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F irst, the good news: Baseball is played outdoors in the spring and summer and with built-in social distanc- ing. But dealers should not go filling out their lineup cards just yet. Because now the not-so- good news: There's still a pandemic raging across America, vaccinations are only now starting to make an impact and many towns and schools remain in lockdown or hybrid modes. Put it all together and there remains a big question mark for youth and school baseball in Spring 2021. But look at it this way: At least it's not basketball. It may be stating the obvious, but the 2020 baseball season was anything but smooth and conventional in the U.S. Remember back to last spring when the spring season was abruptly put on hold – and then ultimately cancelled – due to the raging impact of COVID-19. An entire school season was lost and, despite a slight rebound with summer and fall ball, baseball has mostly sat on the bench for the better part of a pandemic-ranged year. (Note: The only school teams that actually completed their 2020 season were from Iowa, where high school baseball is played in the summer. See story on page 18.) Now the feeling among those on the front lines – schools, teams, coaches, players, parents and, yes, team dealers and their vendors – is that everyone is ready for pitchers and catchers to report on diamonds across America. Cautious optimism rules the day. Baseball's Financial Box Score If and when it does get back to business, at least the sport will be doing so from a pre-pandemic position of strength. From a dollars-and-cents perspective, sales of base- ball gear steadily increased from 2014 to 2019, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association's (SFIA) 2020 Manufacturers' Sales by Category Report. Wholesale sales of baseball gear (bats, balls, protective gear, uniforms and cleats) were $1.212 billion in 2019, up slightly from $1.171 billion in 2014. It's worth noting that the wholesale size of the caps/hats business back in 2014 was $471 million, of which a significant percentage of headwear is baseball-style hats. (For more on the cap business, see story on page 20.) The caps/hats business has exhibited steady annual growth since 2014 and in 2019 the segment had grown to $536 million, at wholesale. (Baseball-related sales figures for equipment, apparel and athletic footwear in 2020 are not yet available, although they are widely expected to be drastically lower than the previous year when the sport was actually played in America.) Participation pre-pandemic was also in a good place, according to the SFIA's research. There were 15.8 million baseball players in the U.S. in 2019, making it the second most popular team sport in the U.S. behind only basketball. As recently as 2012, overall participation in baseball in the U.S. was as low as 12.9 million players. Better yet for the business, of those 15.8 million players, nearly 60 percent (9.1 million to be exact) are considered "core" players who play baseball more than 13 days a year. Again, basketball is the only sport to have a higher percentage of core players. And even though the number of baseball players in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s is growing, it remains that slightly more than half of all baseball players are between the ages of six and 17 and nearly 70 percent of all core players are between the ages of 6 and 17. Another SFIA baseball statistic: For those ages six to 12, 20.7 percent are playing on a school team, 55.1 percent are playing on a team in a locally run league and 15 percent are on a travel team. For those ages 13-17, those numbers change to 49.4 percent playing on a school team, 31.2 percent on a team in a locally run league and 19 percent on a travel team. Geographically, the four most popular regions for baseball players in the U.S. are the South Atlantic, Middle Atlantic, Pacific and East North Central. Team Dealers Talkin' Baseball Not to point too fine of a point on it but, with the exception of two or three regions in the country, 2020 was a strike out for almost all team dealers selling baseball. And even though the calendar has turned, these dealers have mixed feelings about baseball sales returning to pre-COVID-19 levels any time soon. But that doesn't mean they aren't excited about the upcoming season. "Baseball was not very good for us in 2020," admits Doc Claussen, manager of Coaches Corner, Terre Haute, IN, who is thankful that at least recreation and travel ball were even- tually played in the summer, while high school and American Legion seasons were cancelled completely. "This year our approach with baseball is day- to-day," he says. "I remain optimistic. Fortunately, I have already fitted five travel baseball teams from head-to-toe for this year." Because of Coaches Corner's geographic proximity along the Indiana-Illinois border, many of its customers live and play sports in Illinois, where scholastic athletic events were cancelled last year. "Sales can only improve out of Illinois for us this year," says Claussen. The problem with selling baseball in 2021 is that much of the merchandise ordered for last season was never used because of the cancellations. PLAYBALL? After a lost season, dealers make a pitch for playing baseball this spring. By Mike May 56 • sportstyle • March 2021 sportstylemag.com TEAM / BASEBALL

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