9781422284193

CHAPTER BASEBALL'S GREATEST MOMENTS Baseball is America’s national pastime. That has long been the identity of the longest-enduring American sport. In the last generation, however, the game has lost some of that identity. The most popular sport of the baby boomer generation has been surpassed by football in terms of TV ratings and national prominence. The well-regarded Harris Poll has shown every year since 1985 that baseball is less popular with Generation X and now less popular still with Millennials. The demise of baseball, however, is not imminent. National ratings may be down, but unlike football, baseball’s television strategy is regional, and in its local markets, baseball ratings are very strong. Baseball, though, is not really built for TV like football is. Baseball is meant to be experienced at the ballpark. More than 70 million people attend Major League Baseball (MLB) games every season. The baseball stadium experience is unique in all of sports. Classic stadiums become shrines, bucket list destinations. People plan special trips to go to Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. Stadiums are classically and carefully designed to be unique, like Camden Yards in Baltimore and AT&T Park in San Francisco. Let’s face it; there is a lot of down time at a baseball game. But when you have a panorama like the one that greets fans at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, fans hardly notice the lulls. Coming out of the tunnel into the stands overlooking a freshly cut diamond on a warm summer day is a sensory experience the quality of which cannot be matched by other sports. Baseball smells like summer, and the crack of the bat and the thump of cowhide on leather provide a distinct and unique soundtrack. With its 162-game season and daily game frequency, baseball becomes the background to American summers. It becomes part of our lives. On the radio or on TV, during the season, a game is playing almost everywhere you go. Baseball’s stories are also part of the fabric of America. Some of the most classic moments in American sports have occurred between the foul lines on the diamonds of the past and present.

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