EXCLUSIVE: The state of Baseball

By now, you should've heard that the baseball team is now (1-0). How? By forfeit.

The other team had only 5 players, while we had our full squad, minus our two girls who were playing their basketball game.

Last night, Japan won the World Baseball Classic over Korea. If you watched the game, it was baseball at its finest. Ichiro stepped up to the plate, and drove in the game-winning runs, giving Japan their second straight WBC Championship. Problem is, I would bet, less than 5 people in the entire school knew it was going on.

Why is baseball not popular?

I think people nowadays no longer grow up with baseball like they did before. It is no longer America's past time. Kids want to be Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. Nobody (other than me) wants to be Derek Jeter or Tim Lincecum.

Basketball and soccer are far more popular among kids in our school and in schools in general, because they are simple games. In basketball, the objective of the game is simple --throwing a ball through a hoop. You can go by yourself to the park to shoot baskets. In soccer, you kick the ball into a goal.

In baseball, you need to be able to pitch, hit, catch, run the bases, etc...There are so many things in baseball that you need to do to be a complete player. And in our society today, we as a whole, are lazy and do not have patience.

A 3rd grader can shoot 10 baskets, and more than likely, at least make one shot. Whereas if he took 10 swings at a baseball, he may not make contact once. And if he does make contact, what are the chances that it would be a base hit?

In baseball, you fail more often than not. In fact, a good baseball player will only succeed 3 out of 10 times when he hits.

You can have one good player on a basketball team, and the team can win. But if you have only one good player on the baseball team, your chances are next to none.

BASEBALL IN OUR SCHOOL
It disappoints and frustrates me that we only have one baseball team this year. We could've easily had 3 teams, but unfortunately settled for just 1. I don't think a lot of the parents or students understand the game of baseball, and therefore are hesitant about trying something new. I've also heard a lot of terrible excuses, but I won't get into those here.

It also doesn't help that baseball is the last sport of the year and a lot of the students have already checked out.

I've also heard about the danger issue. Baseball is no less or more dangerous than any other sport. I think it's a fear of trying something new, that parents and students alike are not willing to try.

After this year, who knows if we will have another baseball team? I would have loved for the 3rd and 4th graders to have a baseball team, but there just wasn't enough support.

It hurts because when the 3rd and 4th graders become 6th, 7th or 8th graders, they will probably want to play. And when they do, they will already be behind everyone else in their development.

BASEBALL IN OTHER SCHOOLS
The baseball problem is not just at our school, it's across the board. When I was in 3rd grade, CYO had baseball. By the time I was in 6th or 7th grade, CYO got rid of baseball because not enough teams wanted to join.

This new league we are in, the SFPSBL is very small. Consider the amount of basketball teams we have and compare it to the amount of baseball teams.

The team we played on Sunday has at least 2 basketball teams in every grade. That's at least 10 boys. But their baseball program, has only one team in the 7th or 8th grade. On Sunday, they could only produce 5 players.

They have at the bare minimum 20 boys in their 7th and 8th grade classes and could produce only one baseball team.

THE FUTURE
Major League Baseball however is not suffering at the box office. They still draw more fans at ballgames year after year. However, the quality of players, year by year, has been going down. Less people are playing baseball, therefore less players to choose from.

The future for baseball does not look bright, but here at St. Mary's, the coaches and myself are doing our best to change that. And the only way it can get brighter is if more kids try playing.

I am extremely proud of the brave boys and girls who are playing baseball this year. They have my respect, because they try and are open to doing something relatively new.

Hopefully next year, we'll have a lot more players on the diamond.