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Martin Duke's avatar

This was delightful, but I have a simpler explanation for why baseball was the pastime for a hundred years:

1. It was played at a MUCH FASTER pace than it is today

2. Because there are a small number of discrete, easily visualizable events, and has a daily rhythm, it is the best sport to follow in the newspaper.

3. For similar reasons, it is arguably the best sport on the radio.

Put simply, television wounded baseball and the modern style of play is going to kill it.

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guckguckdoose's avatar

I played a ton of baseball as a kid (from age 4 to age 15) because my dad loved baseball. He'd played as a kid. Back when, as he would describe it, "there was nothing else to do". He also had his favorite team (White Socks), and would tell me stories about players long since dead or retired. I still follow my local teams (Nats and Orioles), but I lack his passion for the game. I think the excitement of waking up on a warm summer day in Illinois and going out to play baseball with all of your friends from school. Back when there really was nothing else to do, and the warm months beckoned for you to be outside. I missed a lot of that. For me, there was so much to do, and so little time I could devote to each individual thing. It's interesting. I appreciate baseball. I'll go to games a few times a year, try to watch most of the games my teams play, and religiously watch the world series. But the love for it isn't there like it was for my dad.

Also, this interview is real or you're a very good writer. Virgil Texas and Matt Yglesias do not write this well, nor can I imagine their fathers being into baseball... maybe Yglesias. You are not them.

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