Baseball National Pastime

Take Me Out to the Ball, but Which One? For much of the twentieth century, baseball has been considered the national pastime of the United States. Hank Aaron, home runs, and hot dogs seem as American as Thanksgiving. Many American presidents, from Eisenhower to Obama, have participated in the tradition of a celebrity throwing out the first ball on opening day of a new baseball season. But beginning in the 1990s, baseball stars were being eclipsed by the stars of another game invented in America—basketball. Some argue that Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal, basketball greats and household names, are more famous than any current pitcher or home run king. This shift has raised a question in minds of many: Should baseball continue to be considered our national pastime , or should basketball take its place? Both sports are very popular with American sports fans. In addition, both games attract fans of all races—white, African American, Asian American, Hispanic—and all classes, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. Baseball has become a national treasure through its appeal to a wide, wide audience. At a Saturday afternoon game, men, women, grandparents, and kids of all ages wait to catch a fly ball. The appeal of basketball is growing, the sport having become
Baseball is a family-oriented spectator sport. Because of the widely diverse baseball fans with varied attention spans, attending a baseball game is like going to an open-air carnival, and the game itself is only one of the many spectacles. If fans are bored with the game, they can listen to the vendors hawking ice cream, watch a fight brewing in the bleacher seats, stand in line to buy peanuts or hot dogs, participate in “the wave,” or just bask in the sun. Only diehard fans keep a constant eye on the game itself because there are frequent breaks in the