Longtime MLB employee: Baseball 'dying' is a 'tired, misinformed' statement

Three Strikes: Young sluggers, Royals rally, more

 

Baseball's biggest problems are that it is not as suited for TV compared with the NFL and basketball.

It also is a state geek's dream but not so much for Fantasy sports players.

But at least the athletes aren't bashing their brain to mush while competing.

 

Nope. They're just shriveling their balls to acorns due to injecting.

 

Baseball's main problem is easily fixed. The games are too damn long and often end past midnight on the East Coast. I hear noise about putting pitchers on the clock and never see it enforced.

 

I keep hearing about baseballs problems. It's never been healthier.

 

Doesn't mean it's perfect.

 

If baseball was so popular, it wouldn't...
- Watch its postseason migrate into television obscurity (From NBC/ABC to, CBS [which dumped it after losing millions], to ESPN, to ABC Family, to TBS).
- See its marquee star power shrink. Of the country's 10 most famous pro athletes, how many are baseball players?
- Let the game disappear from the African-American community. Watch videos of the last time the Royals and Blue Jays played in the playoffs. Are there that many American-born blacks in the entire American League now? Who aren't sons of former Major League players?

I know in various markets, the game is thriving and enjoying record attendance. The local (regional sports network) coverage is superb, better than anything that's come before. But these are serious questions that any MLB exec should address before unloading some arrogant response.

 

We should all have baseball's financial problems.

 

Football players are doing that, too.

 

If daily fantasy survives its self-inflicted wounds, it could give baseball a big boost. Those players crave action and they're the only dealer around for much of the calendar.

 

I don't disagree but oddball channel arrangements are also true for NCAA tournament basketball and at least WTBS has some baseball broadcasting tradition unlike, say, TruTV.