How did Baseball go from the national past time to the most boring professional sport in America?

Growing up baseball was the sport. It was America's past time. Now I call it sports purgatory because it is the most boring time of all the four major sports in America. I am just glad that the World Cup is on this summer.





What happened? How did baseball fall? Was it steroids? The unions? Greedy owners? Unnecessary expansion? All the strikes? ESPN SportsCenter's emphasis on highlights as opposed to the story of a baseball game? Price of tickets?|||Here's an analytical perspective. Baseball was THE SPORT of the Radio Age. Young Kids and their sports obsessed fathers sitting by a Radio listening to announcers describe "Towering balls hit by (Insert Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, etc. here) that could reach the moon" They'd sit there and even keep an at home scorecard. Everything was described BIG. Curveballs went from head to toe. Home Runs were 400 foot blasts. All these descriptions filled a lot of space.





To this day some folks listen to radio broadcasts of Baseball instead of watching the TV Broadcasts. I watched the Yankee games with the sound off and turned the radio on until Michael Kay went to TV. Now I actually listen to the TV's sound.





Then came TV. And we got to see that Pitchers spend a lot of time scratching themselves between pitches. Curveballs don't go head to toe. Oh yeah and 400 ft. is from here to where I parked my car.





Then came the Highlight reel. This actually helped baseball for a while.





Then came the digital age. Games, PC's (Or Macs), etc. Things started getting faster. Basball didn't. (And no help from the Human rain delay Steve Trachsel mind you.) Football, Basketball, and Hockey (All very condusive to TV) get faster. Video Games of those sports rival the pace of the real games. Baseball's games. Well, to this day only one company has gotten a Baseball video game right. Acclaim's All Star Baseball (Now out of business no longer making that game because all their other games stunk.)





Baseball is sort of an Athletic Chess. It's just a slower game. They've tried to incease Home Run output in hopes of increasing interest. However, I think they failed. For years, Baseball was the US's answer to Soccer. Our slow defensive game with a 3-2 score. The anticipation for the one big blow. The Home Run to ice the game had us captivated. The same way the rest of the world waits for that moment the announcer yells GOOOAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!! But, Home Runs happen all the time now.





So now Baseball to the younger generation is a slow game with great highlight reels. Watching it for them is difficult. Some guy scratches himself a lot while the announcer tells you how great his record is when pitching in day games on the equinox if he's at least more then 450 nautical miles North by Northwest of Fiji.





All that said. I do love Baseball. So much.|||Salaries for players burned a lot of people out. However Baseball is NOT boring.|||it's baseball, what do you expect? Kids who are too fat and wimpy play Baseball, since you have the excuse of playing a sport but without the excercise. If you want your kids to get good excerise (and alot of parents have realized this) they put them in soccer. Less kids playing little league, less kids giving a crap about baseball when they grow up. Baseball sucks. Although I do have to say that up here in Yankee and Red Sox country, baseball is alive and well as a popular sport.|||Call it boring if you want, but baseball revenue is off the chain. Minus a few struggling franchises the stadiums remain packed and the price of everything is going up. This happens for a reason and its not because baseball suddenly became boring. Maybe you grew up, or maybe its just soooo big now that it doesn't seem like our game anymore. Either way its always going to be a hot sport with an enormous fan base.|||it's not boring, that's what most people say about soccer and they're wrong too...|||easy...NFL...|||You actually think baseball is more boring than basketball?|||I still love baseball. And I think there's more fanatics like me than there ever have been in history at this point so it hasn't exactly fallen... the Yankees and Mets sold out a 55,000+ seat stadium for 3 days in a row this past weekend (again). It's actually doing quite well even if it can be (I admit) potentially extremely boring. BUT, and it might sound kind of obvious, when you're actually interested in the action on the field, it's gotta be one of the least boring sports. Very funny game, too.|||I don't believe baseball is boring.





America has changed. Americans love face pased, hard core action, hard hitting, etc. This all has helped lead to football becoming the new pasttime with basketball and hocky also gaining popularity.|||Baseball hasn't gotten boring. American's have just gotten dumber. Baseball is a game of anticipation and strategy... and all Americans want these days is instant gratification and/or blood.





Don't worry though, the few intelligent Americans left are still watching the game (and voting against Bush).