Why is baseball no longer America's Game?

Analysis by Harry Enten, CNN

Updated 1335 GMT (2135 HKT) April 7, 2022

Far away are the days where Babe Ruth stormed the sport and baseball was king. But why is that?

(CNN)Major League Baseball is finally back. Despite a lockout and delay in Opening Day, the players are actually going to take the field. When my father, born in 1927, was my age, Opening Day was one of the biggest events on the sports calendar.

For his son, it's just another day. It's not that I don't like baseball — I do. It's that baseball is not the sport that stands out above all others in my mind.My family's story is part of a larger one about America's declining interest in baseball and generational replacement.The sport, which was once the most popular in the country, has a bevy of problems that has landed it, at best, a distant second place in America's hearts. This is especially true among America's youth. Just 11% of adults listed baseball as their favorite sport to watch in a 2021 Washington Post poll. That put it well behind football (34%) and tied with basketball for the second favorite sport. Soccer and «something else» (e.g. esports/competitive video gaming) were closely behind at 7%. Read MoreWhen examining the poll more in-depth, the problem baseball has becomes both more apparent — and even scarier. A mere 7% of those under the age of 30 say baseball is their favorite sport. This ranked fifth behind football (24%), basketball (17%), «something else» (12%) and soccer (10%). While these fans are overjoyed to be at the ballpark, only 11% of total adults and 7% of people aged under 30 in the US list baseball as their favorite sport.To put baseball's overall 11% in perspective, there were many more fans of baseball the last time there was a