A game so fine, it’s played on diamonds; highlighted by legends leaving their mark. From Jackie Robinson breaking down the racial barriers of the game in 1947, to the 2004 Red Sox coming back from a 3-0 series deficient in the American League Championship Series against the Yankees, breaking the curse and going onto winning their first World Series in 86 years. Unforgettable moments are what makes the game so great. Moments like when The Sultan of Swat, The King of Crash, The Colossus of Clout, Babe Ruth, The Great Bambino, calling his final postseason homerun of his career. The 1932 World Series, Yankees vs Cubs, Wrigley Field, in the fifth inning, score tied at four, a 2-2 count on him, ignoring to trash talk coming from the Cubs dugout The Babe did the impossible. He stepped out of the box, raised his right arm to right-center field and called his shot. Some say it was the farthest homerun ever hit out of Wrigley. That took place over 80 years ago and is still a cherished memory, to think baseball is fading is absurd, it just takes a true fan of the game to appreciate it.
Ever since the Steroid Era that stretched roughly from the late 80’s through the 2000’s, baseball has had an asterisk placed beside its name by common sports fans.  Steroids and any type of growth hormone taken without prescription is against the law in the U.S., however Major League Baseball never officially banned Performance-Enhancing-Drugs, better known as PEDs, until 1991 by Commissioner Fay Vincent. So what does this mean? Players in the 80’s who cheated the sport for self benefit, despite a black and white rule being implemented, are they not at fault? Of course they are, they are at just as much fault as any other player who took PEDs since the rule was inserted. Men we watched and gazed at with amazement, like Bonds and Rodriguez in the 2000, are the same men who force fans away from the game. This is something that will rub and baseball fanatic the wrong way. We don’t understand why the cheaters hurt the image of the clean athletes who work hard every day, the correct way. Since this era and an independent, unanimous study taken in 2003 revealed between 5-7% of the 1,438 samples taken were positive. It’s ignorant to believe only baseball has 5% of its players cheating the system, and if that is the basis of your fight against baseball, it’s a blemish all sports deal with.
A major reason the MLB still draws fans is because of the past. This is no knock on current players, the big leagues are full of great, young, exciting, up and coming players, however baseball fans love to reminisce. On the third weekend of the 2015 season the Cincinnati Reds brought back members of the 1990 World Series Champions team for festivities celebrating 25 seasons since. This was a huge attraction to the fans of the historic baseball city. The Reds averaged about 32 thousand fans at their home games the prior season in 2014-2015, this game on the other hand sold out, 42,319. Despite a poor offseason trading away two of the best pitchers in the National League, a season with low expectations, the history of the team drew the people.
Baseball fanatics loves rooting for the underdog, the guy who maybe is going through a tough time or someone who just plays the game the right way. This is a great description of Roberto Clemente, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Puerto Rican right fielder from 1955-1972. The man was a gentleman on and off the field, and his stats speak for themself. Clemente was a married man with three sons and .317 hitter who finished his 18 year career with exactly 3000 hits, a major milestone in the majors, he was one of the best to step between the lines. Despite his age of 38, his baseball career ended abruptly and unexpectedly as he died in a plane crash in December of 1972. Clemente made numerous trips to third world cities and villages to provide food, water and other resources, so when he planned the trip to Nicaragua following a devastating earthquake at the end of December, it was nothing out of the ordinary. As they boarded the four-engined DC-7 piston-powered plane that was believed to have engine problems, Clemente refused to not get on. The plane crashed moments after takeoff from San Juan International Airport at 9:22 P.M.. He didn't care about his safety or career because he knew the people of Nicaragua needed supplies more than he needed a 100% safe flight. These type of stories will draw you to be a Pirates fan for life, and many fans still wear their number 21 jerseys to PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
Baseball is evolving at the major league level, which isn't to be frowned upon but appreciated. The game has shifted from a hitter's to pitcher's league, mostly because of the excellent work by MLB officials to catch and punish players taking PEDs. Common fans will argue that there being less hitter makes the game boring, and the more guys in the league who hit well is idea. That's one way to look at it, there's no arguing hitters have lost the edge in majority. In 2001, 46 players hit over .300, compared to only 16 last year in 2014. Also only 22 starting pitchers had under a three earned run average in 2014 compared to only two who did it in 2001. These aren't two fluke years either, it has been a steady development in Major League Baseball. So it is up to the fans to decide how they view this, whether they choose to think a pitchers' battle is boring or choose to celebrate the few  exceptional hitters that still dominant the game despite what the rest of the league is doing. So just as in the early 2000's we worshiped the pitchers who could do what appeared to be the impossible, we as not only baseball fans but sports fans need to recognize the few hitters who break the pattern and excel in a league that is overshadowed by the players who get paid to stop them.
"Heros get remembered but legends never die..." one of the most remembered quotes from The Sandlot. The major component that people look for is greatness, we want to see something awesome. We want to see a perfect game and the theatrical walk off home runs like the ones we have seen in films like The Natural. The few times they do happen, the chills, it’s just like seeing it in a movie only better because you know this box score matters. Only 23 times has a pitcher recorded all 27 outs in a game with no blemishes, no walks, no hits, no errors, simply perfect. It's only happened 23 times in the history of the game, so when we see it happen it’s unbelievable. Baseball fanatics want to see their heroes become legends, by doing to unthinkable. Whether it's Carlton Fisk's walk off homerun that he had to "wave" fair over The Green Monster for the Red Sox in game 6 of the 1975 World Series, or Kirk Gibson's miracle walk off home run in the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers, or Cal Ripken Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig's 56 year old record for consecutive games played with 2,632 games over 16 years. Plays that leave you scratching your head with amazement, plays that engrave a player's name into history. Most recently, Derek Jeter's final game in the new Yankee Stadium, September 25th, 2014. The New York Yankees led the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 going into the top of the ninth, but it seemed the night was headed for a dispiriting end when Yankees closer David Robertson blew the three-run lead, allowing ninth-inning home runs to Adam Jones and Steve Pearce to draw the Orioles into a 5-all tie. All Robertson had done, however, was set up Jeter for yet another memorable moment in a career that was filled with them. After designated hitter Jose Pirela led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and Brett Gardner bunted him to second, Jeter came up against right-handed reliever Evan Meek. "The Captain" walked to the plate and the iconic introduction played on the P.A. system from the late Bob Shepard, "Now batting for the Yankees, shortstop, number two, Derek Jeter, number two.". The crowd erupts, knowing this was his final game in the Bronx and likely last at bat wearing the iconic pine-strips. The entire baseball world had their eyes on this moment. Jeter jumped on the first pitch he saw driving the ball into right field with his signature 'inside-out' swing, scoring the runner from second to win the game and finish off a 5-5 game at the plate. After celebrating with teammates, they all left the field as Jeter walked out to his position on the field between second and third base, and crouched down for a moment, to say one final goodbye. A conclusion to one of the greatest careers we will ever see, and the game had to tip their cap to the man who was the face of the MLB for so long. This day will go down in baseball history, whether you are a Yankees or even Red Sox fan, Derek Jeter was one of the most respectable players to ever step onto a diamond. Moments like these can't be scripted, these are the stories baseball provides that trounce any other sport.
The big thing people like to knock baseball on is how long it takes. It’s a hypocritical statement made with very little perspective and research. On average in 2014 in the MLB, games lasted three hours and two minutes, the NFL was three hours and 12 minutes. Through new rules inputted into baseball, a quarter way through the season the have managed to cut eight minutes off the average of each game as well. So what are people arguing? Is watching 11 guys run on and off the field in between each play, and obnoxious play calls no one understands really superior to a right-hander on the bump looking in for his signs? “There’s more exciting plays.” well a football fan’s anticipation for a back breaking hit is the equivalent to a baseball fan wanting to see the speed demon in center field make an impossible diving catch in the gap, or a towering home run off the bat of a power hitter. Some games do go to extra innings and go on for hours and hours, but if you look at it from a different perspective you may be able to appreciate this further. Imagine your favorite television show, whether it’s Seinfeld or One Tree Hill or whatever, now as you’re scrolling through the guide you see a six hour marathon of that show, that would draw you in the same way a 19 inning game between the Red Sox and Yankees that lasted six hours and 49 minutes appeals to a baseball fan. If baseball is too slow, they are making an effort to adjust opposed to other sports, so the MLB’s ability to roll with the punches through these claims and still keep the level of the game so high needs more recognition from the common fan.   
Baseball is only boring to boring minds. The theatrics and evolution of the game do not receive nearly enough recognition even from it's own fan base. However, the way baseball can save people isn't talked about enough. The ability to sit for hours and only think about what pitch may come next can literally save people. Teams rally around cities all too often, such as the Boston Red Sox in 2013 following the devastating bombing of the Boston Marathon. David Ortiz, the face of the team since 2003 gave a speech that will never be forgotten by Bostonians in the team's next home game, “This is our f***ing city, and nobody is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.” Just a sliver of hope and a place to escape your problems is the beauty of the game and the reason it is not fading. How can you not be romantic about baseball?