toledoblade.com --

If major league baseball players had conducted themselves with a little less self-righteous indignation, I might have more empathy for them.

Anger without cause is pointless.

That's all I'm trying to say. Baseball players aren't intentionally trying to alienate fans by setting an Aug. 30 strike date.

No one in his right mind believes players want to go on strike. They want to play and keep getting paid.

Baseball's in the process of losing some of its fan base, and that issue appears to be lost on players, who average more than $2 million a season.

It's not our fault, the players say. We've made concessions. What about the owners? They're richer than we are, and they won't budge on the luxury-tax issue.

You can analyze and overanalyze baseball's labor standoff, but the bottom line is this:

The fight between billionaire owners and millionaire players is over our heads. It's like witnessing an accident between two Mercedes Benz stretch limousines.

A passenger in one limo gets out and complains about wasting a glass of Cristal champagne all over his Armani suit, while a passenger in the other limo is upset about spilling his glass of Dom Perignon.

Most of us simply cannot relate to baseball's "plight." And those of us who do understand what's going on are starting to not care anymore.

Saint Louis University professor Dr. Robert Krizek has examined baseball's impact on society for 13 years. Krizek, who has been a featured speaker at several Cooperstown Symposiums on baseball and American culture co-sponsored by the Baseball Hall of Fame, believes children choose a favorite sport just as they begin to play the organized game themselves.

While researching what different segments of the population think about baseball, Krizek discovered that certain age groups had little interest in the sport. He also learned these groups grew up during periods of baseball strikes.

Krizek believes there is a connection. Without the excitement of a pennant race or World Series, Krizek said children may identify with another sport and never return to baseball.

"I think the majority of older baseball fans will come back if there's a strike," Krizek said in a telephone interview yesterday. "But I think baseball should be concerned about future fans turning away."

Krizek recalled talking to a friend whose 16-year-old son had never watched a World Series game. Krizek thought it was odd until he realized the boy was 8 when the last strike occurred in 1994 - baseball's eighth work stoppage since 1972.

"That's a critical time when kids realize there are other things outside themselves to identify with," Krizek said.

Krizek said one of the biggest threats posed by another baseball strike is the potential long-term damage to the sport's fan base.

"Baseball's concerned about the here-and-now - losing season-ticket holders and ticket revenue as the result of another strike. Nobody's thinking long-term," Krizek said.

"Sooner or later, it's going to reach a saturation point. Baseball, somewhere down the line, is going to lose an entire group of fans."

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