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Why Baseball Is Still The American National Pastime?
Written by Denise I Smithson   
Thursday, 11 June 2009 09:41
We tend to think of baseball as the American national pastime, but is this sport still worthy of the title? Baseball hasn't been the most popular sport in the US for quite some time now and even though it is undeniably an important piece of our national heritage, it doesn't occupy the same place of prominence in the American consciousness which it once did. Baseball has largely been replaced both as a form of entertainment and as a shared cultural experience by different sports and activities.
by DeniseISmithson


We tend to think of baseball as the American national pastime, but is this sport still worthy of the title? Baseball hasn't been the most popular sport in the US for quite some time now and even though it is undeniably an important piece of our national heritage, it doesn't occupy the same place of prominence in the American consciousness which it once did. Baseball has largely been replaced both as a form of entertainment and as a shared cultural experience by different sports and activities.

Baseball was the American pastime since it was emblematic of broader American culture at the time. It was children or young people playing in an open field or perhaps in the street. A ball and bat or any reasonable substitutes which were at hand and you could play.

Baseball is a sport with a more relaxed pace which fit perfectly into the more relaxed society of its time. There are pauses built into the game to break up the action, making baseball a sport which was perfect for a society who had not yet discovered television or personal computers. Baseball is a game which rewards longer attention spans; something which many feel is missing from our culture now.

Baseball translated perfectly to the radio. The slower rhythms of the game were easily described by talented broadcasters who described game after game, night after night. However, baseball with its slower pace did not translate as well to the world of television. Football is the sport that translated excellent to the world of television, and TV is the reason that football was able to become the most popular sport in the country, in fact replacing baseball as America's favored national pastime.

When you saw football on the television, you could see the size, strength and speed of the players. You could see how hard the hits were, how devastating the impact was. You could almost feel the hits yourself. The plays happened quickly and the game as a whole moved rapidly. None of these qualities were easily described on the radio, which had hindered the growth of the sport.

Football isn't the only reason baseball has ceased to be America's national pastime. Other sports came into vogue and cable television became available, offering television audiences more than a handful of channels to choose from. With the arrival of home video gaming systems in the late 1970s followed soon after by personal computers, baseball lost the attention of young people, traditionally the core of its fan base. The sport is now more important to the citizens of other nations than it is in the country where it was first played and teams from Latin America and Asia regularly trounce US teams in international games. It's a reminder that while baseball's status as our favorite pastime may be very much in doubt, the sport itself is very much alive and well.

Meanwhile, baseball shot itself in the foot by allowing the World Series to be cancelled during a strike in the 90s. It then mishandled the steroid situation and did not take any responsibility for it. Conversely, football also suffered from a steroid problem but confronted it face on and solved it once and for all.

The answer to the question is no, baseball is not America's pastime anymore. Purists may lament that fact, but it's truth. Baseball used to be the pastime, but now it's just largely living in the past.

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