The number of people who played baseball in the U.S. "surged 21%" from '14 to '18, with nearly 15.9 million participants, according to Rachel Bachman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Most of the gain has "been in casual players, those who play the game between 1 and 12 times in a year." The ranks of those "dabblers grew 53%, or by nearly 2.3 million people" since '14. The growth of "more frequent baseball players was a modest 5% over four years." However, in an "era of esports and no sports ... any growth is a win." Tackle football participation "dropped 3.4% in the past five years," and hockey and soccer saw one-year drops of 3.8% and 4.3%, respectively, in '18. MLB credits the growth of the game in part to a "program it launched" in '15, Play Ball, which "holds programs across the nation." Last year, MLB and USA Baseball also "started a program for schools to introduce the game to kindergarten through fourth-grade students in gym classes." An MLB spokesperson said that the program has been "adopted by school systems in all 50 states" and DC, and will soon be in Puerto Rico (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/20). SBJ this week also looked at the growth trend involving team sports last year (SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/18 issue).
