It’s easier to get boys out to a skate park than a ballpark these days. For that matter, it’s easier to get them to go to a state park, national park, dog park, amusement park, water park, animal park, marine park and Jurassic Park before they will set foot on a baseball field with a ball, bat and glove in hand.

This isn’t going to be a eulogy for baseball because, despite what you’ve heard for the last 20 years or so, baseball isn’t dead. It isn’t even on life support. But it is getting knocked on its keister by a brushback pitch from whatever we’re calling the generation that has the rotten luck of calling my generation Dad.

Oh, kids still like going to the ballpark as spectators. You don’t need to drag your son or daughter to a professional game. But take them to a game where you don’t buy them a hot dog, soda, new Red Sox hat or Slugger doll, where there are no between-inning contests, and no mega-video board in center field and see how eager they are to jump into the Family Truckster next time.

Don’t blame the kids. They didn’t create our thrill-a-minute culture. They also didn’t create and heighten the year-round demands of virtually every sport they dabble in.

Baseball isn’t connecting with American kids the way it once did, which is causing furious hand-wringing at all levels of the sport. Major League Baseball is worried about declining ratings, especially in the younger demographic, and what that means for future revenue streams. Amateur baseball is currently taking the most direct hits, with a steadily shrinking talent pool and more and more competition drawing that talent away from the sport.

Here in Maine, it’s the vanishing JV and freshman teams that are the canary in the coal mine. High school coaches have a convenient scapegoat — lacrosse. All spring sports in Maine, male and female, have seen their numbers steadily dwindle over the last decade due to lacrosse, but baseball seems to have developed a complex about having to share the sunshine with another team sport.

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American Legion coaches have a similar lament, except they have numerous other sports, whether they’re spring, fall or winter, with summer leagues that are — ahem — optional for players. Throw in work, family, academic and all of the other obligations kids have these days and it’s a wonder any of them can play Legion baseball three times a week, with one of those times being a six or seven-hour doubleheader.

Maine American Legion shares in the blame, too. It is woefully behind the times in getting boys and young men excited about playing baseball. Some zones, teams and coaches have become more active in social media to try to create some excitement, but they’re fighting an uphill battle in an organization mostly run by men old enough to be the players’ grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

Which is why developments such as what happened last week when Turner-based Andy Valley forfeited the rest of its Zone 2 season due to a lack of players are becoming less and less surprising.

Maine American Legion contracted from five zones to four due to lack of teams this past offseason. Andy Valley’s decision is deja vu all over again for the remaining Zone 2 teams from Augusta, Farmington and Gardiner because after adding what was thought to be the stronger of the two central Maine zones in Zone 3, a team has already folded its tent due to lack of interest.

Andy Valley didn’t vanish overnight. It had been at or near the bottom of the Zone 3 standings for some time and drew primarily from Leavitt Area High School, where football is king. It is, admittedly, an example of the worst case scenario for Legion baseball.

It must be noted that many teams throughout the state remain strong and consistently have good numbers, and the state’s Junior Legion for 13-17 year-olds has grown in the last decade.

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Despite all of the hard work of players and coaches, and despite the efforts of some of the more forward-thinking state and zone officials, the quality of Legion baseball is not what it was even 10-15 years ago, and that spins the game into a cycle it can’t win. One of the biggest attractions of Legion baseball was it offered the opportunity for high school players to sharpen their skills against a higher level of competition and for college players to get much-needed playing time and get ready for fall baseball. Now, they’re just as likely to find those opportunities with travel teams, Babe Ruth or, in the case of college players, a wooden bat summer league.

A lot of the state’s top high school and home-grown college talent still plays Legion baseball, but it’s not nearly as high on the list of priorities for them as it was for so long. I don’t claim to be plugged into their generation. I mean, I just used the word keister in a column, so I’m not sure what the Legion can do to reverse that trend. But it sure can’t keep doing what it’s been doing if it ever hopes to at least slow it down.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33


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