There is Good Baseball Being Played in Some Cities, If Only Fans Would Bother To Show Up

↵If a ball is thrown past a bat and into a glove, and there’s no one ↵there to see it, does it count as a strike?↵

↵↵Or, more directly put, does baseball have a significant ↵attendance problem on its hands? According to the website ↵ballparksofbaseball.com, total attendance in the Major Leagues ballooned↵to almost 80 million fans in 2007. For a point of reference, ↵attendance in 1995 had dropped to just↵over 50 million fans, staying in the low 60 million range until the↵home run race of 1998 that brought fans back in droves. But even the ↵1998 and 1999 seasons didn’t see the fantastic attendance MLB boasted in↵the mid-to-late aughts.↵

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↵↵Last year saw a bit of a downturn to more than 73 million fans, thanks in small part to the smaller stadiums in New York and in larger part to the current state of the economy around the rest of the country. So maybe it’s still because of the economy, but according to records through games played on April 21, the overall attendance is already down from last year. And while the numbers may prove to be statistically insignificant (down by an average of just 647 fans this year), the numbers for 2010 are clearly buoyed by Minnesota’s new ballpark, which has already seen an increase of nearly 16,000 fans per game this season. Having said that, it’s clear a team like the Mets benefited from a new ballpark last year as well, as their attendance is already down more than 6,600 fans per contest through nine games, so you may be able to make the numbers work for the opposite argument as well.↵

↵↵The bigger issue for baseball may be the fact that big name pitchers just aren’t moving the needle. Felix Hernandez pitched a complete game at home for the first-place Mariners on Wednesday, giving up just one unearned run and striking out six. The announced attendance was 18,401. That’s half as many people at the Seattle Sounders of MLS are averaging this season.↵

↵↵Oakland, the other team tied for first in the AL West, was averaging just over 18,000 per game until more than 30,000 showed up Wednesday night to see the Yankees and Phil Hughes almost no-hit the hometown A’s.↵

↵↵Fans in Toronto probably don’t have much to cheer for this season, but whatever Jays fans still remain after the team shipped Roy Halladay out of town had a chance to see opening-day starter Shaun Marcum face off against reigning Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke on Wednesday. Announced attendance was 15,577.↵

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↵↵It’s unfortunate that we’ve come to expect 12,192 fans to show up to PNC Park in Pittsburgh and 11,191 watch the Nationals get over .500 with a win over the Rockies, but under 15,000 fans showed up to see the Padres host the Giants? No more than 17,000 fans showed up to the South Side to see Mark Buehrle against the talented Rays lineup? How about just barely over 19,000 showed up to see the Diamondbacks host the Cardinals with Chris Carpenter on the bump, or 12,203 in Cincinnati went to see Aaron Harang face the Dodgers? Okay, Harang has been terrible this year, but still, wasn’t there some semblance of optimism for the Reds this season? It’s still early, folks.↵

↵↵You’ll never see me defend how obnoxious some fans in New York, especially Yankees fans, can be. You’ll never see me defend the actions of some fans at Dodger Stadium who terrorize visiting fans with weapons or the absolutely deplorable behavior by a select few at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, especially recently. At least their fans, though – especially the good ones – bother to show up.↵

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