THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030568
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Despite some evidence that seems to support the existence of a fan revolt, America will soon enough find its way back to the ballparks, if only out of habit.
People are fixating on attendance figures around the American and National leagues, seeing in every crowd of less than 20,000 signs of rot at the core of the game.
On ESPN, each baseball score is accompanied by a review of the attendance. The announcers punctuate the figures with raised eyebrows, as if something is terribly amiss.
Considering what the owners and players have done to the game, fans have a reason to be grouchy.
Even so, instinct should tell us that public dissatisfaction is exaggerated. Or at the very least, that it is too early to draw any lasting conclusions.
Fan apathy and anger may be responsible for some of the anemic turnouts. Nobody's denying that.
But another factor could be the fickle spring weather.
Chilly, rainy days and nights are at least as off-putting to a baseball fan as Bud Selig and Don Fehr.
Also, the strike prevented many teams from implementing effective off-season ticket-selling campaigns. How do you pitch tickets when you can't tell the fans when - or if - the games will be played?
No doubt some fans now want to make a point. They believe it is their duty to pout, hoping to make the owners and players squirm. But what of it?
Has the strike started baseball on a long, downward spiral that will see the industry reduced to minor-league status just ahead of indoor soccer and Arena Football?
I think not.
But if I'm wrong about this, now is not the time to admit it.
If there is one sport that defies instant analysis, it is major league baseball.
Baseball, with its marathon season and sleepy pace, needs time to play itself out.
Nothing is being decided during this second week of the late-arriving season, including how well the public eventually treats the game.
We are a country of quick takes and short attention spans, so it figures that each year an early baseball trend would be spotted and then given more significance than it deserves.
Remember last season? In April and May, the hot issue was the lively ball. Home runs were flying out of the yards, so it was decided that the balls had to be juiced.
A few weeks later, when home run totals returned to normal, you didn't hear a word about the rabbit in the ball.
It may be the same with attendance figures. In a month, this issue could be as forgotten as the replacement players.
The same people who jump to frantic conclusions over attendance wouldn't pick the hapless Milwaukee Brewers to win their division because they sprinted out to a 5-1 start. And they wouldn't write off the Orioles because they are 2-4.
In any case, attendance in both leagues for the opening week was off only about three percent from last April. That surprised me. To read the baseball obituaries, you'd have thought it was closer to 33 percent.
It's true, of course, that in some places, teams produced big crowds with heavily discounted tickets. One of the best stories came from Anaheim. The Angels charged $1 for tickets and $6 for parking.
Perhaps even pouting baseball fans can find the humor in that. by CNB