America’s pastime surely is staying in the past as fans are less interested than ever in the game of baseball. Major League Baseball has been trying many different ways to promote the game to make it interesting and have fans want to go to more baseball games. Trevor Bauer, a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, is pretty frustrated with the way that baseball is stuck in the past with promoting the best players of the game. With that being said, Bauer has made a continuous effort to promote players that he is close with through his YouTube channel, Momentum. 

About a year ago, Marist Poll did some research on people and their interest in baseball. One of the questions asked, “Do you watch or follow professional baseball a great deal, a good amount, a little, or not at all,” and the area that stood out the most for having the least interest in baseball was the South, with the West coming in right after. Six percent of the people that were surveyed in the South had a great deal of interest in baseball and sixty-three percent of people in the South had absolutely no interest in baseball. These numbers are quite interesting because baseball in the South is very spread out amongst states and unlike the Northeast, baseball can be played all year round down there. However, athletes in southern states are encouraged to play football over any sport because of the traditions it has throughout high schools. Everyone knows the football players and it just so happens that these football players are very athletic and can translate their athleticism to the baseball field. 

Justin Fields, the quarterback for Ohio State, was a nationally ranked player in both baseball and football. Fields committed early to play baseball at Penn State, but he then realized his potential in football and quickly backed out of his commitment to Penn State to pursue his potential in football. It eventually worked out being that Fields coming out of high school was ranked the no. 2 quarterback in his class behind Trevor Lawrence.

There are many other examples out there that struggle in really choosing baseball because there is no real hype around the game. “Baseball is boring,” is a phrase that everyone hears because of how long it is and it is up to the players, team owners and the commissioner to continue to promote the game to attract all audiences. This upcoming summer, the New York Yankees will be taking on the Chicago White Sox in the Field of Dreams, which is a well-known baseball film that was released in 1989. The league and players are really promoting this event because the stadium will replicate the actual stadium in the movie. The actual game itself doesn’t need to change, it will be long forever, but there is much more room for improvement in promoting players, rivalries and teams.