The “strength” of baseball?   Baseball as a game, maybe,  but MLB is what we’re talking about.  Then,  MLB has impact,  and the marketing of the game is what SELLS so much to kids,  not all of it great,  but the constant prescence of the game as I was growing up,  and the family trips to see the Reds,  including trips to the ’70 and ’72 world series…..all of that was golden.  This guy misses all that , I think. Yeah,  people will trickle back,  but my disgust will cut so much deeper.  I think of the titles of programs like “When It Was A Game”,  and I am deeply nostalgic for the less “millionaire laden game”.  It was only  30 years ago when Pete Rose became the first non-homerun hitter to make (gasp) $100,000.  Inflation and growth have not been so kind (or so cruel, in this case) to anything else like it has professional sports. Anyway,  the article which spawned all this:

The Miami Herald | 07/24/2002 | Save your breath: Baseball is as tough as hide that covers it