Believe it or not, it’s still America’s game. 

Baseball is enduring. A game born during the mid-19th Century that has been there for manny through thick and thin. There to pick us back up. There to bring us together. There to bring some normalcy to a life that can be uber-crazy.

But for some:

“It’s boring to watch”. 

“It’s too slow”.

“Baseball is dying. Kids don’t care about it any more”.

For those who don’t understand the game, I’m sure this is true. Probably stated by those who haven’t truly played the game. Coached the game. Battled a pitcher for 10 pitches to then get a hit. Stretched adouble into a triple and having to slide head-first into third base. 

Yes, football, basketball, soccer, and hockey have their merits and have carved out their own special places in our hearts for many of the same reasons for loving baseball. Some sports may even draw more players today than in the past and very possibly taking more than a few from baseball. But baseball continues to be a young kid’s first engagement with sports. Their first experience of being on a team. 

It may also be their first experience as a sports fan. Mom and dad taking little Billy to his first Major League baseball game. Hat on crooked. A glove bigger than his head on one hand and his favorite teddy bear in the other. Get a hot dog. Maybe even one of those little helmets filled with vanilla soft-serve. Whether mom and dad know it or not, they are passing on that underlying love for the game.

Maybe what is truly happening is taking this game for granted. Like so many other things that go along with modern prosperity, choice is limitless. We have so many choices including sports that we tend to forget to be grateful for the game of baseball. For what it represents. What its history has provided us. What its lessons mean in how we apply them to our own lives. 

I believe it’s still there. Down deep, it’s still there. The spirit of baseball. America’s game. If it went away, people would know it. They would feel its absence. They would remember its merits and wonder why it’s missing. 

It’s still America’s game. I think we simply have to stop and remember why.