|
One of the things that has been slowly killing baseball is the suburbs. Kids live so far from parks that they can't walk to one to play baseball.
Another thing that's been killing baseball slowly is the advancement of toys. More than any other game, baseball requires imagination - to see how a street could be a stickball "field," to listen to the game on the radio crawl along at baseball's pace...I swear it must be true that kids these days have less imagination and are less able to entertain themselves. Why, when I was a boy I remember entertaining myself for weeks with an empty cardboard box!
Also killing baseball is home runs. Home runs are damn hard to hit. But with baseball so focused on it, when 10 year old kids can't hit the ball over the Little League fence, they turn their attention to a soccer goal or a basketball hoop, much more attainable goals. This is something I haven't ever heard anyone mention, but it's definitely a big factor.
|