Baseball Today

Here in Toronto, major league baseball has had a decade in the wilderness after the Blue Jays World Series years (92 and 93) and then the strike. But the early play of the team this year (and a very big win tonight - Halladay over Burnett) has brought back some interest.

Closer to home, Matthew, my 8 year old son had his first rookie league game tonight, and it highlighted exactly what is good and bad about baseball.

The bad: it's boring. You stand and wait, sit and wait, and suddenly you have to do something. More bad: it's hard. When you do get a chance to do something, it is quite likely you will fail, especially at this age. After his first inning in the field, then a failed at bat, he was very discouraged.

The good: when you do get action, it's fun. The following inning, Matthew played first base. Lot's of action. Coaches giving pointers. Cheering.

We do have a very good league. It's in the middle of a big city, with a great facility, and through all the age divisions there may be more than 800 kids playing. But I can't imagine there is much interest in smaller communities. Observing my friends and my kids friends, there are maybe a handful who play baseball. Soccer and hockey players probably outnumber baseball by 10 to 1.

I would love to see renewed interest in baseball, but I'm not optimistic. I'm a lifer though, and hoping to pass it on to my kids. Andrew (almost 10) starts tomorrow and he's quite excited.