Remember the smell of fresh hot dogs, freshly roasted peanuts, and the cry of the umpire yelling "Play ball." The hot summer nights where you and your father had bleacher seats, and you were on the edge of your seat waiting to catch a fly ball. This is what baseball used to be like. Ever since the baseball strike during the 1995-1996 season, baseball has not been the same.

Baseball fans of old are fed up. They always enjoyed going to a game because they liked watching highly skilled athletes push themselves to the very peak of their performance. A baseball game always used to be a great way for a parent and child to bond and share time together. Now, the game is all about money. The players want to be paid a higher salary and the owners do not want to give them one. This is the reason the strike took place. Even though the strike is over, the fans are not giving in. All this year, the baseball games have had some of the lowest attendance in their franchise history. The fans are fed up with the players and owners. Baseball is supposed to be a game. It is supposed to be fun. Now the players are looking at baseball as if it were a business, and all they care about is money.

Since the beginning of the 1996 season, there have been many games played when the scores have been outrageous with teams winning by nine or ten runs. In recent years, the scores were a lot closer, and rarely would you see a team win by numerous runs. This is another reason why the crowds have been so scarce this year. The fans do not enjoy watching a baseball game when the score is ten to nothing. They want to see a close game that will leave them on the edge of their seats.

Has baseball changed for the better or the worse? That will be determined soon. This depends on whether the baseball players will start to play for pride or just money. l