Popularity
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Baseball is most popular in East Asia and the Americas, although in South America its popularity is mainly limited to the northern portion of the continent. In Japan , Puerto Rico , the Dominican Republic , Cuba , Panama , Venezuela , Nicaragua , South Korea , and Taiwan , it is one of the most popular sports. The United States is the birthplace of baseball, where it has long been regarded as more than just a " major sport "; for many decades, it has been popularly referred to as the " national pastime " and Major League Baseball has been given a unique monopoly status by the United States Congress . Although the three most popular professional team sports in the United States are ball games—baseball, basketball and American football —baseball's historical popularity was so great that even today the word "ballgame" in the United States almost always refers to a game of baseball (except in the South, where the word is also used in association with football), and "ballpark" invariably refers to a baseball field .

Baseball has often been a barometer of the fabled American "melting pot", as immigrants from different regions have tried to "make good" in various areas including sports. In the 19th century, baseball was populated with many players of Irish or German extraction. A number of Native Americans had successful careers especially in the early 1900s. Italians and Poles appeared on many rosters during the 1920s and 1930s. Black Americans came on strong starting in the late 1940s after the barriers had been lifted, and continue to form a significant contingent. By the 1960s, Hispanics had started to make the scene, and had become a dominant force by the 1990s. In the 21st century, East Asians have been appearing in increasing numbers.

While baseball is perhaps the most popular sport in the United States and is certainly one of the two most popular along with football, it is difficult to determine which is more popular because of the wide discrepancy in number of games per season. For example, the total attendance for major league games is roughly equal to that of all other American professional team sports combined, but football gets higher television ratings, both a function in part of the long (162-game) baseball season and short (16-game) football season. According to Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig both revenue and attendance are currently higher than at any previous point in the history of the game. [1]