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Feb 21, 2019

As baseball’s attendance and TV audience decline, its grassroots popularity is booming, study finds

Reports of the national pastime's coming demise may be exaggerated.

A boy bats during baseball practice at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Washington, DC, on May 7, 2018.
A boy bats during baseball practice at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Washington, DC, on May 7, 2018.
ISSAM AHMED/AFP/Getty Images

Spring training for the 2019 Major League Baseball season opens today. Baseball is coming off a rough year, with declining TV ratings and its lowest attendance since 2003. But reports of the national pastime’s coming demise may be exaggerated: A new study finds that participation in the sport at the grassroots level is surging.

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