How Baseball Is Still The American National Pastime? | Lifestyle

How Baseball Is Still The American National Pastime?

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.

One of the things that made baseball the American pastime was that it translated so easily into our culture of the past. It was a bunch of young men, boys even, who played a sport in a field or open street by their house. All you needed was a ball and a bat, or even a rock and a stick to learn how to 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 games were broadcast of course, but on the radio. Radio is a medium which suits baseball's slower rhythms perfectly. Broadcasters could describe the action as it happened, allowing radio audiences to enjoy the game and understand everything which was happening on the diamond. Television, however, proved not to be the match made in heaven that radio was for the game. The faster paced game of football came to television and within a couple of decades, baseball found itself playing second fiddle to this newcomer.

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.

Baseball has suffered some serious self-inflicted injuries as well. A strike caused the World Series to be cancelled in 1994 and the league has regularly handled steroid use scandals poorly, refusing to accept any responsibility for a culture of performance enhancing drug use. Football has had its own steroid scandal, something the NFL quickly handled and has not recurred since.

What this all comes down to is that baseball is no longer America's favorite pastime. The sport will always have a place in our culture and remains an iconic symbol of the country, but the days when it was America's national pastime are for better or worse, in the past.

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice.

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