Scan barcode
A review by jbmorgan86
Why Baseball Matters by Susan Jacoby
4.0
Baseball is in a time of crisis. Millennials and post-millennials find it more challenging to watch a three-hour game because of attention spans that have been shortened by smartphones and tablets. Fewer African-Americans are watching and playing in the MLB than in previous decades. Women fans seem to be an untapped audience. Overall, baseball is losing out to other major sports. Fantasy sports create fans who cheer for their players but may care less about an actual team in real life. What is a league to do? Why Baseball Matters (a bit of a misnomer of a book title) investigates these questions.
The powers-that-be seem to be stuck on the idea that game time must be shortened. Therefore, play clocks have been added, replays have been restricted, etc. The minor league has even tried starting a runner at second in extra inning games. Jacoby argues, however, that all of this is missing the point. All of these actions may only shave a few minutes off a game. No significant change has been made. Besides, all of this is treating a symptom, not the cause of the problem. The problem is that fans in the 21st century have shorter attention spans and are constantly distracted while watching. (Jacoby also mentions other interesting suggestions like having a defensive team and offensive team [like football] or rotating positions [like volleyball]).
Some stadiums have attempted to insert more entertainment into the live game with kiss cams, games on the big screen, pools, rocking climbing walls, restaurants, shopping, etc. Jacoby wonders if a stadium can do something to educate the fans about the subtleties of the game rather than contribute to the problem of distraction.
At the end of the day, Jacoby is not a baseball purist that demands rigid adherence to a tradition. She admits that baseball has had to reinvent itself after the invention of new technologies (radio, TV), social changes (integration), and scandals (the '94 strike, the steroid era). Baseball will continue to evolve and will survive.
I really enjoyed reading this book. However, it seemed really disjointed. Jacoby seemed to rehash a lot of the same ideas (Millennial, African-American, Hispanic, and women fandom) without any clear direction. For that, Why Baseball Matters is a 4-start instead of a 5-star read.
The powers-that-be seem to be stuck on the idea that game time must be shortened. Therefore, play clocks have been added, replays have been restricted, etc. The minor league has even tried starting a runner at second in extra inning games. Jacoby argues, however, that all of this is missing the point. All of these actions may only shave a few minutes off a game. No significant change has been made. Besides, all of this is treating a symptom, not the cause of the problem. The problem is that fans in the 21st century have shorter attention spans and are constantly distracted while watching. (Jacoby also mentions other interesting suggestions like having a defensive team and offensive team [like football] or rotating positions [like volleyball]).
Some stadiums have attempted to insert more entertainment into the live game with kiss cams, games on the big screen, pools, rocking climbing walls, restaurants, shopping, etc. Jacoby wonders if a stadium can do something to educate the fans about the subtleties of the game rather than contribute to the problem of distraction.
At the end of the day, Jacoby is not a baseball purist that demands rigid adherence to a tradition. She admits that baseball has had to reinvent itself after the invention of new technologies (radio, TV), social changes (integration), and scandals (the '94 strike, the steroid era). Baseball will continue to evolve and will survive.
I really enjoyed reading this book. However, it seemed really disjointed. Jacoby seemed to rehash a lot of the same ideas (Millennial, African-American, Hispanic, and women fandom) without any clear direction. For that, Why Baseball Matters is a 4-start instead of a 5-star read.