How to Make a Lifelong Fan

So often, one small gesture can turn a young person into a lifelong fan. This is a perfect example. From August 2017, Yankee 1st base coach Tony Pena looks for someone who who might really enjoy getting the ball that had been the last out of the previous half inning. Making eye contact with a youngster. he signals him to be ready. A short toss and, judging by that smile, Pena's little gift just made that kid's day.

This is symbolic of what baseball needs at this crucial moment in its history. Not just giving someone a souvenir that he or she will cherish forever, but steering the discussion away from the negative. The optics of millionaires and billionaires squabbling over megamoney while 15 percent of the country is out of work in the midst of a still unresolved pandemic makes baseball look out of touch. Petty, childish and less important in a troubled time.

There's a bigger objective right now; getting baseball back to entertaining people who need a healthy diversion. Not having it serve that purpose this summer could be far more damaging than who gets the biggest chunk of a financial pie that will shrink if there is no baseball this year. 

The game needs to make more friends, young ones, older ones, people in between. Give them a reason to think baseball, crave baseball and not dismiss baseball as just another conglomerate covered by Fox Business, instead of Fox Sports.