The parallel’s between baseball’s pursuit of speed and home runs is oddly similar to the warped notion that golf fans mostly want to see long drives (with ratings down, that case is getting tougher to make).

Baseball and golf’s launch-angle focus has introduced safety issues in baseball, longer games and a less interesting version of the sport to watch. Similar parallels can be seen in golf. And yet…

Craig Calcaterra reports that in a record year for home runs, baseball saw its lowest attendance in sixteen years. While his focus on the price of attending games is no doubt part of the problem, the thirst to see home runs has not been enough to offset the economics. Sound familiar?