Americans are crazy about baseball. A survey by Statista in April 2021 found that more than half of the country holds an interest in the game, with 18% of Americans describing themselves as ‘avid’ fans of Major League Baseball. Basketball, by comparison, is the preferred sport of only 12% of US adults. Only American football can claim of having a bigger fan following in the country than baseball.
Here’s why that’s the case. From an early age, US youngsters choose sporting heroes, favorite teams and an ingrained feeling of how their favorite side should play the game. Sporting traditions run deep in their blood and are passed on from generation to generation. It isn’t rare in baseball stadiums to find a grandson occupying the same seat his grandfather once cheered their favorite team from.
The feeling of sitting in your favorite spot, watching your team on a hot day with sunrays decorating the diamond, with a hot dog smothered with all the stuff your doctor told you to worry about in one hand and an ice-cold beer in the other. Nothing beats that. This scene has come to define what it feels like to be an American for a better part of one hundred and eighty-two years.
Baseball’s massive viewership has survived various eras. It remained intact despite the low-scoring nature of the dead-ball era, which Babe Ruth turned into a live-ball era with his then league record 29 homeruns in 1919. The number of baseball supporters remained intact for the coming four decades, before swelling with the expansion of MLB in the 1960s and staying steady ever since.
Why are Americans Crazy about Baseball?
Here are a few reasons why Americans are crazy about baseball:
Baseball has no clock
One of the things that send Americans crazy about baseball is the absence of a clock. There’s no ticking timer telling the players, the coaches or the fans when the game will end.
That separates it from soccer where the referee blows the final whistle after 90 minutes. The absence of a timer differentiates baseball from football, too, where professional games last two halves of 30 minutes each.
Its supporters believe the lack of a clock makes baseball more competitive. Both teams know that regardless of how far they’re in terms of scoring in the early stages of the game, they cannot ‘time-waste-their-way’ to victory.
Both teams have to play 27 outs come what may. No matter how long it takes. No matter whether their players are fresh as a cucumber or tired as an old horse.
And if the game is tied after 27 outs? Both teams will get three more outs to eke out a victory. And what if they’re still tied? Three more outs. And what if they’re still tied!? Another three outs.
Both teams will continue to play unless one of them has more runs when both have exhausted their outs. This convinces players of both sides to give it their all in every out. Or else they’d have no choice but to keep on playing late into the night (as these players did).
The scoring system is great
The scoring system of baseball is different from other games. Let’s think about soccer where there is no certainty of the score. If you go to the bathroom or to take a bottle of beer, you can miss a goal. Besides some goals decides earlier which team wins.
On the other hand, baseball scoring system is great with 0 to 1. Each match on average a team score 9/10 runs and each run is so important for the team. The Americans like this format of scoring.
Chances to come back
A very important and enjoyable thing is to come back in the back from a low score. Already mentioned that each game every team scores generally 9/10 run. So it is a big deal to cover up a couple of runs even 3/4 isn’t a very hard task. And some come back with 7/8 runs take the match to a different place.
When the favorite team comes back and keep scoring the happiness of the Americans supporters knows no bound. So this is an amazing way of entertainment and for this reason, the Americans are crazy about this exciting game.
The season is longer
Another way to entertain the Americans that the baseball season is longer than other sports. There is more opportunities and also changes to raise up. Season with 16 games has a big effect on a single loss but seasons like baseball have so many opportunities.
It doesn’t matter if a team lose a single game. They can come back with new inspiration in the next game. Besides the certain chance of eliminating a team is lower as they get so many matches and they can fix their problem by winning some matches in rows.
Another big fact is key injuries. If a top rated player gets injured and misses some matches then for games like soccer and hockey they a team loses the opportunity to get the cup or stay in the league in case of a lower ranked team. But in baseball season they can this problem do not affect the team a lot.
So overall the system of the league is liked and made the Americans crazy about baseball.
Home and away game
Who doesn’t like revenge? Yes in the baseball season the team get 2 matches one is home another is away matche. So you the opportunity to head to head a team for two times. In the case of major team games, it is another way of fun and enjoyment. No matter one team loses to another. There will always be a second chance to take revenge. This method is really interesting and the Americans are mad about this game.
Baseball with radio
Every time people don’t get the opportunity to attend the field to a match live. It is very common now baseball is shown on TV and live channels. But once radio was a great medium to get attached to the game and still now the Americans are seen to use radio for listening to the commentary. Baseball commentary is fluent and flexible for the commentator to draw the picture of the game with his commentary.
A game like hockey or basketball isn’t a suitable one for making a good commentary. Hockey is the game where the ball passes frequently and the commentator even can’t pronounce the name of the ball owner perfectly as the ball goes to another one very fast. Crossing the midfield basketball is also such complex for a clear commentary. But in the case of baseball, the commentary is pure and neat.
One thing is noticeable among the Americans that they watch baseball muting their tv and start the radio with their favorite commentator. The commentator mainly describes the bit, runner and fielders. After a pitch, they don’t describe pitcher. So it is easy to understand a baseball commentary.
Portable radio is carried by many baseball lovers as they don’t want to miss anything. They can hear it while driving or on a family trip or on a boating. So for this reason of radio commentary, the Americans are fond of baseball.
Enormous actions of baseball
People who do not like baseball always complaint about the fact is the game has not plenty of actions. But a baseball lover finds lots of actions in a baseball. If you consider hitting a ball is an action only when it is totally wrong. The Americans consider every pitch as an action.
The average time of every 15 to 20 seconds a pitch happens and there are a different type of pitches to fool the ball. First, you need to learn the game properly. The people who can’t understand the differences between a curveball and a fastball will always feel the pitch same. Easy ball on strike zone is sometimes a trick to out the batsman and there are lots of pitches as actions. If you want to learn more, read our step by step guide on how to throw a fastball in baseball!
Hitting is always an action and there are hitters to smash the ball and create amusement among the crowds. So finally when one understands all the actions of baseball then other games will be boring and baseball will be full of actions as the Americans feel like that.
The variation of fields
Baseball the game gets different difficulties while playing in different fields. Most of the game like hockey, football or basketball have the same field style but the weather affects the gameplay.
In the case of baseball, the fields are different from each other. Like playing in Boston is fully different from playing in New York. The differences don’t depend on the weather or the supporting crowd. The big green field is the main factor that brings another excitement. This is also a reason that the Americans like baseball a lot.
The trade deadline
Trade deadline is like a festival to the Americans. Every year there are trade talks about the big stars of baseball. Every American desire and expect that their team will get the best player and the season will be better for their team. This trave deadline event is another way of enjoyment to the Americans.
There is no downtime for baseball
Most of the game has an offseason when there is no game for the fans to celebrate. But baseball is a kind of game where the fans can enjoy all the year almost. The 162-game schedule is loved by the Americans. Every season lasts for about seven months in baseball and the fans love that. Even after the season, there is winter meetings. Winter meetings is like the world series to the Americans. The Americans love this rules.
Physical, mental and social benefits
As baseball is a game where you need to do hard work through all the game time it keeps a player fit and maintain good health.
Instead of doing so many things for burning calories, the Americans decide to play baseball. A survey says that a man of 160 pounds can burn 365 calories playing baseball. So a healthy weight gets maintained by playing baseball. The heart of a guy who plays baseball remain fresh and the chance of getting attacked by cardiovascular diseases decreases.
As baseball is played in sunlight the player gets the sufficient amount of vitamin D from the sunlight. Baseball also increases the muscle of the arms and legs.
Baseball is a game of concentration. By playing baseball the concentration raises and it is good for relieving stress. As a guy need to go through some hard work, at night he gets a sound sleep. It also keeps one out of depression and decreases tension. The eye and hand combination is increased by playing baseball as well. Overall the game keeps one happy and fresh.
One of the best team games in the world is baseball. So playing baseball one needs to be connected with other team members. So by playing baseball, their interactions get promoted. Besides old friendship, new friendship, affection, respect and others raise inside the players.
Conclusion
At the present time, baseball is one of the most popular games in the world. The Americans are keeping this fame on by supporting their team and baseball madly. The game developers have also a great impact on the matter as they are trying so many things to make it more loved by the crowd. Maintenance in games, differences in fields, star players everything has made a great combination to make the Americans get crazy about it.
The Americans are not only mad at baseball they also want their children to become a good baseball player. The school collage has tournaments and divisions for them. Every baseball mas has so much inspiration and excitements and the Americans love every single one.
So, here I have shown you many reasons and there are a lot beyond discussion to make you understand that why the Americans are crazy about this game. Hopefully, you will now understand the facts and reasons of the craziness of the Americans about this exciting game baseball
