The Myth About Baseball's Declining Popularity

Once again in 2014, ratings for the Super Bowl topped the number of actual human beings on Earth. Evidently some giant coconut crabs and Madagascan aye-ayes were also catching the big game on their smart phones.

Meanwhile, ratings for the World Series continue to float around the lowest depths known to human history. So woe is baseball right?

Sure, if that's your entire worldview. Measured against NFL football's voracious maw, baseball is fading to a pinprick. But then so are presidential elections, African genocide, all television sitcoms and dramas, basketball, hockey, bowling, tennis, boxing and post-Tiger golf.

Less For Everyone
The fact is, TV ratings for basically everything but reality shows has declined in the last 20 years, and they're only exempt because they didn't exist that far back. The diversity of options has dispersed audiences and lowered everyone's ratings.

In the early 70s, all of America tuned in for All In the Family. The #1 show in the nation snagged a 34 rating. Twenty shows total -- including Ironsides, The Flip Wilson Show and the Partridge Family -- pulled ratings of 22+.

By 1998-89, Seinfeld led the ratings by capturing white viewers and a 21.3 rating. It would not have placed in the top 20 in 1972.

By 2008, the top-rated show, American Idol, cleared just a 16.1 rating, capturing mainly young white adults and teens.

Wherefore Art Thou, Bowling?
It's the same issue for sporting events. You hardly have to see the numbers to know that nearly the entire audiences for hockey, boxing and bowling have found other things to do. The average NBA game of the week in 1996 earned a 5.0 rating; the highest rated NBA game last season, a Pacers-Heat tilt featuring LeBron, pulled a 2.4.

So yeah, baseball's TV viewership is down too. The nation used to come to a halt during the World Series and now it comes to a halt during the World Series if someone scores a touchdown in one of the NFL games being played that day. But by another measure, baseball is healthier than Chuck Norris.

We're Watching -- In Person
Last year, 74 million people bought tickets to Major League Baseball games. From Seattle to Miami and Cleveland to Phoenix, the turnstiles once again spun at a rate never fathomed even 15 years ago. The top 10 seasons for attendance for MLB have all occurred in the last decade. 

Sure, there are more games and more teams now than, say, in the "Golden Age" of the 1950s. And stadiums hold more people. It's all true. So is this: teams are filling a higher percentage of their ballparks than in the 50s by a wide margin, en route to doubling average attendance.

Remember that in the 50s the NFL was a wish and the NBA was a dream. Six NHL teams -- two of them in Canada and all of them playing in the winter, were no competition for baseball. Color TV, Disney parks, video games and the long list of alternatives to an afternoon at the park had yet to debut. And yet, twice as many people per team journey to see the hometown nine today as did then. 

By comparison, NFL teams drew just 17.3 million people despite more teams and larger stadiums. NFL teams play just once a week, but that's the point. They don't have to entice fans every day the way baseball does. 
 
Howard Wolowitz Isn't Worried
So let's stop bemoaning the falling TV numbers for baseball's flagship games, unless you're prepared to suffer the sad ratings fate of every other non-football property. You'll have to pity The Big Bang Theory's poor performance while you're at it. Instead, enjoy America's pastime -- on your TV, your computer, your phone or at the ballpark, as Americans have done for 150 years and will do for another 150.

Play ball!

Miracle on 161st Street

They entered the season with only three reliable starting pitchers, one of whom would miss much of the 2011 campaign. Their star shortstop and catcher are getting creaky. Their roster includes more retreads than a used car lot. The dessicated remains of Andruw Jones and Eric Chavez actually get playing time, despite 3.7 wins above replacement combined over the last four years. Their superstar cornerman is dinged and running from the MLB law. Their huge free agent reliever walked six batters a game before pulling up lame. All 700 pounds of Bartolo Freakin' Colon has 18 starts for them already this year.

They play in the toughest division in baseball and they didn't make a single trade deadline deal for the first time since the Paleolithic Era.* So the Yankees are toast, right?

Kudos to Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman and team management in the Bronx. Two-thirds of the way through a lost season they're tied for the best record in the American League with a starting rotation right out of 2001. They've managed to spin Colon, Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova into gold. They stuck with David Robertson out of the pen and he's rewarded them with a 1.44 ERA, no home runs allowed and 14 strikeouts per nine. Somehow this squad ranks second in the circuit in ERA ... and that's their weakness.

At bat, it's no surprise that the Bombers are a juggernaut. They're second in scoring in the majors with 5.38 runs per game, led by three starters with .500+ SLG (and ARod is close). Derek Jeter at short and Russ Martin behind the plate are rebounding from awful starts, and  keeping Jorge Posada away from lefties (he's hitting .103 against them) short-circuits the only black hole in the home half of the inning. Absent Posada versus southpaws, every one of their hitters ranks above replacement value, which is a fancy way of saying their bench is solid too, They've even swiped 120 of 156 bases as a squad, a superb 77% rate.

To top it off, the Bronx brass refused to succumb to deadline deal extortion and instead let a flaccid trade market go untouched. The Yankees may have locked up the most productive trade deadline week by demonstrating disciplined restraint. Without sacrificing either of their catching uber-prospects, they got Soriano back from the DL last week and will welcome back Alex Rodriguez next week, Bud willing.

I'd still be a tad concerned, were I other than a Yankee-antagonist, about the pitchers they'll run out after Sabathia come playoff time. Garcia, Colon and Nova could turn into pumpkins any day now. But with Robertson, Rivera and perhaps Soriano locking up the late innings and a lineup that could scare Chuck Norris, they will once again be a force to be reckoned with once the post-season arrives.

*May be slight exaggeration.
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