Team Insight

Baseball across America is once again ready to swing for the fences in 2023. By Mike May TEAM BASEBALL BACK AT BAT As the 2023 season ap- proaches, the financial box score for the sport at the youth level remains impressive. From a dollars-and-cents perspective, sales of base- ball gear steadily increased from 2016 to 2019, had a significant drop in 2020 (the COVID year) and then began an upward swing in 2021, ac- cording to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association's (SFIA) 2022 Manufacturers' Sales by Category Report. According to that SFIA study, wholesale sales of baseball gear (bats, balls, protective gear, uni- forms and cleats) were $1.399 billion in 2021, up slightly from $1.389 billion in 2019. It's worth noting that the wholesale size of the caps/hats category, of which a significant percentage of headwear is the baseball-style cap/hat, is rock solid. e caps/ hats category has exhibited steady annual growth since 2016 when it was $487 million. In 2021, the caps/hats business had grown to $644 million, at wholesale. e participation numbers reflect this strength. e SFIA research indicates there are 15.6 million baseball players in the U.S., making it the second most popular team sport in the U.S. behind only basketball, with 27.1 million players. As recently as 2016, overall participation in baseball was 14.8 million and it had dipped as low as 12.9 million players back in 2012. It is heartening the see this turnaround, especially among what are classified as "core" players — those who play baseball more than 13 days a year. Of the current 15.6 million baseball players, 52.6 percent (8.2 million) fall into that all-important core category. And it comes as no surprise that the majority of baseball players are in their pre-teens, teens, 20s, and 30s, with just more half (52 percent) between the ages of six and 17; nearly 70 percent of all of those core players are in the same age group. Two more baseball stats: From a household income perspective, 36 percent of male baseball players come from households that make more than $100,000 a year and of the 15.6 million baseball players in the U.S., 83.3 percent of them are male. 12 • Team Insight ~ January/February 2023 teaminsightmag.com With Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers set to report to Spring Training in warm locales from Florida to Arizona, can the youth, high school and college seasons be far behind? That's the true harbinger of Spring for players, coaches, parents, fans and, most importantly, team dealers ready to swing for the fences with America's Pastime.

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