nine World Series. One. Meanwhile in the NFL, the Steelers (three), Patriots (three) and Giants (two) have combined for EIGHT Super Bowl trips over the past IX Super Sundays.

• Finally, there's this: Bet you didn't know that 20 of the 32 NFL franchises (62.5 percent) have won NONE of the past 25 Super Bowls. But over the past 25 World Series, more than half the teams in baseball (16 of 30) have won at least one.

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