Why isn’t baseball popular in China?

First, the venue is limited. I'm afraid you can't even find a baseball field in a second- or third-tier city. The standard baseball field is very large, with the sideline being 97.54 meters long, the center line being 121.88 meters long, and the distance from home base to the backstop being 18.25 meters. The infield area is paved with red soil, and the surrounding lawns need to be maintained frequently, and the utilization rate is very low. It is not suitable for playing baseball except for other things. The football field has a track, and you can also run and exercise.

Second, it is not enough to popularize Chengdu. There is little publicity for baseball in the country, and it is rarely seen on television programs. This has led to the failure of baseball to develop. Few people know the rules. The rules are complicated and cannot be popularized on a large scale. Even if there are people playing, they can’t find companions. Baseball is a collective sport, and it cannot be played without people.

Third, baseball is relatively more dangerous than other sports. To play baseball, you need a dedicated venue and no interference from external factors. If you play on a track and field, what should you do if the ball flies out and hits someone, or what if the bat flies out and hits you? Secondly, what if the ball hits you? It doesn’t feel good either.

Fourth, the equipment is expensive. Unlike basketball equipment, a pair of sneakers and a basketball are enough. You can buy a better one for one or two thousand, but if you buy a domestic product, it will be enough for a few hundred yuan. The cost of baseball is much higher. A pair of gloves costs about 2,500, a bat costs about 1,500, and shoes cost between 500 and 1,000. These few pieces of equipment alone turn many people away.

Fifth, school education does not support it. China's education is exam-oriented, and everything is in service of exams. For example, many sports such as basketball and football can be cultivated as students with special talents, but there is no baseball program in either the high school entrance examination or the college entrance examination, which has also become a limiting factor.

Baseball is very popular in the world, but it is very unfamiliar to Chinese people, and even the simple rules are not very clear. For most Chinese people, it is difficult to get access to baseball. They can't even watch some baseball games, let alone play baseball.

The first is the financial factor. The fundamental factor is that baseball is actually a very money-consuming sport. For example, the cost of building a baseball field is relatively high. The investment for a smaller amateur field is more than 1 million, and a professional field often costs tens of millions. The country will not invest such a large amount of money in a project with a weak mass base, and companies will not invest in it. There will be no output and benefits. Secondly, there is equipment. An ordinary bat is worth about 1,000 yuan, special gloves are about 1,000 yuan, clothing is 700 to 800 yuan, sneakers are 500 to 600 yuan, a helmet is more than 200 yuan, a belt is more than 100 yuan, and the whole set is about 3,000 yuan. Compared with basketball It is indeed a bit high to invest about 1,000 yuan in popular sports such as football, table tennis and so on.

The second is social factors. In society, people’s awareness of baseball is too low. According to an unofficial data survey, less than 0.1% of the people have a basic understanding of baseball, and many people cannot distinguish between baseball and softball, thinking they are the same. sport. The school also does not include baseball in the physical education curriculum, and there are few professional venues and excellent coaches.

The third is historical factors. The United States has a long history of baseball development. The origin of modern baseball is said to be a game that evolved from the cricket game introduced by the British when they immigrated to the United States and the rounders game commonly played in the Boston area. After going through several evolutions and many different names, it was not until 1839 AD that the sport was named baseball and began to be promoted. Modern baseball originated in England and developed in the United States. Although China has records of baseball as early as the Qing Dynasty, there was no systematic development process.

The fourth is institutional factors. In a country like China, every sport that can be promoted under the national system has political reasons. Table tennis is because of table tennis diplomacy, volleyball is because of the spirit of the women's volleyball team, basketball has star power and leagues, football has leagues and money, and almost every sport has political reasons. Each has specific factors included. At the same time, volleyball, football, and basketball have always used the routine of sports school selection-city team-provincial team-national team under the national system, but this mechanism for baseball has never been established. The reason why the United States and Japan are developing so fast is because they have professional leagues, but we don’t either.

The fifth is humanistic factors.

Baseball is a ball game with baseball as its main feature and a strong collective and confrontational nature. It is known as the "combination of competition and wisdom" and emphasizes unity. However, in China, it is all about individual brilliance. , Chinese people are relatively introverted in nature, do not naturally have a strong desire for war, and are inherently deficient in physical confrontation. I think the Chinese people are very uncomfortable with it. Americans and Japanese have a strong desire to fight, so they are very popular and are called "national sports".

Sixth is specific factors. The Olympic Games is a war without gunpowder in modern society. The number of gold medals is one of the important indicators of a country's strength. Baseball was absent from the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, but will return to the Olympics in 2020. However, there is only one gold medal in the men's event in the competition. For a powerful China, China will not take this gold medal seriously. At the Olympic Games from 1992 to 2008, Cuba won three gold medals, and the United States and South Korea each won one.