A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
There were a couple of games last night, but Major League Baseball really begins today, with dozens of games. At the major league level, the sport is healthy, but at just getting started level, reports the Washington Post, interest in baseball is waning. The reasons for that are fascinating, so be sure to read the full story. Here, to get you started, are some demographic data that may startle:
In a 15-year study of 10,000 youth baseball players, Ogden found that the sport is drawing a more affluent, suburban and white base than it once did. In another study he conducted, 95 percent of college baseball players were raised in families with both biological parents at home — at a time when only 46 percent of Americans 18 and younger have grown up in that traditional setting.
The proportion of black players in the major leagues has fallen from 19 percent in 1986 to 8 percent last year. Ogden found that blacks make up only 2.6 percent of baseball players on Division I college teams.
Latinos, on the other hand, are both the fastest-growing component of major league rosters and an expanding part of the fan base; Hispanics are more likely than whites or African Americans to be avid baseball fans, according to Luker’s analysis of ESPN polling data.
And both to get your day started and set the mood for hardball, here’s John C. Fogerty performing Centerfield: