When I finally settled down tonight, I turned on the TV to watch a bit of the World Series. I was excited about it because I hadn’t watched a baseball game since the early summer when I took Luca to his first Yankees game.  I clicked on the tele, looked, and….it was 10 – 0 in the bottom of the third.   So, about 9 seconds later, I got up and went to clean the kitchen.  Baseball, once hailed as our National Pastime, seems to be gradually fading from the forefront of American culture. This decline prompts a deeper inquiry into the reasons behind this shift, the current landscape of American sports, and the future that awaits our children in athletic competition.

Not long ago, I went to a sports card show with Luca in White Plains, NY.  It was heralded as the most significant sports card show in the Northeast.  And, for me – it was magical – because not only did I get to see hundreds upon hundreds of Mickey Mantle cards, but Luca and I also got to meet the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL not to win a Super Bowl.  That would be 11-year veteran, four-time Super Bowl runner-up James Edward Kelly, a.k.a. The Machine Gun. 

I found myself baffled, though.  It made no sense to me that a 2021 Justin Jefferson (Vikings Wide Receiver) rookie card could cost more than a 1959 Mickey Mantle.  But this was absolutely the case.  A twenty-something Minnesota Viking, a football player’s card was worth more than Hall of Famer, 600 Home Run Club, 7-time World Series winner, Triple Crown Winner, the switch-hitting Mickey Mantle.  Mickey hung out with Doris Day.  I mean, didn’t he make her famous?  That was a joke.  But seriously, what the hell is going on?

Baseball is losing its spark.  Maybe it is because TikTok, the NFL, the NBA, social media, Grub Hub, PlayStation, X-Box, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Amazon have taken our nation’s collective attention.  Or maybe it is because the game is slow and given the choice we’d rather watch the Gladiators of today battle it out in the Octagon, all bloodied up, or on the mat taking a snooze after a little concussion or two.  Or maybe it is just good old FaceTime and Facebook Messenger, allowing us to connect with those who mean the world to us, seeing their faces, hearing them laugh – and hopefully not watching them drive!

Looking to the future, our children will likely be spectators and participants in various sports. eSports is on a meteoric rise, with competitive gaming leagues and tournaments drawing massive in-person and online audiences. The global nature of sports like soccer and basketball suggests that our children will be part of a more interconnected sporting community where athletes from all corners of the globe become local heroes.  This Sunday, for instance, an NFL game will be played in Germany.  I think it is the Pats, and we’ll have to get up at 6:30 AM to watch them.  The NFL is taking the National out of the National Football League, and it is going to take its toll on our sleep.

The decline of baseball also questions how we teach and value competition in schools. While competition can drive excellence and growth, the emphasis should also be on teamwork, sportsmanship, and the joy of the game. Schools can instill a balanced perspective on competition, highlighting effort, improvement, and resilience as much as winning.  Well, maybe on that one.  I mean, we will try.  But even though the likelihood of a kid playing a professional sport as an adult is something like 1 in 10,000 in any major sport – parents brawl with one another and referees over what takes place on the courts, fields, and ice.  One guy in Massachusetts beat a hockey referee to death over a call in his kid’s youth hockey game. 

Let’s not get too crazy out there.  And let the kids enjoy their sports for the love of the game, the fun parts of the competition, and the likelihood of making lifelong friends.  More importantly, no matter how good Justin Jefferson is at football in his third year in the league, he has a long way to go before his card should cost more than Mickey Mantle’s.