Just a week ago, the National League won its first Major League Baseball All-Star game since 1996.  But much like a tree falling in the forest without anyone around to hear, the contest didn’t make much of a sound.  The national television ratings were the lowest ever for the mid-Summer classic.

This is not a new concern.  It took a near economic depression to put a dent in attendance, but the All-Star game was broadcast on free TV.  Neither is it a new insight that the sport has a marketing problem.  The list of “how-come’s” has become nearly etched in stone, among them that there has been a drop in the number of African-American players, performance enhancing drug use has tainted results and reputation, the games are too long and there are too many of them broadcast.

What is less certain is the best list of “what to do’s.”  Those that exist fall short by ignoring two essential qualities of Major League Baseball.  First, it is a regional game.  And, second, connection requires continuity.

It was another special game — Old Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium — that made this point very well.  Writing in the New York Times, columnist William C. Rhoden cast his vote for the marketing power of continuity:

“Despite the team’s seeming narcissism, Major League Baseball could learn something from the annual showcase of Old-Timers’ Day.  The Yankees are the only team that annually holds one, but it is something that baseball should encourage every team to do periodically. Old-Timers’ Day is the celebration of continuity and reunion. Few teams have the Yankees’ history, but every team has former players”

It will be far harder to resuscitate the regional game.  Whether it was the Dodgers and Giants moving west, the advent of the airplane, the ubiquity of cable television, free agency or inter-league play, a set of events has conspired to erase the lines that used to separate the ivy walls of Wrigley, the wind of San Francisco and the bright lights of New York.

When each fan knows as much about the opposition as his or her own team, hope is replaced by calculation.  Rotisserie Baseball (forerunner of the Fantasy variety) is exhibit A. In the always-on, 24-hour-a-day, up-to-the-second, Internet-driven media world, the attractive power of mystery is eliminated.  It makes it hard to be a fan of a team in what use to be called the “second division” when you know just how hard it really will be to “get ‘em next year.”

But all hope is not yet lost with regard to creating and strengthening a fan’s commitment to the continuity of the game.  So rather than suggest games be set to a clock or a shorter season or longer play-offs, Major League Baseball could do some things that reinforce the continuity of the game.  From the time it is played by children to the time those kids as adults take their own families to the ballpark.

Here are three suggestions:

1.  Underwrite the use of wooden bats in college games

It is hard to reconcile the “ping” of a college game with the “crack” heard in major league stadia as being of the same game.  Questions of safety alone should prompt MLB to divert some of its resources to the cause.

2.  Play more during the day

The game is best viewed in day light.  For the last 20 years, only once did attendance at Cub’s games — played predominantly during the day — fall below the league average.  Television contracts and good ratings for compelling post-season games will make this a difficult task, but balanced against an eroding trend line of participation and interest ought to make it a no-brainer.

3.  Make the path to the major leagues more visible

For every Stephen Strausberg who goes from college to the major leagues in months, there are 50 Jesus Feliciano’s who spend years in the minor leagues.   MLB can make their path — whether from Rookie ball, A, Penn League or the Arizona Fall League — a point of pride and anticipation.

Whether every team ought to have an Old Timers’ Day is every team question.  But that, too, seems an easy answer.  Invest in continuity and reap commitment.

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