After years of decline, area baseball coaches say they’ve been seeing increasing numbers of players and steadily growing enthusiasm for America’s pastime. Now, the Major League Baseball lockout is threatening to knock the sport back down in the dirt just as it’s regained its footing.
For years the narrative surrounding baseball at the youth level has been a game on the decline and one in desperate need of a facelift. Kids started playing other sports that packed more action.
“I think when lacrosse became really popular, baseball took a hit,” said John Stark baseball coach Dennis Pelletier.
Lacrosse’s popularity boomed in the 2000s. Nationally the sport increased from a quarter million players in 2001 to nearly 830,00 in 2018.
At the same time, baseball struggled. Although still far outnumbering lacrosse players, the total number of ballplayers in the U.S. declined in the 2000s and lowered further after the 2008 recession hit. The player base dipped to its lowest in 2011 when 12.5 million people played the sport. Since then baseball has put together a comeback, reaching 15.6 million players in 2017.
“This narrative about baseball dying from a few years back, I really think that’s reversed,” said Pelletier. “I do not believe that as a case anymore. I’ve seen a surge in kids wanting to play baseball again.”
Pelletier said a big part of kids wanting to play baseball is seeing the pros play. Whether it’s in person, on TV, or social media, the new age stars of the MLB like Fernando Tatís Jr. are captivating youth with electric highlights and big personalities.
“We’ve got some great young stars in the game and I think it’s really drawn the attention of the of the younger kids,” said Pelletier. “Seeing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit 46 home runs last year and Bo Bichette play incredible shortstop. Kids saw these guys here [playing for the Fisher Cats]. So the fact that kids in New Hampshire can see these players move up into the pros and think ‘hey, I remember seeing him’ I think it’s a great thing.”
But that inspiration is under threat. The MLB is amid a lockout and already the first two series of the season have been canceled. That means fewer kids watching baseball and less enthusiasm for the game. Pelletier remembers the dire situation baseball was in after the labor battles of the 1990s.
“I was a big Montreal Expos fan and that season was devastating. They had the best team they ever had. And their season crashed and it destroyed baseball in the City of Montreal in the province of Quebec. That’s what I think eventually led to this slowness of baseball,” said Pelletier. “A lot of the younger kids and their parents left the game and that was when it kind of died.”
Concord High School baseball coach Scott Owen thinks the professional baseball can come out mostly unscathed if no further games get canceled. But that’s a big if.
“If we only miss two series, I don’t think the effects are going to be huge,” said Owen. “But If this goes on, I think they’re going to be hurt tremendously. We were looking forward to normal spring training, getting a 162 game season, taking the kids to the game. And you don’t know if that’s gonna happen now, and that’s it’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Pelletier said he had a hard time telling his child why a bunch of millionaires and billionaires couldn’t figure out a way to keep playing baseball.
“It’s hard to explain,” said Pelletier. “My 13-year-old daughter, who plays softball, and she was asking me questions about it and asking why is this happening and you know, it’s not always easy for us to explain.”
Pelletier is concerned that another prolonged work stoppage in MLB could once again thin the ranks of youth baseball.
“I do worry a little bit about that,” said Pelletier. “I think they could survive maybe the month of April because people are so busy. But a lot of people look forward to going to ball games and watching baseball games in the summertime. I think it would be pretty catastrophic if they held on that long.”
Owen agrees.
“It’s hard to not have a major league season and to get people excited about baseball,” he said.