40 Reasons to Fall in Love with Major League Baseball

Baseball is the oldest organized major professional sport in the United States. Over 200,000 games (as of Saturday) have been played in its storied history, and generations upon generations of fans have collected cherished memories of their favorite players, teams and moments that they often fondly recall.

In recent years, baseball has taken a beating in terms of popularity. While it has always been billed as America’s favorite pastime, many people will tell you that football has supplanted baseball as the national pastime.

The merits of that debate can certainly be discussed with passion at another time. However, the sport of baseball, with its many idiosyncrasies and the diversity of its style of play, is still a sport that new fans can easily fall in love with.

People can rail all day long about overpaid athletes, cheating and whatever else they choose to justify their beliefs that baseball is boring and just not relevant any longer. But the fact is, EVERY sport has highly paid athletes, and every sport has seen cheating in some form. What baseball has been able to do, unlike other sports, is remain the same.

Football, basketball and hockey have all undergone substantive changes that have changed the shape of the game over time. However, in baseball, aside from the designated hitter that was adopted by the American League in 1973, there have been no changes whatsoever.

For all of the recent ramblings that the sport of baseball needs to be changed, and that it has lost its luster with the casual fan, according to Baseball Reference, as of games played through Sept. 22, attendance at MLB games in 2011 is up just slightly, at an average increase of 66 fans per game.

Why is it then that people still flock to the baseball park, despite an apparent recession? That’s simple—because they too fell in love with the game of baseball.

Here are 40 reasons to fall in love with Major League Baseball.

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1. Bonding Time Between Father and Son

It has become a natural rite of passage—a father has the privilege of taking his son to a major league baseball game for the very first time.

It’s a tradition that has been passed down through many generations with hundreds of thousands of families, seeing a little boy’s joy as his father explains every single play during the game and patiently answering his son’s many questions along the way.

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2. The Ability to Watch a Game Every Day Throughout the Summer

Unlike football, which is played once a week, or basketball and hockey, in which teams play on average three games per week, baseball can be seen every day for 180 days, and for teams making the playoffs, even longer.

Rare is the day when baseball can’t be seen during the spring and summer, so the anticipation of waiting for the next game isn’t a painful process.

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3. Baseball’s Rich History

Ever since 1876 when the National League began play, baseball has built a history unlike any other sport.

As each season unfolds, a complete new almanac is published with all updated information, and its weight alone could be used in an automobile’s trunk to provide better traction during slick winters.

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4. The Majesty of a Powerful Home Run

You can hear that unique sound—the familiar loud crack of the bat, and you automatically know that the next sight you will see is the baseball traveling at light speed—right out of the ballpark.

It is without a doubt one of the most powerful sounds in all of sport, and it lets you know right away that a special moment arrived.

I was at a game in 1978 at Fenway Park when former Boston Red Sox slugger Jim Rice connected on a fastball, and it was one of the most thunderous sounds I had ever heard in my then-19 years of existence.

5. The Beauty and Sound of a 100 MPH Fastball

When Bob “Rapid Robert” Feller debuted in 1936 with the Cleveland Indians at the age of 17, he featured something that had never been seen before—a 100 mile-per-hour fastball.

Since Feller’s debut, and much more recently, several pitchers have reached the 100 MPH mark, and Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman was clocked at an incredible 105 MPH. The vast majority of people will never even drive that fast.

6. Visiting Fenway Park for the First Time

Next year, Fenway Park will be celebrating its 100^th year in operation, and there is no ballpark in America quite like Fenway.

The vast majority who walk away from Fenway after visiting for the first time are generally awed by the experience. For anyone who loves baseball, it is a trek that must be taken.

7. Visiting Wrigley Field for the First Time

While Fenway Park is the oldest park in Major League Baseball, Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, is the second oldest park, officially opened two years after Fenway in 1914, and became home to the Cubs in 1916.

With its iconic ivy walls and unique viewing areas from rooftops buildings across the street on Waveland and Sheffield, Wrigley Field is also a pilgrimage that every baseball fan should try to make at least once in their lifetimes.

8. The Seventh Inning Stretch

While each major professional sport has stoppages in play at the end of periods, quarters or innings, baseball’s unique tradition of honoring the seventh inning stretch and engaging in the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is one of the most unique traditions in all of sports.

In recent years, it has also marked the end of alcohol sales at ballparks, so not only is it a chance for fans to get up and stretch and sing along with the rest of the stadium, but it’s also last call.

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9. Plays of the Week and Web Gems

In recent years, defensive brilliance has been featured regularly on several media outlets, most notably ESPN. Web gems, plays of the week, whatever the name is on each, it’s a chance to see the best of the best among baseball’s great defensive plays.

While the chicks may dig the long ball, the players just love to be featured on plays of the week highlight reels.

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10. The Chance to See History on Any Given Day

Any time a fan gets to the ballpark, they have the ability to see history made in a variety of ways.

An unassisted triple play, a no-hitter, a perfect game, a strikeout record—there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of records that could be tied or broken in the course of any game. The chance to see history is one of the great draws of baseball.

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11. The Annual Rite of Spring Training

Ever since spring training was established in the 1910s, teams have traveled to warm weather climate states Florida and Arizona to prepare for the rigors of a six month regular season. Starting in February and usually lasting for approximately six weeks, each team conducts drills designed to firm up fundamentals and conduct exhibitions for the purposes of establishing their rosters and shaking the dust off after a long winter.

Fans have also used spring training as an excuse to schedule a winter vacation as well. Each year in late winter, fans flock to MLB team’s training facilities for a chance to follow their favorite teams for a week or so, catch some rays and get out of the cold, and to canoodle with their favorite stars, as spring training is also a time when players are generally much more accessible and available to their legions of fans.

While each sport has their pre-seasons that are unique, spring training has become an annual rite and a scheduled vacation for scores of baseball fans throughout the country.

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12. Bragging Rights Between American and National Leagues

There are huge divides when it comes to fans’ opinions about their particular teams and the league that their teams participate in.

Especially since the adoption of the American League’s designated hitter in 1973, fans will argue the merits of American League baseball as opposed to National League baseball.

Purists will argue for the pitcher hitting in the NL, and the many more strategies that managers much employ as a result. Fans of the AL will argue that NO ONE wants to watch a pitcher at the plate and that the AL is much more exciting because of the increased offense with the designated hitter.

In addition, many NL fans believe they are superior because the NL has been around 25 years longer than the AL, hence their nickname, “the senior circuit.” Old-school fans throw this right in the face of fans of the AL and never let them forget it.

There may be no more passionate debate in sports.

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13. Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees

If you are a baseball fan, need I say more?

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have been involved in a heated rivalry ever since Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in December 1919.

While there are fans out there who have gotten tired of hearing about the Sox and Yankees, it is the oldest rivalry in American professional sports, and nothing fans the flames of Sox and Yankees fans more than an important series when both teams are contenders for the postseason.

14. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants

While the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is the oldest in the American, we certainly can’t forget the great rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants that has also brewed for many decades and originally started in the boroughs of New York in the early 20th century.

Ever since the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants played for bragging rights between Brooklyn and Manhattan (the Yankees had a solid hold on the Bronx), the rivalry between the two teams has been intense and often combative.

Who can forget the famous “shot heard ‘round the world,” referring to the home run hit by Bobby Thomson of the Giants off of Ralph Branca of the Dodgers in 1951 that completed one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of baseball.

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15. The Subway Series

For fans living in New York who have long missed the old Brooklyn Dodgers-New York Giants rivalry when the two teams bolted for California in 1958, they now have some solace in a newer budding rivalry.

With the start of interleague play in 1997, the New York Mets and New York Yankees are now building a newer way for New Yorkers to voice their allegiances, and there have been several heated moments in the rivalry already, including the famous incident in Game 2 of the 2000 World Series when Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens famously flung a piece of a broken bat at the feet of Mets catcher Mike Piazza.

The last three slides are great examples of regional rivalries that have developed that help to capture fans’ interest in the sport of baseball, and other great rivalries such as Cubs-Cardinals, Tigers-White Sox and others have also served to fuel the passions of baseball fans across the country.

16. Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jack

Is there a more iconic song in all of sports than “Take Me Out to the Ballgame?”

Not only is the song itself a great representation of baseball over many decades, but buying roasted peanuts and a box of cracker jacks is still a time-honored tradition at every ballpark in the country.

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17. Ballpark Hot Dogs

Why is it that a hot dog doesn’t taste anywhere near as good as it does than at the ballpark?

Unless, of course, you happen to go to Nathan’s Famous Frankfurters in New York.

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18. The Collective Effort to Will a Player out of a Slump

While oftentimes the media will vilify a Major League Baseball player for enduring an agonizing slump, just as often, you’re apt to see loyal fans of that player who will actually get together to come up with various and unique ways to “will” players out of a slump.

Fans have been known to send their remedies along to players in an effort to break the stranglehold of the venomous slump. And through the years, many players have embraced fans’ efforts.

When I was a young lad following the Boston Red Sox in the late 1960s, I was standing outside of the players’ private parking area at Fenway Park, hoping to get an autograph. Dozens of fans were there waiting to see Carl Yastrzemski, who was mired in an awful slump in the summer of 1969.

As soon as Yaz came into view, fans were shouting out their remedies and fixes to Yaz. One fan waved Yaz over and proceeded to tell the Red Sox slugger to lather himself in beeswax with a gauze wrapping to ward off all evil spirits dwelling within him.

Yaz never did fully break out of his hitting funk that year, hitting just .255 following back-to-back AL batting titles. And no word as to whether or not he tried the remedy.

But that’s the type of fan loyalty that makes baseball unique and easy to fall in love with.

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19. The Love of Statistics

Baseball has been the one sport where statistics are king. Home runs, singles, doubles, triples, batting averages, ERAs, strikeouts, men left on base, all of these statistics were always memorized by loyal fans in relation to their favorite players.

Statistics have certainly taken on a different form with the rise of sabermetrics in recent years, but it just adds to the overall mystique that statistics have generated among baseball fans for many decades.

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20. Collecting Baseball Cards

The practice of collecting cards was an essential of a boy’s childhood if he were so inclined to be a baseball fan. Oftentimes when I was growing up, it was commonplace to see mine and my friends’ bicycles loaded with baseball cards in the spokes of our wheels.

Of course, we had no idea that the value of those cards became severely diminished as a result of our wish to have our baseball cards with us at all times.

I remember completely scoring when I secured Rod Carew’s 1967 Rookie card. I gave some poor sap a Duane Josephson card for it.

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21. No Time Limits in Baseball

The beauty about the game of baseball is that there are no time limits that regulate each game. While basketball, football and hockey have specific time endings to their periods and quarters, an inning in baseball can last anywhere between five minutes to upwards of an hour.

Extra innings adds even more intrigue, as that can last from one extra frame to as many as 16 extra innings, which is what happened on May 8, 1984 when the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox took 25 innings to decide their contest.

Hockey uses a five-minute overtime, followed by a shootout to decide games. Can you imagine if baseball went one extra inning, and then if no one won, a home run derby between the two teams would decide the winner?

I’d better shut up; someone just might suggest that.

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22. The Legends of Lou Gehrig and Roberto Clemente

We mentioned the incredible history that has occurred in baseball over the past 136 years, but the individual stories of its players add a uniqueness of its own through their incredible stories.

Lou Gehrig, who played in 2,130 consecutive games and was known as the Iron Man, had his streak stopped by a neuromuscular disease that claimed his life just two years later. And the story of Roberto Clemente, whose humanitarian efforts off the field led to baseball naming an award after him, is a story that is always told to kids when speaking about proper role models.

Clemente, who collected his 3,000th hit on the last day of the 1972 season, died on Dec. 31, 1972 when an airplane carrying relief supplies to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua crashed. Clemente was escorting the supplies that he had gathered for the relief efforts.

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23. The “Game Within the Game"

In watching the sport of baseball, especially at the major league level, there are literally dozens of scenarios that can happen with each pitch, and those scenarios can increase exponentially with each different situation.

For instance, with a runner on second and third and less than two outs, should the pitcher intentionally walk the next batter to create a force at each base? How does the outfield position themselves? Is the infield in or at normal depth?

Each pitch brings its own set of unique scenarios that can happen, creating the “game within the game.”

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24. Difficulty of Hitting a Round Ball with a Round Bat

It has been said by several leading authorities, including Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame hitter Ted Williams, that the act of hitting a round ball with a round bat is the single hardest thing to do in professional sports.

Yet, when you hit it correctly, you “square it up.”

Gawd, I love baseball.

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25. The Individuality of the Home Umpire

Anyone who has ever watched the baseball scene in the movie The Naked Gun will know exactly what I’m talking about in regard to this topic.

While Leslie Nielsen may slightly exaggerate, home plate umpires in Major League Baseball all have their own unique way of calling balls and strikes. While some use light hand signals and merely mumble the call, others are quite vocal and almost theatrical with their own particular calls.

While they don’t necessarily steal the show like Nielsen, they, at times, can be certainly entertaining to watch.

26. Player Superstitions

Each major professional sport certainly have players who indulge in different rituals or engage themselves in what others might think to be abnormal ways of preparing for games.

However in Major League Baseball, there are an inordinate amount of players who are literally superstitious—from players who refuse to touch the foul lines when entering or leaving the diamond, to players who out on various pieces of their uniform on in the same precise way each and every day, to players who eat the same thing each day during their pre-game meals (Wade Boggs).

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27. Managers Arguing with Umpires

Is there any other sport where a head coach or manager gets crazier in arguing with officials than baseball?

From Earl Weaver to Lou Piniella to Billy Martin, there have been scores of managers in the history of MLB who have entertained fans with their animated antics when arguing calls with an umpire.

Yes, you might see a head coach throwing a folding chair out onto a basketball court (think Bobby Knight), but only in baseball can you see a manager throwing and kicking dirt, pulling up important pieces of the field (bases), throwing bats out onto the field and even questioning the umpire about the sexual antics of his mother.

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28. Playing Fantasy Baseball to Follow MLB More Closely

Some of my friends have argued that fantasy baseball has actually taken away from the popularity of baseball because fans then only follow the particular players who they have selected for their fantasy teams.

Hogwash.

Fantasy baseball is a way for fans to actually get closer to the game by understanding more about pitching matchups, a hitter’s history against opposing pitchers and a host of other ways to learn more about the game itself.

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29. Fooling Your Friends with Obscure Baseball Stats

The first present I ever remember receiving as a child was a sports trivia book titled The Sports Answer Book, written by Bill Mazer in 1966.

While the book covered every sport and a host of questions, by far, the thickest section of the book was baseball. By far.

As a result, I am now, some 45 years later, a veritable plethora of useless information.

Well, it’s useful to me, because I love baseball.

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30. The Variety of Quirky Pitching Motions

In hockey, the art of hitting a great slap shot is a thing of beauty. However, rarely do you see a wide variation of styles in terms of how hockey players actually perform the slap shot.

In football, most field goal kickers now practice soccer style kicks, but it’s pretty rare to see widely varying styles of kicking.

However, in baseball, there are a myriad of different pitching styles, and while some of them may look herky-jerky (think Luis Tiant and Fernando Valenzuela), it works for them with a degree of great success. That’s the beauty of baseball; not everything is textbook.

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31. Quirky Hitting Stances

Just as there are a variety of pitching motions, there are just as many varieties of hitting stances and swings as well.

From a high bat-wagging style, to a wide open batting stance where the pitcher is facing the pitcher, to a hitter who looks like he is sitting on a stool in his stance, there is no perfect textbook style that will guarantee success as a hitter.

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32. The Beauty of a 12-6 Curveball That Freezes a Batter

While there are many pitchers that are famous for a high-90s fastball, there are just as many pitchers who featured slower pitches with tremendous movement.

Watching a left-handed pitcher throw a gorgeous sweeping curve that looks like it’s headed directly at a left-handed batter’s shoulder, and then sharply breaks down over the plate, is an absolute work of art. Oftentimes, a batter can be seen with the deer in the headlights look, as he sees the pitch appear to be coming straight at him, see his knees weaken and then sees the ball break beautifully over the plate.

To see a perfect 12-6 curveball, just watch Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee one night and be awed.

33. The Various Twisted Nicknames Used for Specific Plays

Many sports have nicknames that they use for particular plays—for instance, in football, a last second heave into the end zone by a quarterback is referred to as a Hail Mary. In boxing, a fighter desperate to land a knockout throws a haymaker.

In baseball, there are a variety of very distinct names used for particular plays. When a batter hits a ball between the infield and outfield, it’s called a Texas Leaguer. A ball that is intended to hit off the plate and bounce very high is called a Baltimore Chop.

And of course, one of my all-time favorites—a ball hit by a batter that looks like it’s a line drive, but then drops to the ground in front of the outfielder, called the Dying Quail.

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34. The Excitement of Unfolding Drama in the Bottom of the Ninth

The home team is coming up in the bottom of the ninth, behind by two runs. The opposing team calls upon their closer to finish the game off and seal the victory.

The closer allows a single to the first batter, and then walks the next batter, putting runners on first and second with no one out, and the tying run is represented at the plate.

The crowd starts to gather in a collective voice—urging their team with shouts of encouragement. The manager walks out to the mound to calm down his closer, the home team manager calls for a pinch-hitter, offering a better matchup for the closer.

These types of scenarios happen quite often, and for each of the fans longing for their team to walk away with a victory, there is an indescribable angst that they feel as the drama continues to unfold.

Those are the moments that make fans fall in love with baseball.

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35. Explaining to Fans Obscure Rules Like the Infield Fly Rule

Baseball has hundreds of rules associated with various plays. When describing these rules to fans who are just starting their love affair with Major League Baseball, explaining these rules can be an exasperating experience, but also one that can give great satisfaction once the play or rule is finally understood in its entirety.

Take for instance the infield fly rule. Practically no one understands why a batter is considered automatically out when he pops up to the infield. No one understands that the infield fly rule is only in effect when there are runners on first and second or when the bases are loaded with less than two outs.

And practically no one understands why a runner can’t advance when the infield fly rule is in effect.

But the satisfaction of properly explaining this rule, even if it takes 2,649 times for the student to finally get it, is gratifying beyond belief.

Well, at least it was to me when I explained the infield fly rule to my wife.

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36. Bonus Baseball That Could Last All Night

I actually picked this particular list well before Sunday night’s marathon 14-inning nail-biting game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

The beauty of baseball is that it lasts until the winning team scores one more run than the other team, with the home team having the option of getting the last at-bat. While it’s not often that most people attending the game will stick around for the entire game, the thrill of watching your team finally ending a marathon game after hours of battling is intense indeed.

While there are some who gross about the length of games in baseball, it’s still a nail biting experience for true fans imploring their teams to finally score a run so that can go to bed and not be late for work the next morning.

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37. Answering the Trivia Question Correctly Between Innings

Either at an MLB game or watching on television, at some point during the course of the first few innings, a trivia question will be posed to the fans, giving them until the next half-inning to figure out the answer.

For a true baseball fan that loves the game, there is no better feeling than being the only one in your section who knows the answer.

I took my brother to a Red Sox game in Boston several years ago. This question was posed on the scoreboard at the end of the third inning:

Who won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1961?

Practically everyone in my section, including my older brother, thought it was Carl Yastrzemski. I immediately interjected, saying, “No, it was Don Schwall!”

Everyone thought I was nuts, and some even asked, “Who the heck is Don Schwall?”

Remember, in an earlier slide, I said I was a veritable plethora of useless information. Needless to say, I was right when the answer appeared on the scoreboard during the next half-inning, and I had clearly impressed my brother, which was always a tough thing for me to do growing up.

Score one for the man who fell in love with MLB.

Photo courtesy chrispottersports.com

38. The Simple Act of the Umpire Dusting off Home Plate

Call me crazy, but nothing is more unique about a sport than to see an official who actually multi-tasks by cleaning up part of the playing field on his own.

Seeing the home plate umpire break out a little whisk broom and dusting off home plate is just one of the many small acts that helped me to fall in love with baseball.

I know. I’m nuts.

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

39. The Unique Dimensions of Each Ballpark

In hockey, each hockey surface in each arena is the exact same dimensions. Same with football and basketball.

In baseball, there are 30 MLB stadiums, and not one of them feature the same exact dimensions. Some may feature outfield walls that appear symmetrical, but others feature a variety of bends, fence heights and distances that make each park unique. Petco Park is considered pitcher friendly, while Fenway Park and Wrigley are both hitter-friendly.

MLB teams will pattern the strength of their ballclubs based on their outfield dimensions.

Can’t do that in any other major professional sport.

Photo courtesy rotojournal.blogspot.com

40. Unique Home Run Calls of MLB Announcers

One of the great advantages to the modern world of technology, especially in baseball, is that you can now listen to games from all over the country, rather than just your local team as in years’ past.

Because of modern technology, fans have the ability to hear the different radio and television broadcasters from different MLB teams and the very unique way that they call a game, in particular their home run calls.

If you have pored through all of the above slides and can relate to most of them, you are no doubt as big a fan of MLB as I am. But in spite of people who call for major changes to make MLB “viable," they should be embracing the many aspects of the game that has been carried through generations and continues to thrill millions upon millions of fans year after year.

God, I love baseball.

Doug Mead is a featured columnist with Bleacher Report. His work has been featured on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, SF Gate, CBS Sports, the Los Angeles Times and the Houston Chronicle. Follow Doug on Twitter, @Sports_A_Holic.