Baseball: It's not just for men

Baseball: It's not just for men

When the Reds were in the heat of a pennant race in 1999 my girlfriend and I were watching the Reds play the Cubs at Wrigley on TV. Whoever was doing the game decided to focus in on a crowd shot before the start of an inning. It just so happened that the camera was showing a couple of nice looking young ladies at the park. My girlfriend expressed her annoyance at the choice of the camera shot. She rhetorically asked why they did that. I said that more men than women watch baseball games and that's why they show pretty young girls in the crowd. She disagreed that more men than women watch baseball games. Eventually we agreed to disagree and while I still believe that more men than women watch baseball, there's reason to believe that women are gaining ground on the fellas.

Baseball has always appreciated women almost from the very beginning. The very things we take for granted from players these days - like spitting, sliding and cussing - were frowned upon from the inception of the game to the latter half of the 19th century mainly because it was deemed offensive to the female spectators. Ladies' Day has been a staple in baseball stadiums for decades. During World War II the owner of the Cubs put together a women's professional baseball league (which the movie "A League of Their Own" was based on) that lasted several years after the war was over. The master promoter Bill Veeck had several promotions geared towards women when he was an owner.

Baseball has appreciated women but not until recently have they begun to market the games towards women. There has actually been a study done recently that shows that baseball clubs should market their game towards women more than they do. The study showed that baseball is the favorite sport of women by a 2-1 margin. In the same study, women said that among the four major pro team sports, baseball is the most family-friendly by a 6-to-1 margin; most accessible (5-to-1); and provides the best role models (4-to-1).

It also suggested that baseball games are a great place to go for dates. Pay attention, single guys, because it makes perfect sense. What a better way to get to know someone than to go to a baseball game? Sure, the old dinner-and-a-movie date is OK but it is terribly clich� and it isn't easy getting to know someone over a meal much less during a film. Try taking a date to a football game. Even if the weather is nice, there is so much action in a football game that getting to know someone is difficult. Basketball is ceaseless action and can be a rather noisy event. Hockey is just as action packed and difficult to understand by members of both sexes.

But baseball is different. You're at a ball game for approximately 3 hours. Most of the time there isn't a lot happening so it's a perfect atmosphere to get to know someone. If you don't want talk during the game, there's always time between innings to chat. You're in a public place so if one doesn't want to be alone with their date they don't have to. Most women have a basic understanding of the game from having played softball or having watched baseball on TV with their brothers or fathers. You can carry on a conversation with your date at a normal tone of voice and not have to get shushed. You don't have to worry about asking or getting asked to dance like at a nightclub. There's not dance music played at ear-splitting decibels either to make it difficult to be heard or to listen.

But dating aside, there is an opportunity for baseball to increase their fan base among women. Now we're not talking about having commercials for panty hose and household cleaners instead of beer and cars during baseball games. We're also not talking about condescending to women either. Earlier this season, the Texas Rangers ran a promotion featuring outfielder Gabe Kapler who is a very muscular individual. This promotion featured - I believe - posters of Kapler in "beefcake" poses and the posters were handed out to women. The geniuses that came up with this promotion probably feel that the only reason women watch baseball games is to look at the players' butts.

Many of us have seen the Nike commercials where girls say that because of their involvement in sports that they are more likely to go to college or to succeed in later life or that their self-confidence improves. Believe it or not there are girls out there who aren't just interested in dolls and dresses. Some girls actually want to be a part of a team and many parents believe that such activities help their daughters out in future relationships. Baseball can capitalize on this by having things like clinics for kids of both sexes. If they learn more about the sport at an early age, the more likely they are to be fans of the game at a later age.

It might be surprising how much women know about the game without any help from guys. I go to the games and I hear guys spew so much stuff that's just totally wrong it makes me laugh. The problem is that if a woman said the same thing, she'd be ridiculed and not taken seriously.

Women have the greatest say in how the family budget is spent. Since they believe that baseball - as noted earlier - is accessible, provides good role models, and is the most family friendly sport they are more likely to suggest a baseball game for leisure activities than other sports. In the same survey, MLB learned that a majority of women didn't know about discount and family ticket packages offered by most major league clubs, and weren't familiar with club charitable activities and the names of current players. The survey also determined that the types of media and other sources that women turn to for news and information are rarely the same as those that contain a significant number of baseball stories.

So you don't have to be a marketing genius to make baseball more appealing to women. Advertise the various ticket packages more heavily, publicize charitable activities done by the club and it's various players. Make sure that you emphasize that baseball has better role models than most other sports. A lot of clubs - the Reds seem to be a prime example - seem to hide their light(s) under a bushel. As it is now you hardly hear about any positive things done by Reds' players. Perhaps that's the nature of the press these days since something negative sells more papers, gets people to listen and call talk shows, and TV ratings go up more than if something positive happened. But if the studies show that women make the majority of decisions on how to spend a family's leisure dollar and the same studies show that these women are more likely to watch a sport with positive role models in it, then it's a no-brainer that clubs should show the positive things their players do in the community. An example of how to do this could be that in the program teams sell they could list the players' height, age and weight in the biographical information but also their favorite charity.

A woman's dollar is just as green as a man's. If they are willing to spend it, then baseball clubs should be ready to attract it. You don't sell your sport by showcasing the Hunk of the Week unless you're looking for a one-time customer. You do it by selling the game to them so they will want to come back again and again. They are just waiting out there to become fans.