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Letters

Is Baseball Still the National Pastime?

To the Editor:

Jonathan Mahler, in “Is the Game Over?” (Sunday Review, Sept. 29), seems to confuse the status of Major League Baseball with the standing of the game of baseball in American society.

While he correctly observes that professional baseball is enjoying good times even as television ratings fall far behind professional and collegiate football and basketball, he doesn’t mention more important barometers of baseball’s continuing vitality and popularity among the American people.

These include the millions of boys and girls who join thousands of youth, scholastic, collegiate and American Legion baseball teams, along with the men and women who play baseball and softball in industrial and semiprofessional urban and rural leagues, and the continuing interest in the history and cultural meaning of baseball, as measured by the sale of baseball books, the popularity of baseball films like “The Natural” and “Field of Dreams,” and the public’s continuing fascination with the origins of the sport.

Major League Baseball may indeed rank a poor third to football and basketball in television ratings, but the game remains the national pastime because it resonates more deeply in the country’s soul than any other sport.

GEORGE B. KIRSCH
Hackensack, N.J., Sept. 29, 2013

The writer is the author of “Baseball and Cricket: The Creation of American Team Sports: 1838-72” and “Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime During the Civil War.”

To the Editor:

Jonathan Mahler’s points about baseball’s decline are valid; much work awaits the new commissioner. But saying baseball is no longer our national pastime ignores important facts:

Football teams play once a week, often in cold weather, obviating competing outdoor diversions, yet baseball attracts fans to stadiums daily for six months. Football enjoys free minor leagues (otherwise known as college); baseball subsidizes dozens of professional minor-league teams.

People constantly play baseball trivia, not football trivia. True, Madden video games and fantasy football have millions of fans, but baseball has fantasy leagues, too, and baseball cards are far more valuable.

Trade card shows showcase retired baseball stars. Most linemen play in obscurity. Baseball drafts from high school, so naturally they’re unknowns. But only baseball’s Hall of Fame elections provoke yearly debates.

Indeed, too few African-Americans play baseball, but fewer Hispanic or Asian-Americans are in football. The World Series can go seven games; the Super Bowl, with two weeks of endless hype, is one win-or-lose event, televised in the homebound winter. Both are great, but baseball still rules!

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Credit...Marcellus Hall

 JEFFREY LYONS
New York, Oct. 2, 2013

The writer, the movie critic, has co-written four baseball books and has done color commentary for the Boston Red Sox Spanish Radio Network.

To the Editor:

It seems almost incredible that Jonathan Mahler doesn’t explicitly state the obvious reason baseball is fading from the national discussion: too many games that simply go on too long.

Who is willing to spend more than three hours watching a ballgame in May when the drama is, shall we say, less than urgent?

I’m a lifelong fan of the game, and even I can’t take it anymore. Its pastoral tempo is out of sync with our high-tech country. Because of that, professional baseball needs to cut its schedule, even in the postseason, and enforce rules that will speed up each game.

A little N.F.L.-like precision and discipline will go a long way toward reviving what is the most joyous of all games.

LARS TRODSON
Block Island, R.I., Sept. 29, 2013

To the Editor:

Jonathan Mahler, in his astute essay about the growing irrelevance of baseball in America, asserts that football is able to capture the public’s excitement because “it’s louder, faster and more violent ... better in tune with our cultural moment.” I guess that’s precisely why baseball will always be the sport of choice in our home.

Maybe watching runners move around the bases is a bit like watching the face of a clock. But my 7- and 9-year-old sons play Little League, keep up with the stats, and still collect ever-mounting piles of baseball cards. They call me over to watch a game on television when a player runs to first base and starts chatting warmly with the opposing player.

They love that moment best of all, and of course when the Mets occasionally manage to win.

SHARON G. FORMAN
Scarsdale, N.Y., Sept. 29, 2013

To the Editor:

Jonathan Mahler’s essay about the decline in baseball’s popularity did not mention the most important factor: the price of tickets.

Going to a baseball game, once a family activity, is now unaffordable for the average family.

ILENE WINKLER
New York, Sept. 30, 2013

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 34 of the New York edition with the headline: Is Baseball Still the National Pastime?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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