Would You Consider Baseball A 'Red State' Sport?

[THUNDER HANDS]

Some pitcher for the Braves who's from Long Island was quoted in Newsday today saying he's a 'blue state guy in a red state sport.'

I thought that was kinda odd, since I always considered baseball neither a red state sport (like say, Nascar) or a blue state sport (like say, hockey).

Thoughts?

[JohnKleeb]

1. I am with you neither red or blue

[BulletproofLandshark]

2. No Way

There's way too much ethnic diversity in MLB to be a red state sport. Golf, now there's a red state sport if there ever was one, Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh not withstanding.

[realisticphish]

13. actually, no

when i think golf, i think east coast/new england businessmen

[OKNancy]

3. Sports is sport

It has nothing to do with Red or Blue IMO, especially team sports where each individual could have their own beliefs independent of management and owners.

I enjoy sports for what it is.

[TomClash]

4. It's the most popular sport in NY and MA

The bluest of the blue.

[PDittie]

5. I think he's referring to Georgia

OTOH I wouldn't consider the Boston Red Sox or the San Francisco Giants 'blue'.

Professional baseball players are some of the wealthiest people in the country, and many of the baseball players I knew in high school and college were rednecks and racists -- oops, conservative -- so it makes sense to me that some in the game would call baseball a "red" sport.

My Houston Astros are about as red as a baboon's ass (from the boardroom to the laundry room), but I can manage not to hold it against them.

[hyphenate]

7. The players, I agree

that they're not always blue, but the fans definitely are.

[hyphenate]

6. That's a joke

The biggest teams are in major cities across the country, and they're almost all blue.

I doubt if Yankee fans or Red Sox fans would be more red than blue! Quite the opposite I would think.

[Steel City Slim]

8. If Not Red, At Least Leaning That Way

The minimum salary for a major league player is $316,000 a year. The median salary is $850,000, and the average salary is $2.6 million. That in and of itself certainly has red potential.

A while back a number of players announced they were members of the John Birch Society. I believe Eric Show was one, I can't remember who the others were.

[saltpoint]

9. I'm thinking it's green. All those vines on Wrigley Field's --

-- wall, and the expanse of the field itself...

It's a place where the fluid geniuis of an athlete prevails over everything else in the instant when an outfielder leaps against the wall to catch a would-be homer.

Just green.

This is a sport that's taken its lumps but it still survives. Kids are playing baseball in Mexico in some park at this very minute and loving every pitch.

[DaveinMD]

10. nope

the sport is incredibly popular in blue states. However, most athletes are bound to be Republicans because of the macho nature of athletics and the amound of money these people make.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

11. If we consider the amount of thinking involved

to play the game correctly, I'm surprised we have any 'red state' players (Curt Shilling, a Bush toadie). I am a baseball junkie and do not consider it to be asscoiated with any of that stuff.........

[realisticphish]

14. honestly, though

EVERY sport requires a lot of thinking :shrug:

[WilliamPitt]

12. No

[loybay]

15. Football is more "red-state" than Baseball

when you consider its popularity in the south, southeast and mid-west.

[trotsky]

18. Think of the way the NFL works.

Salary cap, revenue sharing, powerful union... if it weren't for extraordinarily wealthy folks owning the teams, it would easily qualify as the sport of socialism!

[Mojambo]

16. Xgames = Blue and Nascar = Red

Everything else is in the middle.

[Bluzmann57]

17. Who cares?

I like baseball and am a lifelong Democrat. My faves are the Cubs, which are owned by the right wing Chicago Tribune Co. It doesn't matter, they are my team and if they ever win the World Series, an awful lot of people won't care about political affiliation, just that the Cubs win. And while I rarely watch NASCAR, I don't hate those who do. Watch whatever sports you want to and enjoy it without politics getting into it. Marvel at what the athletes can do.

[hijinx87]

19. I think that probably sports are one of those very few things . . .

that transcend politics, and perhaps even religion.