At the professional level, baseball, football and basketball
have clearly established themselves as the top sports in the
country.
Yet at the college level, only football and basketball are the
mainstream sports, with baseball lagging behind.
Way behind.
While college football and basketball draw large crowds and
impressive TV ratings, college baseball is just that sport that is
occasionally shown on ESPN to fill airtime. And how many fans
really care that Cal State Fullerton won last year’s College
World Series?
Or even know, for that matter?
It doesn’t have to be this way, though. With a couple of
changes, college baseball’s popularity can increase.
This country loves its baseball.
Major league attendance hit an all-time high in 2004 and will
likely be even higher this season.
But college baseball is often just an afterthought.
Two changes will boost the sport’s prestige. First,
eliminate the aluminum bats. Second, push the season start date
back to coincide with the pro season.
Aluminum bats are a detriment to the sport. It’s much
easier to get a hit and score with aluminum as opposed to wood,
making college baseball scores much higher than its professional
counterpart.
“Wooden bats give the game more credibility,” former
long-time UCLA baseball coach Gary Adams said. “For
old-timers like me, the crack of the bat sounds better than the
ping of the bat. A lot of old-timers are turned off by metal bats.
They played with wood.”
My earliest college baseball memory is USC beating Arizona State
21-14 in the last game of the 1998 College World Series ““ a
game in which neither team could ever get the other one out. And
it’s these types of games that turn a lot of fans off.
“When the College World Series comes around and I ask my
friends if they watch it, they say, “˜You mean all the games
with the football scores?'” Adams said.
Though wooden bats would help revive college baseball,
there’s another important step that needs to be taken.
The college baseball season typically starts the last week of
January.
While that’s not a problem in sunny Los Angeles or in any
southern state, for most of the country, it’s very harsh on
fans.
Believe it or not, it gets cold in January in most of the
country. It even snows.
By starting the season so early, the schools in a good portion
of the country are at a disadvantage because of the weather ““
baseball is a warm-weather, outdoor sport. Take a look at the
rankings. Not a single top 25 team is from the frigid Northeast.
The only ranked schools in places that can be considered North are
Oregon State and Nebraska.
“Baseball was meant to be played in warmth,” Adams
said. “You like to feel the sun on you. Fans like to go to
games in a shirt and shorts.”
Starting the college baseball season in March or April would
give everyone an even playing field and eventually increase
interest in other parts of the country. Also in April and the
summer months, the sport of baseball itself receives more attention
““ you have to figure some of that would translate into the
college game.
Another way to draw fans to UCLA games in particular is to,
well, sell beer at the games.
Back in the early ’80s, Adams tried a promotion in which
he held a noise contest at Jackie Robinson Stadium. He invited all
the fraternities to the game and promised a keg to whichever one
was the loudest.
Once the Veteran’s Administration (they own the land
Jackie Robinson Stadium is on) learned about this, however, they
threatened to charge UCLA a real rent (according to Adams, the
administration only charged UCLA $1 a year back then) if Adams
didn’t put a stop to it.
Adams, along with UCLA, does not want to sell beer at Jackie
Robinson Stadium, but this would be a great way to draw fans,
especially students, to the games.
Having more fans at your games is always a good thing.
College baseball could be a lot more fun if given a chance. If
only the people in the sport itself will give it a chance to
grow.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.