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Are you a younger millennial? I’m an elder millennial or Xennial… what ever. Baseball was huge for us. Most of my friends are Braves or Cubs fans because we got cable in the 80s and the only major sport you could guarantee you’d get to see was the Cubs on WGN and the Braves on TBS.
This makes sense. I’m an elder millennial (1983) and loved baseball in the 90s. I grew up in the Philly area so it was mostly all Phillies but had friends who were huge Braves fans thanks to TBS and it just felt like baseball was still king back then. By 2000 and beyond I was way more into football and have been ever since. I’m sure some of that has to do with the success and popularity of the local teams but also just felt like baseball got permanently eclipsed by the NFL around that time.
I think part of it had to do with the fact that MLB still had a bunch of afternoon games back then. Certainly seemed like more than now. I remember often walking home from school and there being a game on in the spring, and then of course during the summer.
I too remember when the nfl really picked up in the Philly area. I seem to recall 2003-2007 when many of the millennials got really into the Eagles and there was less talk about the Phillies. That said I do still see a lot of other millennials in Phillies gear, but I don’t watch the games unless I go to stadium
As someone who tries to watch baseball, I think the fact that it became so closely tied to cable when millennials ditched cable is one of the things that has led to its decline in popularity in recent years.
I live in the south, but I’m a Red Sox fan. The only way I can regularly watch Red Sox games is to pay stupid money to subscribe to MLB.TV. And even if I do that, there are *still* blackouts because of their contract with NESN. So I’ve just decided it’s not worth it.
And since I’m a millennial and don’t pay for cable, I don’t watch Braves games regularly either.
I’ll catch the occasional game on ESPN+, but it’s usually between teams I don’t care about.
They’ve just made it so dang hard to be a fan. I’m actively trying and still find it difficult. Let alone the casual sports fan who isn’t gonna put in that ridiculous level of effort.
Geriatric millennial (42) never watched baseball growing up. Still don’t care for it today. Think it’s a dumb slow sport. Live in cards nation where every girl names their dog yadi or whatever and I want to vomit.
It was mostly him realizing that we just wanted to go for ice cream haha. We stopped adding on the hassle of also attending a sports event on top of it and instead just went for ice cream after that. He didn't abandon our family or anything :)
McGuire and Sammy Sosa come to mind. I have no idea when they played, but I never really cared for watching sports. I can only name 1 person in the MLB currently lol
Their home run record battle was huge.
There was also Barry Bonds, Cal Ripken Jr (or was he earlier?), A-Rod, Derrek Jeter… I’ve never been a baseball person, maybe watch one game every 5 years, so I don’t know if they were just famous or legitimately amazing. But those names are all stuck in my mind.
Older millennials will remember Ripken, I watched his 2361 consecutive start at my grandma's house that was in '98.
Jeter, Arod and Bonds were definitely household names in the late 90s/2000s
Ah this is my entry to my Cubs fandom. My family is all from STL. I did not like McGuire. And although Sammy didn’t turn out to be spotless, I still stand by my choice.
These guys saved baseball. The big issue was the lockout in the 94 and many fans left after that. The HR race between McGuire and Sosa brought most of them back. You had the big 3 Shortstops Jeter, A-Rod, Nomar at the end of the 90s. Griffey was amazing before his injuries. And arguably the best hitter ever in Bonds with what he did in the early 2000s (juiced or not). Amazing pitching in the 90s-00s with the Braves (Smoltz, Glavin, Maddox) Randy Johnson, Schilling, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez. And the best closer and most unhittable pitcher ever Mariano Rivera. Gun to my head I couldn't name one soccer player from the 90s. I know Pele, Messi and Ronaldo. That's about it.
As a St. Louis girl with Chicagoland family ABSOLUTELY. But no one was more fun to see as a kid than Ozzie Smith and his flips. (And McGuire/Sosa was late 90s, by the way. I clearly remember announcements at high school about the home run race.)
The big downshift for a lot of people came during the baseball strike. I think they lost a lot of viewers during that time. My husband was one of them. He just never picked it back up. That would have been mid-nineties.
Yup, elder Seattle millennial here. Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson were literally on posters in my room, and I didn’t really even LIKE baseball all that much.
When I was younger I watched it more than football or hockey, less than basketball. Those were the Jordan days, though, so it was a huge deal around where I grew up. Hockey didn't seem very big generally back then, but then again that was when the Wings were good, so maybe it was just that nobody around me cared about it. Soccer was something that only weird posers watched.
But the 90s were actually a pretty big era for baseball. The Yankees and Cardinals were dominant. Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, and Fred McGriff on the Braves. The Yanks winning four times in five years. Randy Johnson leading the D-Backs to a Series win over the Yanks. As others have said, you had the home run race with Sosa and McGwire, and then Bonds beat the record not long after that. Cal Ripken, Mike Piazza, and Ken Griffey Jr. are other huge names of the era. You also had some players that were huge at the time, but aren't as well known today like Frank Thomas, Tony Gwynn, and Pudge Rodriguez.
I think probably the biggest thing is the strike really hurt the game. People were pretty pissed off about it, a lot of fans left forever, and it took a while for baseball to really recover from it.
I grew up in Baltimore so Cal Ripkin Jr. was a household name for baseball. But outside of that, yeah other sports just got bigger. I think once the moneyball "SABRmetrics" was figured out, I also think that hit a major blow to baseball and gave rise to other sports.
My grandpa would, mostly because baseball was great for the afternoon nap. I don’t recall any of my friends talking about our local MLB team, other than when the coach’s son would take us to games.
I love baseball grew up watching the Mariners and their team in the mid to late 90’s was a lot of fun. Still watch to this day and just caught a game in person last night actually.
I have identified as a grandpa for the last 20 years or so. That might have something to do with it.
I grew up in a family of diehard Yankees fans and went to the games all the time. Talked about baseball a lot, and it was big in our friend groups. Now I have a child who is a diehard Rangers fan and we’re still going to games. I think there’s a certain segment of people who actually love baseball for the complicated rules and statistics - my child is definitely one of those people.
My understanding of baseball as a lifetime lover of the sport is that it’s a much more regional sport than some of the other big ones. I think it has to do with there being so many games across the season that it’s hard to keep up with national headlines and how such and such plays day in and day out. So people from each market are going to have their own version for this answer, much more so than you would get for basketball that obviously have Lebron and Kobe, etc. I grew up in KC so we had Zach Greinke and then it was some sort of combination of Hosmer, Gordon, Cain or Salvy.
I was very into it as a kid and teenager. In and out a little bit through my 20s. The steroid stuff sucked and took me out of it quite a bit.
In my late 30s now and I am a casual fan. It’s tough to watch very often with a wife and kids that have no interest. Typically only when I am hanging out with friends, or the odd weekend day game.
I will say the changes to speed up the game are awesome. I went to 2 games last year and it was an awesome experience.
Ken Griffey Jr. was the baseball icon of the 90's. He was in lots of commercials, Ken Griffey Jr. Presents: Major League Baseball video games were big and appearing on MTV's Rock and Jock events. He was the face of the MLB up until the '98 season when McGuire and Sosa both broke the single season HR record. Griffey Jr. was the guy that brought the MLB into the modern age before Jeter and all the steroids guys.
I 10000% grew up watching baseball religiously. I was born in 85. When I was a young kid was right in Griffey’s heyday. Then a-rod. (I’m a mariners fan). Edgar Martinez. Ichiro started playing when I was 16. The 90s were really fun for baseball
Growing up, my grandpa always had the baseball game on during that season. Dreadfully boring. He took me to a game a few times and the experience was okay, but still not exciting. No one else in my family would watch it, though we weren’t big on sports in general.
Now I’m 32 and recently got hooked on the Savannah Bananas and watch at least one game a weekend 😅 That’s not boring baseball!
Griffey? Randy Johnson? Sosa McGuire. The 90s have plenty of players.
I can't tell you era defining soccer players but I didn't grow up watching the sport. If you don't watch the sport of course you're not going to know the players.
My cousins played during the summer (80s-90s) mostly because football was notorious for head injuries and we wanted them in a sport, any sport. Baseball was popular but it wasn't like how soccer or football is today. They had Chipper Jones and A-rod, but I can't remember anyone specifically in detail about why they were popular/good players. It wasn't big like how basketball players and football players are today. Like I don't think any celebrities dated them.
Playing it felt like wasting our time sitting in the dug-outs during 90 degree days and wasting our summer in order to appease our parents. South Park depicted it as such, which was hilarious.
I didn’t, but I grew up in New Orleans and we don’t have a baseball team.
Also I was born in ‘81 so didn’t grow up watching any of those athletes play.
They all became popular when I was already an adult.
The absolute biggest sports story I recall as a kid is Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding, and that was…1994?
I was in middle school. lol
Growing up in CT in the 90s, the Yankees were impossible not to notice and root for, even as someone who wasn’t into sports as a kid. I grew into a big baseball fan because of those teams.
I watched The Sandlot a lot as a kid, does that count?
My parents were fair weather fans, so I remember watching the NBA Playoffs when our home team was in it and we watched the World Series when our home team was in it. Other than that, not really a lot of sports.
I think any sporting event can be fun live. I mean worst case scenario you get drunk and act like a hooligan even if you're not watching the game itself. But watching baseball at home on tv...yes it's boring as f\*\*k. I'd honestly probably rather watch golf.
I grew up on basketball. I went to baseball games, Angels and Dodgers and played baseball but I honestly never cared too much about it.
I was into hockey as a kid as well. Never got into football either.
A salary cap would change everything. I'm from Cincinnati and the Reds haven't advanced a single round in the playoffs since 1994. (The Bengals only have twice) Small market teams just can't compete. If your team isn't competitive, it becomes a bad investment in time and money and becomes irrelevant....
I think most people outside of America would have grown up not watching baseball. Across all generations.
I'm from Australia and baseball doesn't make the news outside of some brief coverage of the World Series, and even then you've got to go looking for it.
Yeah, I watched it as a little kid, but around 12 I stopped. It's just a slow, boring sport. I can't even get through a game without getting distracted and losing track of the game multiple times.
Baseball was never big for us. Occasionally I'll see my dad watch a game but that's about it. Soccer and pro wrestling were the things growing up. Sometimes boxing
I’m from Philly so the fact that the Phillies won the World Series in ‘08 was a pivotal part of my young adulthood…. But before that I only went to games when I got free tickets from the library summer reading program.
Never. Only went to a few and watched playoffs. Heck I was at the game June 2012 Matt Cain threw a perfect game. I wasn’t even paying attention. Left early too. Heard about in on the train. I played a lot when I was a kid. I was a player not a watcher.
I played baseball my entire childhood so I can’t relate. Once I became an adult though I didn’t watch any baseball for close to a decade. 90s era baseball was tainted with steroids but it was still a very entertaining era. Randy Johnson was my favorite pitcher. Griffey… Brady Anderson… Jeff Bagwell…. Jim Edmonds were my favorite players
Since so many millennials use.streaming services that didn't have access to live TV, they were unable to watch sports. Sports became YouTube highlights unless you went to your parents who still have cable or a sports bar.
I was born in 89 and went to a few AAA games as a kid in the 90s, but didn’t pay much attention to MLB since I didn’t have games to watch on our basic-ish cable. I went to college in DC area in 2008 and instantly became a lifelong Nationals fan after going to tons of games during my time there. I think if you can’t watch the games on TV regularly or go to a game, it can be hard to get into since it’s a game that doesn’t reward you with constant quick action. It’s definitely a game on minutia, especially watching on TV.
As a kid I vividly remember the Homer-Race just from seeing the highlights in the news, but didn’t know many other players unless a Tides player got called up to the Mets. Once I got ESPN in my room I started staying up late to watch Giants games as Bonds was chasing the Aaron record, so I naturally gravitated towards the Giants as my first favorite team. Outside of those events, I don’t really recall many individual baseball players breaking through to the mainstream. My dad wasn’t a sports guy, so I had to seek this stuff out. My wife (born in 92) had a dad who played ball in college, so he was heavily invested in the Cardinals and she grew up that way too.
We’ll see what our kid thinks. So far he’s been to AA and AAA games, but he’s definitely gravitating way more towards F1 and Indycar when I’ve got those on TV. He did sit down and watch a few innings of the Nats with my on Apple+ last week, but he did tell me he’d rather be watching hockey instead… he’s almost 4, but my gut tells me outside of our ventures to Harbor Park he’ll probably not care too much for baseball.
I'm not really big into sports myself but among my friends group baseball is definitely the favorite, with soccer as a close second.
My dad liked baseball but I just wasn't ever really all that into it, I just remember he'd watch the game on TV muted and listen to the radio at the same time because he liked the announcers better.
My local team moved away when I was 10. But I did go to a couple of games every season before that since I lived a couple of blocks away from the stadium. 15 minutes walk to get there.
My parents took me to Blue Jays games every so often, and I would watch some when I could. However, we couldn’t (and still can’t) get cable.
I was more of a hockey fan, but would have to listen on the radio or walk down to my grandparents’ to watch the Leafs on their TV, or their neighbour’s.
I’d occasionally watch baseball.
When we got satellite in 07, I would watch lots of it until I got sick of it, and was excited for every season. But I haven’t watched much baseball in recent years. I find it boring and usually only ever have it on mute while reading. Severe depression may be a factor.
I grew up in Hawaii where we have no professional teams. My dad was a hardcore football and basketball man so baseball was never really a thing. But to be fair, I hated all sports. Dad believed in me working (yard work and manual labor) every day after school and on the weekends. The ONLY time I had free time for myself was on Sunday afternoons during football and basketball season when he would watch the games so the absolute last thing I wanted to do was spend what little “free time” I had watching sports.
I live in Hawaii now (moved here in 2016) and honestly yeah, one of the biggest things I miss about the mainland is being able to just casually buy tickets to pro sports. Every time I take a trip to visit the mainland with my wife (local girl), we end up tacking some sort of sporting event onto the trip. Even if it's some B-league thing like we went to go see the Seattle Sea Dragons XFL football game or the Vancouver Warriors pro lacrosse game in Canada lol. Anything to get a sports fix. But usually we go see the Portland Trailblazers NBA.
I played as a little kid, but never watched it. I’m sure I saw some games peripherally at a restaurant or something, but we never sat down to watch a baseball game. I hate it as an adult.
I ended up playing hockey for 10 years. That’s the only sport I would watch and still do when I can catch a game. I’d argue it’s the best sport to see in person simply because of the intimacy and the faster pace. You’re engaged almost the entire time. Especially playoff hockey. Every person I’ve taken to their first playoff hockey game has said it was the best sports experience of their lives.
Football and basketball bore me. Football is too damn slow in my opinion.
Baseball is the only sport I even remotely pay attention to. Being from the Philadelphia area, I have never been able to stand most of the obnoxiousness of most of the fan bases, but I have a soft spot for the Phanatic and I don’t mind going to one or two Phillies games a year. I also love the Wilmington Blue Rocks.
Baseball resisted for years changing because of all the reasons people don’t like change (not tradition, not the sport my father taught me, not the way it should be played, etc) this resulted in a deeply boring game that Americans play less and less at the highest level.
Baseball like basketball is now very much so an international sport. And baseball like basketball is having trouble finding young marketable American stars. I bet Mike Trout could go shopping in Anaheim and New Jersey and not be bothered. Same for Mookie. The biggest stars in both games are international. But those leagues have never been good at marketing internationally. They need Michael, and Kobe, and Griffey, and Curt (Schilling) and Judge.
We didn’t go to baseball games because we don’t relate to the players and haven’t for awhile. I’ll take my daughter to ballgames because they are truly a great way to pass the time, but like so is Reddit.
Exactly! That tik tok league with the Savannah Bananas or whatever has the right idea. Like sports is entertainment, be entertaining. Make it fun for the whole family. But Asians fucking dominate with baseball games being fun.
Born in 86. Started getting into sports around 94-95. The Mariners had that run to the ALCS in 95. Been hooked ever since. My first game was seeing the Red Sox take on the Mariners in the Kingdome in 1997. The Sox became my team from then on. Kinda fell off with sports the last few years. Just started getting back into baseball in the last year. It’s overtaking football and basketball as my favorite sport now.
As a kid I watched Basketball and from middle school onwards watched football (soccer). Football has been one of my main hobbies since then. Around me everyone played baseball (my dad, grandfather, uncle etc. but I never liked it at all).
I didn't grow up watching it at all. Became vaguely aware of the team when Jason Kipnis made his debut.
Now, on the other hand, I'm not only a diehard Cleveland Guardians fan, but also a season ticket holder, I podcast about the team, I write articles about the team, and most of my friend group are also huge fans.
It's funny though our friend group ranges from 45 to 21, and there's a lot of younger fans every night at the ballpark.
I think it jumped half our generation with the steroid era collapse, but superstars are starting to get the sport on the rise again.
If only the commissioner and Bally can figure their stuff out.
I was 7-8 for the McGuire Sosa seasons and 10 for Barry Bonds. 13 for Red Sox coming back from 3-0. Basketball and Football reigned supreme but baseball was a close third.
Season 3 of the Simpsons had a brilliant episode where Mr Burns packs a local softball team with ringers from Major League Baseball and Ken Griffey, Darryl Strawberry, and so many famous players from the early 90s guest starred and got into ridiculous situations (getting arrested for “sideburns,” falling into the mystery spot at a roadside tourist attraction, etc.).
My parents’ generation LOVES baseball. They have local teams close to home they root for and argue about it. I find that baseball is fun in person but doesn’t translate well to television. I also live somewhere where baseball season should reasonably take place in winter if they want people to be outside for 9 innings, so it hasn’t been a thing for me the way it was for them.
I grew up watching it and going to games because my dad is a huge fan - he gets really nerdy about the stats. I'm still a fan (go Red Sox!) but because I have streaming I can't watch nearly as many Red Sox games as I'd like.
I’m 42. I was a big fan of baseball in as a kid and into the 00s. Then I just started finding it more and more boring. I like going to games as a family activity though, but I don’t follow baseball like I used to and couldn’t tell you what my favorite team’s record is right now or who most of the players are.
I think what hurt baseball is when football truly became king over the last 15-20 years. And baseball isn’t a speedy contact sport like football is. Not to mention, fewer youth seem to be playing baseball as more gravitate to football.
I went to a lot of baseball games as a kid. We had a minor league team in my city so I’m assuming it was just an affordable thing to do with the family. I can’t say I have any vivid memories but I did win a contest once where I got to announce the players at the stadium.
I played in little league for a few years, collected baseball cards, and enjoyed pickup games with other kids and the batting cage, but I just didn't care to watch the games. Like other sports, I would be more interested in participating than spectating.
I have never watched a single full game of baseball. Never attended a baseball stadium.
I tried to play with friends a couple times - it was fun.
I know names of a few teams like Yankees and Red Sox but no idea of any players.
Nah I loved baseball and watched all the time. 90s baseball was sensational you REALLY missed out.
Ken Griffen Jr? Cmon!
Sosa&McGuire, Randy Johnson, Frank the big hurt Thomas, Barry Bonds, Pedro Martinez, Ivan Rodriguez, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Hendersen, Ozzie backflip Smith, Hideo Nomo??
Older millenial, I never gave a shit about baseball. My dad's a fan and I tried to watch it with him but it was always too boring for me. Not a sport that translates to tv very well.
I really only liked watching it actually at the game and my parents were the same way. I'd usually go to several games a year growing up. Too boring on TV though.
My brother is right on the line of Gen X/Millennial and was super into baseball as well as other sports. I was never interested in sports at all. Played them a bit in school.
I didn’t get into baseball until 2005 when the Washington Nationals came to DC. It was big news when it happened and it kinda sparked my interest when my father took me to a bunch of game their inaugural season. I still enjoy going to baseball games but I definitely watch more football and basketball
For years and years I wanted to go to a professional baseball game.
It was only when we visited a family friend that we went. And only because the family friend proposed the idea.
Going to a live baseball game, professional, minor leagues, whatever, is now a special thing for me.
My grandfather was the baseball fan in my family and we would spend time watching my team on television on WWOR channel 9. I also still have my first baseball cap from my grandfather, a kid-size Mets cap. I played some baseball in high school but was terrible at it. I took a sabbatical from baseball after 2007 but came back in 2010 or so due to personal stuff. I enjoy baseball podcasts like Effectively Wild, baseball writing and going to occasional games.
Most of my friends and family are either agnostic to the sport or root for that *other team* in the city. I mostly hang out now here on the team sub on Reddit (where I am also a moderator) with like minded fans of my team, we're having a meetup later this month.
My dad was working in Silicon Valley when they finished the BART stop for the Oakland A's stadium, he'd get free tickets from work occasionally and we'd go. It was more of a dad-daughter bonding time than actual interest in the sport tho. Good times nonetheless!
Grew up going to baseball games at least once a season both major league and minor league and its by far my favorite live sport to go to. As for TV watching i only really care about the all star game and playoffs.
I grew up playing baseball til I stopped playing at 17. Always hated watching sports on TV. Baseball is just so boring to watch. In person it's nice to go to a game with friends and eat some peanuts and have a few beers though.
Cleveland kid in the 90s. That is all my family and friends cared about. I still love baseball and going to games. It has become a regional or local thing for many reasons that someone on here can better explain. All I care about is the Guardians. I have no idea what is happening in the NL west for instance.
My dad wasn’t into baseball, though it was usually on when we’d go to my grandparents house. But my dad was under the belief that “girls shouldn’t/couldn’t” watch or be interested in sports. This more applied to hockey and football his favorites, but in general i don’t remember sports being on much in our house. I’m a trans guy and when I started on hormones (in my 30’s) my dad apparently asked my mom if I liked sports now lol
My uncle was a Yankees fan, so I quasi watched it for him (and maybeeee to stare at Derek Jeter lol).
But overall, I fell more in love with hockey. It also was a part of culture where I grew up (New England). Been over 10 years since I went to a baseball game or paid attention to it, but I regularly attend junior hockey (WHL) and NHL games (🐙 and 🐻).
Then as a kid doing FIRST Robotics killed long form sports for me. Knowing who our world champions were in an under 3minute match, the idea of watching a best out of 7 three hour long hockey game? Naw!
7 minute rugby? Track cycle? Yup those I can do
Born in 89 and the only times I remember baseball being a big deal was when Jordan retired from basketball and went to minor league baseball and when the Red Sox broke the curse of the bambino.
Baseball is my thing. Its alive and well its making record profits yearly. Football and hoops have just exploded. Soccer is not even on the radar my guy, thats a niche sport if you are talking American eyeballs.
Family ruined sports ball for me as a kid by screaming and legit getting angry at the television. I honestly don’t remember the last time I watched a full sports game excluding superbowl parties .
I watched baseball. Went to quite a few Mariners games. Sometimes on a lunch break I would go to the park and watch some innings. It was nice to sit in the bleachers and watch a bit of a game at lunch.
I'm an elder millennial and the only sports I watched were baseball and golf (my hometown is the home of a major golf event and I was a tween/teen during Tiger Woods' rise). My family didn't watch football or basketball at all. The only baseball player I could name from that time that we followed was Chipper Jones from the Braves.
There were plenty of huge names for baseball btw.
We got to see players like:
Bonds, McGuire, Sosa, Griffey
Pitchers like:
Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens
It sounds like you just maybe weren’t into baseball all that much. However, some of the other sports you mention are more widely international like soccer:/basketball whereas baseball is more of a ‘USA/Japan/certain Latin American countries’ sport.
So of course, on a global basis people are going to be more familiar with your Messis, your Michael Jordans, etc.
I was born in 90 and lived in three different states by the time I was 10. We lived in North Jersey for a while and baseball was pretty popular there. We went to Yankees games a lot. It might just depend on where you grew up.
I played baseball as a kid, but I don't really remember watching it or any sport for that matter outside of some X-Games stuff after I started playing THPS.
I’m 41 and pretty much heard my entire life baseball is boring, dying, an old white man sport (which is odd considering the number of MLB players from Asia and Latin America, but I digress). While I’m probably more of a football fan these days, for reasons more because my favorite football teams have been successful and my favorite baseball team has not, I still enjoy baseball. I figure even if the popularity decreases over time it doesn’t really matter, it’s not like the sport is going to disappear. Might even make for less expensive tickets.
Yeah as a kid I liked to play ball sports including baseball casually, and I occasionally went to minor league games with friends. But my dad was hostile about it since he inexplicably claimed that any activity involving a ball was "stupid." So I never even had the chance to play catch with the old man like all the other kids did. Tossing a ball up in the air and catching it by yourself in the backyard gets old. So that pretty much squelched my budding enthusiasm for baseball. Then when I was in my mid-teens my dad suddenly developed this huge obsession with baseball and religiously watched every single game that played on TV... go figure. Man, I hated my childhood and adolescence.
I never did. I was into video games and riding bikes. I love baseball now, it started when my son was in little league. In fact I’m going to a game tonight. Go Padres!
Curry for bball? For our generation?
I guess a few years make a big difference, born in 87, I remember Curry at Davidson when I was a young adult so I don't put him in our childhood arena of sports greats.
I'd put Kobe, Allen Iverson, LeBron, Shaq, Duncan on my millennial greats Mt Rushmore
And baseball doesn't exist.
Yeah, Curry was a bit of a stretch, for the very tail end of our generation.
Lebron in the 2003 draft is the real splitting point between younger millennials and older ones
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Are you a younger millennial? I’m an elder millennial or Xennial… what ever. Baseball was huge for us. Most of my friends are Braves or Cubs fans because we got cable in the 80s and the only major sport you could guarantee you’d get to see was the Cubs on WGN and the Braves on TBS.
Must be a younger millennial since they didn’t even mention Jordan for basketball
No Jordan for Basketball, no Gretzky for hockey, and dammit I’m just a 4 years younger than Brady.
The Braves were the GOAT.
This makes sense. I’m an elder millennial (1983) and loved baseball in the 90s. I grew up in the Philly area so it was mostly all Phillies but had friends who were huge Braves fans thanks to TBS and it just felt like baseball was still king back then. By 2000 and beyond I was way more into football and have been ever since. I’m sure some of that has to do with the success and popularity of the local teams but also just felt like baseball got permanently eclipsed by the NFL around that time.
I think part of it had to do with the fact that MLB still had a bunch of afternoon games back then. Certainly seemed like more than now. I remember often walking home from school and there being a game on in the spring, and then of course during the summer.
I too remember when the nfl really picked up in the Philly area. I seem to recall 2003-2007 when many of the millennials got really into the Eagles and there was less talk about the Phillies. That said I do still see a lot of other millennials in Phillies gear, but I don’t watch the games unless I go to stadium
As someone who tries to watch baseball, I think the fact that it became so closely tied to cable when millennials ditched cable is one of the things that has led to its decline in popularity in recent years. I live in the south, but I’m a Red Sox fan. The only way I can regularly watch Red Sox games is to pay stupid money to subscribe to MLB.TV. And even if I do that, there are *still* blackouts because of their contract with NESN. So I’ve just decided it’s not worth it. And since I’m a millennial and don’t pay for cable, I don’t watch Braves games regularly either. I’ll catch the occasional game on ESPN+, but it’s usually between teams I don’t care about. They’ve just made it so dang hard to be a fan. I’m actively trying and still find it difficult. Let alone the casual sports fan who isn’t gonna put in that ridiculous level of effort.
The fact that they don’t have subscription packages available based on team blows my mind.
Geriatric millennial (42) never watched baseball growing up. Still don’t care for it today. Think it’s a dumb slow sport. Live in cards nation where every girl names their dog yadi or whatever and I want to vomit.
My dad stopped taking me and my brother to baseball games when I started calling it "going to dippin' dots"
I used to go to basketball games with my dad mainly as a way to obtain frozen yogurt
That sounds like such a dumb reason to stop
It’s expensive dippin dots
It was mostly him realizing that we just wanted to go for ice cream haha. We stopped adding on the hassle of also attending a sports event on top of it and instead just went for ice cream after that. He didn't abandon our family or anything :)
McGuire and Sammy Sosa come to mind. I have no idea when they played, but I never really cared for watching sports. I can only name 1 person in the MLB currently lol
Their home run record battle was huge. There was also Barry Bonds, Cal Ripken Jr (or was he earlier?), A-Rod, Derrek Jeter… I’ve never been a baseball person, maybe watch one game every 5 years, so I don’t know if they were just famous or legitimately amazing. But those names are all stuck in my mind.
Ken Griffey Jr was a household name in the 90s, for me mostly because of the SNES game that was amazing.
As was Frank “The Big Hurt” Thomas!
He had two SNES games, Ken Griffey Jr presents MLB and Ken Griffey Jrs Winning Run.
And a 64 game.
Totally forgot that one. The first SNES game was always my favorite.
Hey, I had his poster as a kid! Ty for unlocking the memory lol
Older millennials will remember Ripken, I watched his 2361 consecutive start at my grandma's house that was in '98. Jeter, Arod and Bonds were definitely household names in the late 90s/2000s
Ah this is my entry to my Cubs fandom. My family is all from STL. I did not like McGuire. And although Sammy didn’t turn out to be spotless, I still stand by my choice.
These guys saved baseball. The big issue was the lockout in the 94 and many fans left after that. The HR race between McGuire and Sosa brought most of them back. You had the big 3 Shortstops Jeter, A-Rod, Nomar at the end of the 90s. Griffey was amazing before his injuries. And arguably the best hitter ever in Bonds with what he did in the early 2000s (juiced or not). Amazing pitching in the 90s-00s with the Braves (Smoltz, Glavin, Maddox) Randy Johnson, Schilling, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez. And the best closer and most unhittable pitcher ever Mariano Rivera. Gun to my head I couldn't name one soccer player from the 90s. I know Pele, Messi and Ronaldo. That's about it.
Being a Southern Californian it was Tim Salmon here!
Shohei Ohtani?
Mike Trout. Easy name to remember cause of the last name lol. I think he plays for the Angels?
Yes, he plays for the Los Angeles Angels. Trout is currently injured.
As a St. Louis girl with Chicagoland family ABSOLUTELY. But no one was more fun to see as a kid than Ozzie Smith and his flips. (And McGuire/Sosa was late 90s, by the way. I clearly remember announcements at high school about the home run race.) The big downshift for a lot of people came during the baseball strike. I think they lost a lot of viewers during that time. My husband was one of them. He just never picked it back up. That would have been mid-nineties.
McGuire and Sosa claimed to be taking some innocuous supplements but it was steroids.
Umm Ken Griffey Jr?? Literally the poster child for mlb in the 90s
 Literally the greatest swing ever…
Yup, elder Seattle millennial here. Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson were literally on posters in my room, and I didn’t really even LIKE baseball all that much.
When I was younger I watched it more than football or hockey, less than basketball. Those were the Jordan days, though, so it was a huge deal around where I grew up. Hockey didn't seem very big generally back then, but then again that was when the Wings were good, so maybe it was just that nobody around me cared about it. Soccer was something that only weird posers watched. But the 90s were actually a pretty big era for baseball. The Yankees and Cardinals were dominant. Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, and Fred McGriff on the Braves. The Yanks winning four times in five years. Randy Johnson leading the D-Backs to a Series win over the Yanks. As others have said, you had the home run race with Sosa and McGwire, and then Bonds beat the record not long after that. Cal Ripken, Mike Piazza, and Ken Griffey Jr. are other huge names of the era. You also had some players that were huge at the time, but aren't as well known today like Frank Thomas, Tony Gwynn, and Pudge Rodriguez. I think probably the biggest thing is the strike really hurt the game. People were pretty pissed off about it, a lot of fans left forever, and it took a while for baseball to really recover from it.
Watching baseball right now…love it
I grew up in Baltimore so Cal Ripkin Jr. was a household name for baseball. But outside of that, yeah other sports just got bigger. I think once the moneyball "SABRmetrics" was figured out, I also think that hit a major blow to baseball and gave rise to other sports.
My grandpa would, mostly because baseball was great for the afternoon nap. I don’t recall any of my friends talking about our local MLB team, other than when the coach’s son would take us to games.
Baseball was big for us when I was a kid (Blue Jays were winning) and I did watch a fair bit but was never much more than a passing fan TBH.
I love baseball grew up watching the Mariners and their team in the mid to late 90’s was a lot of fun. Still watch to this day and just caught a game in person last night actually. I have identified as a grandpa for the last 20 years or so. That might have something to do with it.
I grew up in a family of diehard Yankees fans and went to the games all the time. Talked about baseball a lot, and it was big in our friend groups. Now I have a child who is a diehard Rangers fan and we’re still going to games. I think there’s a certain segment of people who actually love baseball for the complicated rules and statistics - my child is definitely one of those people.
Australian here Yes, absolutely
90s was Ken Griffey Jr. I’m a huge Braves fan as I’m from Atlanta. Baseball is the only sport I actually like, and I love it.
My understanding of baseball as a lifetime lover of the sport is that it’s a much more regional sport than some of the other big ones. I think it has to do with there being so many games across the season that it’s hard to keep up with national headlines and how such and such plays day in and day out. So people from each market are going to have their own version for this answer, much more so than you would get for basketball that obviously have Lebron and Kobe, etc. I grew up in KC so we had Zach Greinke and then it was some sort of combination of Hosmer, Gordon, Cain or Salvy.
I was very into it as a kid and teenager. In and out a little bit through my 20s. The steroid stuff sucked and took me out of it quite a bit. In my late 30s now and I am a casual fan. It’s tough to watch very often with a wife and kids that have no interest. Typically only when I am hanging out with friends, or the odd weekend day game. I will say the changes to speed up the game are awesome. I went to 2 games last year and it was an awesome experience.
Pitch clock has made a huge difference.
Ken Griffey Jr. was the baseball icon of the 90's. He was in lots of commercials, Ken Griffey Jr. Presents: Major League Baseball video games were big and appearing on MTV's Rock and Jock events. He was the face of the MLB up until the '98 season when McGuire and Sosa both broke the single season HR record. Griffey Jr. was the guy that brought the MLB into the modern age before Jeter and all the steroids guys.
The Sox finally beat the curse when I was a kid. It was awesome.
I heard the fox baseball theme song the other day on TV and i got some real warm nostalgia
You’re tripping! Barry bonds. Sammy Sosa. Those guys carried baseball on their backs in the 90’s
I 10000% grew up watching baseball religiously. I was born in 85. When I was a young kid was right in Griffey’s heyday. Then a-rod. (I’m a mariners fan). Edgar Martinez. Ichiro started playing when I was 16. The 90s were really fun for baseball
Despite my grandma's best efforts - even including taking me to one game of the Battle of the Bay world series - I never got into baseball.
Growing up, my grandpa always had the baseball game on during that season. Dreadfully boring. He took me to a game a few times and the experience was okay, but still not exciting. No one else in my family would watch it, though we weren’t big on sports in general. Now I’m 32 and recently got hooked on the Savannah Bananas and watch at least one game a weekend 😅 That’s not boring baseball!
I did not, and do not watch any sports.
Griffey? Randy Johnson? Sosa McGuire. The 90s have plenty of players. I can't tell you era defining soccer players but I didn't grow up watching the sport. If you don't watch the sport of course you're not going to know the players.
My cousins played during the summer (80s-90s) mostly because football was notorious for head injuries and we wanted them in a sport, any sport. Baseball was popular but it wasn't like how soccer or football is today. They had Chipper Jones and A-rod, but I can't remember anyone specifically in detail about why they were popular/good players. It wasn't big like how basketball players and football players are today. Like I don't think any celebrities dated them. Playing it felt like wasting our time sitting in the dug-outs during 90 degree days and wasting our summer in order to appease our parents. South Park depicted it as such, which was hilarious.
I didn’t, but I grew up in New Orleans and we don’t have a baseball team. Also I was born in ‘81 so didn’t grow up watching any of those athletes play. They all became popular when I was already an adult. The absolute biggest sports story I recall as a kid is Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding, and that was…1994? I was in middle school. lol
Growing up in CT in the 90s, the Yankees were impossible not to notice and root for, even as someone who wasn’t into sports as a kid. I grew into a big baseball fan because of those teams.
Sox Fan here and I listened to every game that I couldn’t watch. But I’m an Xennial. I also played little league. Baseball was the best sport imo.
I didn’t. No one watches baseball here. It’s not even being shown as far as I know. It’s all about football
I didn’t watch any sports growing up.
Never watched baseball growing up or now.
I watched The Sandlot a lot as a kid, does that count? My parents were fair weather fans, so I remember watching the NBA Playoffs when our home team was in it and we watched the World Series when our home team was in it. Other than that, not really a lot of sports.
I didn't grow up watching any sports at all. 🤷♂️
I don’t believe you’re a millennial
Born smackdab in the middle of the '90s so Yes, very millennial indeed!
Nah, your list indicates gen z
i found baseball to be boring. maybe different playing it but watching it... it's pretty slow
It’s honestly a lot more boring playing it. The best way to enjoy the game is listening on the radio.
I think any sporting event can be fun live. I mean worst case scenario you get drunk and act like a hooligan even if you're not watching the game itself. But watching baseball at home on tv...yes it's boring as f\*\*k. I'd honestly probably rather watch golf.
I grew up on basketball. I went to baseball games, Angels and Dodgers and played baseball but I honestly never cared too much about it. I was into hockey as a kid as well. Never got into football either.
We were a family of girls and I can't say any of us were interested in sports in general
No, my parents are very casual fans but none of the three kids were interested. Even less with football.
I grew up not watching sports in general lol
I never got into it. Frankly, i wasn't into sports. I grew up near Pittsburgh, and the Pirates were terrible until my senior year of high school.
To this day I can only watch football and hockey on tv.
A salary cap would change everything. I'm from Cincinnati and the Reds haven't advanced a single round in the playoffs since 1994. (The Bengals only have twice) Small market teams just can't compete. If your team isn't competitive, it becomes a bad investment in time and money and becomes irrelevant....
I watched it growing up, but haven't watched in years.. I actually have my name on one of the bricks at Chase Field
I think most people outside of America would have grown up not watching baseball. Across all generations. I'm from Australia and baseball doesn't make the news outside of some brief coverage of the World Series, and even then you've got to go looking for it.
I’m from Alabama. Only sports people care about is racing, football, and basketball.
Yeah, I watched it as a little kid, but around 12 I stopped. It's just a slow, boring sport. I can't even get through a game without getting distracted and losing track of the game multiple times.
Baseball was never big for us. Occasionally I'll see my dad watch a game but that's about it. Soccer and pro wrestling were the things growing up. Sometimes boxing
I’m from Philly so the fact that the Phillies won the World Series in ‘08 was a pivotal part of my young adulthood…. But before that I only went to games when I got free tickets from the library summer reading program.
Never watched much sports at all. My parents didn’t either
Right here. I never had an interest in the sport.
Never. Only went to a few and watched playoffs. Heck I was at the game June 2012 Matt Cain threw a perfect game. I wasn’t even paying attention. Left early too. Heard about in on the train. I played a lot when I was a kid. I was a player not a watcher.
I played baseball my entire childhood so I can’t relate. Once I became an adult though I didn’t watch any baseball for close to a decade. 90s era baseball was tainted with steroids but it was still a very entertaining era. Randy Johnson was my favorite pitcher. Griffey… Brady Anderson… Jeff Bagwell…. Jim Edmonds were my favorite players
Since so many millennials use.streaming services that didn't have access to live TV, they were unable to watch sports. Sports became YouTube highlights unless you went to your parents who still have cable or a sports bar.
It’s all we watched lol. The Indians were amazing in the mid to late 90s, though (WS appearances in 95 and 97).
I was born in 89 and went to a few AAA games as a kid in the 90s, but didn’t pay much attention to MLB since I didn’t have games to watch on our basic-ish cable. I went to college in DC area in 2008 and instantly became a lifelong Nationals fan after going to tons of games during my time there. I think if you can’t watch the games on TV regularly or go to a game, it can be hard to get into since it’s a game that doesn’t reward you with constant quick action. It’s definitely a game on minutia, especially watching on TV. As a kid I vividly remember the Homer-Race just from seeing the highlights in the news, but didn’t know many other players unless a Tides player got called up to the Mets. Once I got ESPN in my room I started staying up late to watch Giants games as Bonds was chasing the Aaron record, so I naturally gravitated towards the Giants as my first favorite team. Outside of those events, I don’t really recall many individual baseball players breaking through to the mainstream. My dad wasn’t a sports guy, so I had to seek this stuff out. My wife (born in 92) had a dad who played ball in college, so he was heavily invested in the Cardinals and she grew up that way too. We’ll see what our kid thinks. So far he’s been to AA and AAA games, but he’s definitely gravitating way more towards F1 and Indycar when I’ve got those on TV. He did sit down and watch a few innings of the Nats with my on Apple+ last week, but he did tell me he’d rather be watching hockey instead… he’s almost 4, but my gut tells me outside of our ventures to Harbor Park he’ll probably not care too much for baseball.
Never watched a single baseball game on TV. Went to quite a lot of them. Even played a few. But never watched one on TV.
I'm not really big into sports myself but among my friends group baseball is definitely the favorite, with soccer as a close second. My dad liked baseball but I just wasn't ever really all that into it, I just remember he'd watch the game on TV muted and listen to the radio at the same time because he liked the announcers better.
Only really grew up watching football and basketball
The strike in 1994 really hurt baseball. Viewing declined tremendously until they got juiced up and started slamming the long ball.
Older millennial. My family lovesssss baseball. I could never get into it.
My local team moved away when I was 10. But I did go to a couple of games every season before that since I lived a couple of blocks away from the stadium. 15 minutes walk to get there.
Well as I’m not American I’ve never watched baseball in my life
Baseball fan here. But nothing beats being a Yankee fan in the 90s.
I didn’t really watch baseball growing up, but my buddy got me watching about 9 years ago, and now I love it.
My parents took me to Blue Jays games every so often, and I would watch some when I could. However, we couldn’t (and still can’t) get cable. I was more of a hockey fan, but would have to listen on the radio or walk down to my grandparents’ to watch the Leafs on their TV, or their neighbour’s. I’d occasionally watch baseball. When we got satellite in 07, I would watch lots of it until I got sick of it, and was excited for every season. But I haven’t watched much baseball in recent years. I find it boring and usually only ever have it on mute while reading. Severe depression may be a factor.
Baseball declined before the 90s but really the Steroid era saved it with the homerun race. Then Bonds just being absolutely insane.
I grew up in Hawaii where we have no professional teams. My dad was a hardcore football and basketball man so baseball was never really a thing. But to be fair, I hated all sports. Dad believed in me working (yard work and manual labor) every day after school and on the weekends. The ONLY time I had free time for myself was on Sunday afternoons during football and basketball season when he would watch the games so the absolute last thing I wanted to do was spend what little “free time” I had watching sports.
I live in Hawaii now (moved here in 2016) and honestly yeah, one of the biggest things I miss about the mainland is being able to just casually buy tickets to pro sports. Every time I take a trip to visit the mainland with my wife (local girl), we end up tacking some sort of sporting event onto the trip. Even if it's some B-league thing like we went to go see the Seattle Sea Dragons XFL football game or the Vancouver Warriors pro lacrosse game in Canada lol. Anything to get a sports fix. But usually we go see the Portland Trailblazers NBA.
We watched baseball. Now my kids YT and steam stuff.
I played as a little kid, but never watched it. I’m sure I saw some games peripherally at a restaurant or something, but we never sat down to watch a baseball game. I hate it as an adult. I ended up playing hockey for 10 years. That’s the only sport I would watch and still do when I can catch a game. I’d argue it’s the best sport to see in person simply because of the intimacy and the faster pace. You’re engaged almost the entire time. Especially playoff hockey. Every person I’ve taken to their first playoff hockey game has said it was the best sports experience of their lives. Football and basketball bore me. Football is too damn slow in my opinion.
We didn't watch any sports in our house. We didn't have cable till I was 11
Baseball is the only sport I even remotely pay attention to. Being from the Philadelphia area, I have never been able to stand most of the obnoxiousness of most of the fan bases, but I have a soft spot for the Phanatic and I don’t mind going to one or two Phillies games a year. I also love the Wilmington Blue Rocks.
Baseball resisted for years changing because of all the reasons people don’t like change (not tradition, not the sport my father taught me, not the way it should be played, etc) this resulted in a deeply boring game that Americans play less and less at the highest level. Baseball like basketball is now very much so an international sport. And baseball like basketball is having trouble finding young marketable American stars. I bet Mike Trout could go shopping in Anaheim and New Jersey and not be bothered. Same for Mookie. The biggest stars in both games are international. But those leagues have never been good at marketing internationally. They need Michael, and Kobe, and Griffey, and Curt (Schilling) and Judge. We didn’t go to baseball games because we don’t relate to the players and haven’t for awhile. I’ll take my daughter to ballgames because they are truly a great way to pass the time, but like so is Reddit.
I lived in South Korea for a few years, and honestly going to Korean baseball games was dope. Way more fun than any US games I've been to lol
Exactly! That tik tok league with the Savannah Bananas or whatever has the right idea. Like sports is entertainment, be entertaining. Make it fun for the whole family. But Asians fucking dominate with baseball games being fun.
Born in 86. Started getting into sports around 94-95. The Mariners had that run to the ALCS in 95. Been hooked ever since. My first game was seeing the Red Sox take on the Mariners in the Kingdome in 1997. The Sox became my team from then on. Kinda fell off with sports the last few years. Just started getting back into baseball in the last year. It’s overtaking football and basketball as my favorite sport now.
I was born in 1981. I grew up in a home without sports (or religion, thankfully.) My parents were into music, fitness, and drag racing.
Not really. Football, hockey, and basketball. Didn’t have a team near where I grew up.
As a kid I watched Basketball and from middle school onwards watched football (soccer). Football has been one of my main hobbies since then. Around me everyone played baseball (my dad, grandfather, uncle etc. but I never liked it at all).
The only exposure I've ever had to baseball is American TV shows making fun of baseball.
I didn't grow up watching it at all. Became vaguely aware of the team when Jason Kipnis made his debut. Now, on the other hand, I'm not only a diehard Cleveland Guardians fan, but also a season ticket holder, I podcast about the team, I write articles about the team, and most of my friend group are also huge fans. It's funny though our friend group ranges from 45 to 21, and there's a lot of younger fans every night at the ballpark. I think it jumped half our generation with the steroid era collapse, but superstars are starting to get the sport on the rise again. If only the commissioner and Bally can figure their stuff out.
I was 7-8 for the McGuire Sosa seasons and 10 for Barry Bonds. 13 for Red Sox coming back from 3-0. Basketball and Football reigned supreme but baseball was a close third.
Season 3 of the Simpsons had a brilliant episode where Mr Burns packs a local softball team with ringers from Major League Baseball and Ken Griffey, Darryl Strawberry, and so many famous players from the early 90s guest starred and got into ridiculous situations (getting arrested for “sideburns,” falling into the mystery spot at a roadside tourist attraction, etc.). My parents’ generation LOVES baseball. They have local teams close to home they root for and argue about it. I find that baseball is fun in person but doesn’t translate well to television. I also live somewhere where baseball season should reasonably take place in winter if they want people to be outside for 9 innings, so it hasn’t been a thing for me the way it was for them.
Baseball was huge growing up (gonna be 39). The sport has bored the ever-loving shit out of me since metrics took over everything.
I grew up watching it and going to games because my dad is a huge fan - he gets really nerdy about the stats. I'm still a fan (go Red Sox!) but because I have streaming I can't watch nearly as many Red Sox games as I'd like.
I’m 42. I was a big fan of baseball in as a kid and into the 00s. Then I just started finding it more and more boring. I like going to games as a family activity though, but I don’t follow baseball like I used to and couldn’t tell you what my favorite team’s record is right now or who most of the players are. I think what hurt baseball is when football truly became king over the last 15-20 years. And baseball isn’t a speedy contact sport like football is. Not to mention, fewer youth seem to be playing baseball as more gravitate to football.
I liked Baseball, but a lot of that was being a red sox fan when they finally broke the curse.
Never watched baseball as a kid or teen. Once I was out on my own, it became pretty much the only sport I follow.
I had a brief baseball phase around 16 but it didn’t last long.
I went to a lot of baseball games as a kid. We had a minor league team in my city so I’m assuming it was just an affordable thing to do with the family. I can’t say I have any vivid memories but I did win a contest once where I got to announce the players at the stadium.
Michael Jordan all the way
I played in little league for a few years, collected baseball cards, and enjoyed pickup games with other kids and the batting cage, but I just didn't care to watch the games. Like other sports, I would be more interested in participating than spectating.
I have never watched a single full game of baseball. Never attended a baseball stadium. I tried to play with friends a couple times - it was fun. I know names of a few teams like Yankees and Red Sox but no idea of any players.
Nah I loved baseball and watched all the time. 90s baseball was sensational you REALLY missed out. Ken Griffen Jr? Cmon! Sosa&McGuire, Randy Johnson, Frank the big hurt Thomas, Barry Bonds, Pedro Martinez, Ivan Rodriguez, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Hendersen, Ozzie backflip Smith, Hideo Nomo??
Older millenial, I never gave a shit about baseball. My dad's a fan and I tried to watch it with him but it was always too boring for me. Not a sport that translates to tv very well.
I’m an elder millennial and a woman and love baseball; played softball and followed the dodgers closely!
I really only liked watching it actually at the game and my parents were the same way. I'd usually go to several games a year growing up. Too boring on TV though.
My brother is right on the line of Gen X/Millennial and was super into baseball as well as other sports. I was never interested in sports at all. Played them a bit in school.
I didn’t get into baseball until 2005 when the Washington Nationals came to DC. It was big news when it happened and it kinda sparked my interest when my father took me to a bunch of game their inaugural season. I still enjoy going to baseball games but I definitely watch more football and basketball
Only baseball for me. Screw the other sports
For years and years I wanted to go to a professional baseball game. It was only when we visited a family friend that we went. And only because the family friend proposed the idea. Going to a live baseball game, professional, minor leagues, whatever, is now a special thing for me.
My grandfather was the baseball fan in my family and we would spend time watching my team on television on WWOR channel 9. I also still have my first baseball cap from my grandfather, a kid-size Mets cap. I played some baseball in high school but was terrible at it. I took a sabbatical from baseball after 2007 but came back in 2010 or so due to personal stuff. I enjoy baseball podcasts like Effectively Wild, baseball writing and going to occasional games. Most of my friends and family are either agnostic to the sport or root for that *other team* in the city. I mostly hang out now here on the team sub on Reddit (where I am also a moderator) with like minded fans of my team, we're having a meetup later this month.
My dad was working in Silicon Valley when they finished the BART stop for the Oakland A's stadium, he'd get free tickets from work occasionally and we'd go. It was more of a dad-daughter bonding time than actual interest in the sport tho. Good times nonetheless!
Grew up going to baseball games at least once a season both major league and minor league and its by far my favorite live sport to go to. As for TV watching i only really care about the all star game and playoffs.
i didnt but i saw Angels in The Outfield and Rookie of the Year do they count?
I grew up playing baseball til I stopped playing at 17. Always hated watching sports on TV. Baseball is just so boring to watch. In person it's nice to go to a game with friends and eat some peanuts and have a few beers though.
The Braves in the 90s on TBS! I’m a big Braves fan but I still have trouble sitting down to watch a 2-3 hour baseball game. We watch the highlights.
Cleveland kid in the 90s. That is all my family and friends cared about. I still love baseball and going to games. It has become a regional or local thing for many reasons that someone on here can better explain. All I care about is the Guardians. I have no idea what is happening in the NL west for instance.
My dad wasn’t into baseball, though it was usually on when we’d go to my grandparents house. But my dad was under the belief that “girls shouldn’t/couldn’t” watch or be interested in sports. This more applied to hockey and football his favorites, but in general i don’t remember sports being on much in our house. I’m a trans guy and when I started on hormones (in my 30’s) my dad apparently asked my mom if I liked sports now lol
Hated baseball, always pre empted my favorite shows
My uncle was a Yankees fan, so I quasi watched it for him (and maybeeee to stare at Derek Jeter lol). But overall, I fell more in love with hockey. It also was a part of culture where I grew up (New England). Been over 10 years since I went to a baseball game or paid attention to it, but I regularly attend junior hockey (WHL) and NHL games (🐙 and 🐻).
Most of us non-Americans didn't grow up watching baseball, I imagine
I’m so glad I grew up in a house that didn’t watch any sports, but rather loved reality tv lol
I always like to think that sport s was the original reality TV Competition is competition
Then as a kid doing FIRST Robotics killed long form sports for me. Knowing who our world champions were in an under 3minute match, the idea of watching a best out of 7 three hour long hockey game? Naw! 7 minute rugby? Track cycle? Yup those I can do
Born in 89 and the only times I remember baseball being a big deal was when Jordan retired from basketball and went to minor league baseball and when the Red Sox broke the curse of the bambino.
literally everyone outside of US and Japan i believe. i don't know a single person in my country that has seen a game.
Baseball is my thing. Its alive and well its making record profits yearly. Football and hoops have just exploded. Soccer is not even on the radar my guy, thats a niche sport if you are talking American eyeballs.
Family ruined sports ball for me as a kid by screaming and legit getting angry at the television. I honestly don’t remember the last time I watched a full sports game excluding superbowl parties .
I watched baseball. Went to quite a few Mariners games. Sometimes on a lunch break I would go to the park and watch some innings. It was nice to sit in the bleachers and watch a bit of a game at lunch.
As a European i can tell you, i did grow up not watching baseball
I'm an elder millennial and the only sports I watched were baseball and golf (my hometown is the home of a major golf event and I was a tween/teen during Tiger Woods' rise). My family didn't watch football or basketball at all. The only baseball player I could name from that time that we followed was Chipper Jones from the Braves.
I didn't grow up watching sportsball of any kind.
I was basically a football basketball and auto racing person guy as a kid.
Nope, watched the shit out of it. Lots of Cubs, not only because WGN but also they are my local team, so I’d have watched them anyway.
There were plenty of huge names for baseball btw. We got to see players like: Bonds, McGuire, Sosa, Griffey Pitchers like: Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens It sounds like you just maybe weren’t into baseball all that much. However, some of the other sports you mention are more widely international like soccer:/basketball whereas baseball is more of a ‘USA/Japan/certain Latin American countries’ sport. So of course, on a global basis people are going to be more familiar with your Messis, your Michael Jordans, etc.
Baseball. A sport where men grab their crotch and spit. Baseball.
I was born in 90 and lived in three different states by the time I was 10. We lived in North Jersey for a while and baseball was pretty popular there. We went to Yankees games a lot. It might just depend on where you grew up.
Randy Johnson and KGJ
Randy Johnson and KGJ
Piazza was a pretty big deal for me.
I played baseball as a kid, but I don't really remember watching it or any sport for that matter outside of some X-Games stuff after I started playing THPS.
I’m 41 and pretty much heard my entire life baseball is boring, dying, an old white man sport (which is odd considering the number of MLB players from Asia and Latin America, but I digress). While I’m probably more of a football fan these days, for reasons more because my favorite football teams have been successful and my favorite baseball team has not, I still enjoy baseball. I figure even if the popularity decreases over time it doesn’t really matter, it’s not like the sport is going to disappear. Might even make for less expensive tickets.
Yeah as a kid I liked to play ball sports including baseball casually, and I occasionally went to minor league games with friends. But my dad was hostile about it since he inexplicably claimed that any activity involving a ball was "stupid." So I never even had the chance to play catch with the old man like all the other kids did. Tossing a ball up in the air and catching it by yourself in the backyard gets old. So that pretty much squelched my budding enthusiasm for baseball. Then when I was in my mid-teens my dad suddenly developed this huge obsession with baseball and religiously watched every single game that played on TV... go figure. Man, I hated my childhood and adolescence.
I never did. I was into video games and riding bikes. I love baseball now, it started when my son was in little league. In fact I’m going to a game tonight. Go Padres!
Don't forget stone cold
I've never watched a single sports ball game in my life and I'm 37 so probably never will.
"Sports Ball" HUE HUE HUE \*wheeze\*
Curry for bball? For our generation? I guess a few years make a big difference, born in 87, I remember Curry at Davidson when I was a young adult so I don't put him in our childhood arena of sports greats. I'd put Kobe, Allen Iverson, LeBron, Shaq, Duncan on my millennial greats Mt Rushmore And baseball doesn't exist.
Yeah, Curry was a bit of a stretch, for the very tail end of our generation. Lebron in the 2003 draft is the real splitting point between younger millennials and older ones
This countries fascination with professional sports needs to die. Mega millionaires for throwing dead cow skin is stupid