12 Reasons to Love Baseball

Baseball has become an easy target in recent years. From complaints about rampant steroid use to games taking too long to owners and a commissioner loathe to address pressing issues or to embrace the future, critics are more than happy to proclaim America’s national pastime dead and gone. Funny thing is, attendance is up. Way up. Somebody forgot to tell the fans their sport is irrelevant.

For those who truly follow and understand the game, baseball isn’t merely a sport—it’s magic. “Field of Dreams” struck a deep chord with Americans because so much of the movie is true. Baseball really does change lives. It’s where the past meets the present, where Cornfield America connects with Fenway Park. Here are a dozen reasons why it’s still the greatest sport on Earth.

The Home Run: Basketball has the slam dunk. Football has the Hail Mary. But for fan appeal and sheer awesomeness, nothing is more sublime than the dinger. Think about it: The very object without which the game cannot be played (never mind that the umpire has hundreds of replacements at his disposal) is purposely drilled out of the field of play into a sea of humanity or empty bleachers, becoming a souvenir—possibly worth millions—for a lucky fan. There’s a reason that “home run” is America’s favorite metaphor for anything that seriously doesn’t suck.

Strategy: Think baseball is just a batter desperately trying to hit a pitch? Think again. Get to know the inner workings of the game and you’ll see it’s a living chess match where pieces are carefully moved into place, but with a twist—the pieces are fallible. The strategy is in the player movement, but the magic is in the uncertainty of what will happen next.

StatsBaseball’s statistics: , dating back well over a hundred years, have been called “sacred” (which is why passionate fans get worked up when alleged steroids users like Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds start messing with them). No other American sport boats such a rich history, catalogued so precisely. Sure the numbers can get boring sometimes, but pay them respect: They’re the sport’s DNA.

Summer: During late-fall and winter, when the NBA, NFL, and NHL seasons are in full swing, most of the country fights to stay warm and dry. This gets old and bothersome after a while. Except for the buffer months of April and October, baseball is played in short-sleeve or no-shirt-at-all weather. You can wear flip flops and shorts to a game, no matter how old you are. Summer makes everyone feel like a kid again, and so does baseball.

Time: To really fall in love with baseball, you have to slow down. After all, at upwards of four hours per game, it is a sport of patience. Which I suppose is why some in the Halo (or even the Donkey Kong) generation can’t go the distance. But there was a time, not so long ago, when people probably thought a game couldn’t last long enough—to get away from the daily cares of surviving a Great Depression or a world war or two. If you can be patient with baseball, it will provide you an enjoyable escape.

Daily Schedule: It’s good to know that no matter how bad your day goes, or no matter what changes pounce or creep into your life, six out of seven days of the week you can tune into your favorite team, or check the box score in the paper in the morning. A little consistency is good for sanity.

“It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over”: Coined by legendary Yankees catcher and manager Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” has very real meaning in baseball where the outcome isn’t determined by a clock but by outs. In theory, no matter how far a team is down, it can still come all the way back in that final at-bat in the ninth inning, no matter how unlikely. That, my friends, is poetry. And America.

Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium: The old yards have all but disappeared, but a few relics remain—even if their futures are uncertain. Better get to Yankee Stadium fast. It’s about to be replaced by a $1.3 billion (and counting) theme park.

Game-day Traditions: From the organ chimes (now probably a stadium intern clicking a mouse) to the ceremonial first pitch to the seventh inning stretch, baseball’s traditions are alive and well, and they’re not even corny. And there are few places left where you can bury your feet in peanut shells and feel proud.

Voices of the Game: Even as a 7-year-old kid I knew the name and friendly voice of Vin Scully. Listening to a good baseball announcer is like settling in for an entertaining books-on-tape session. Every game is a new story to be told, and baseball has the best stories. Hats off to Seattle Mariners’ broadcaster Dave Niehaus, who, still working the booth every day, enters the Hall of Fame this summer. If you’ve never listened to Dave, tune in.

AmericanaBaseball isn’t only played in major cities, ya know: Sometimes the best games are played by teams with names like the Toledo Mud Hens, the Birmingham Barons, or the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. You want to see players working hard and struggling to make it to the big leagues? Check out minor league baseball. One thing’s for sure: You’ll see more wacky marketing promotions in small parks then you ever will this side of Madison Avenue.

Real Men: They may not be pretty, and they’re certainly not “pretty boys” like the stars of other sports leagues. Baseball players are more like survivors. It takes a lot of grit to play night in and night out and work your way through the farm system. The spitting, the scratching, the grabbing of nether regions—it’s all good. And if you still don’t get it, go stand in the batter’s box with a 95 mph fastball whizzing by your head and see how that feels.

Why Baseball Is the Greatest Sport on Earth
By Kristopher Kaiyala