Report: Baseball participation at an all-time high
(WISH) — Baseball participation is at all-time high, according to a new report by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.
The Topline Participation Report for 2023 showed baseball participation is at nearly 16.7 million in the United States, the highest officially recorded level since the association’s survey of more than 120 sports began in 2008.
The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) also found softball participation was up 6% and that baseball and softball, combined, saw a larger percentage increase of participation (+7.6%) over basketball (+5.6%) and football (+3.6%).
A Major League Baseball news release said, “Casual participation in baseball, which is comprised of casual forms of play that are championed by the PLAY BALL initiative is at more than 8.9 million participants – also an all-time high in the history of SFIA’s tracking and an increase of +108% from 2014 (the year prior to the launch of PLAY BALL).”
“In the most recent U.S. Trends in Team Sports Report by SFIA (2022), baseball had the highest participation numbers among boys, ages 6-12. Baseball and softball, combined, also had the highest participation that same year among boys and girls, ages 6-12.” the release added.
But, is higher baseball participation translating to a higher percentage of African American players in the majors?
The answer is “not yet,” according to a study done by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida. The study found African American players represented just 6.2% of players on MLB opening day rosters in 2023, down from 7.2% in 2022. Both figures were the lowest since the study began in 1991, when 18% of MLB players were Black. MLB executives are aware of the numbers and have tried to help change the trend.
“We are really doubling down on what we’ve done,” said Del Matthews, MLB’s vice president of baseball development told The Associated Press, “because we are producing kids that are going to college, that are getting internships within the sport. We see more kids playing at the Division I college baseball ranks, and we see more kids being drafted into the minor leagues. And so we’re just flooding that through the various programs that we’ve had.”