During my 68 years on this earth, I have been a baseball fan as far back as my memory will take me.  Summers were times to organize neighborhood kids to play a sandlot game or get a Wiffle ball tournament going.  Baseball was the center of outdoor activity anytime weather allowed.

I grew up a Cincinnati Reds fan, and remain one today.  Yes, the Reds have fallen on hard times in recent years, much like many other small market clubs.  But I am not a fair-weather fan.  There is always hope the next season will be better.

Back in my formative years, the 1950s & 60s, it was hard to find many baseball games on television.  There were only three or four commercial stations we could receive on our old rabbit-ear indoor antennas.  We were lucky to see one TV game on Saturday.

After all those years of fandom, I am worried about the future of the game that is as All-American as anything I know.  There are many reasons leading me to that fear.

Everyone has been reading about the Houston Astros fiasco.  The team was investigated by Major League Baseball over cheating allegations.  Allow me to note that the probe was ordered only after the online sports media outlet, The Athletic, wrote about those allegations.  (The Athletic is a subscription news outlet that costs about $5 a month, less if there is a special deal available.  Subscribe to good media outlets)

The results of the investigation were stunning.  The Houston Astros had cheated by stealing signs using technology, a blatant violation of the rules.  The Houston 2017 World Series championship has been forever tainted, as have other team accomplishments in recent years.

The fact that a team has cheated should not surprise anyone.  The fact that that team had been doing it for a while without being caught is a surprise.

The largest controversy came in two aspects of the scandal – the Astros response and the response by Commissioner Rob Manfred.

When Houston reported to spring training this month, everyone knew what had to be done – players and team officials had to address the cheating scandal.  What happened was the worst, least sincere apologies I have ever seen.  Nobody believes them.  And the Astros do not appear to even care.

Astros’ manager, AJ Hinch, and general manager, Jeff Luhnow, have been suspended for a year while the club have been fined $5m and deprived of their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021.  Commissioner Manfred had the team and its management officials pay a heavy price, but no players have been handed any discipline.

We are told that the players cooperated with the investigation.  That’s the reason no players paid a price, although they were clearly involved, based on the probe.

It should be noted that Hinch and Luhnow have not only been suspended, but have been fired by the Astros.

But the players not paying any price has led to players on other MLB teams issuing angry responses.  It is so bad some teams have hinted Astros hitters may be bean ball targets.  Manfred has correctly pointed out he will not tolerate that, and I agree throwing at hitters is a very dangerous practice in any case.

Then there is the refusal by Manfred to strip the Astros of their 2017 World Series title.  And, of course, with all this, Pete Rose once again is saying he should be reinstated and be a candidate for the Hall of Fame.

Keep in mind, baseball’s fan base skews much older than other major sports.  The Chicago Cubs have switched their games to a sports service not available yet to a large swath of its fan base.  Baseball appears to be finding ways to make itself less visible and more irrelevant in years to come.

Then, there is the effort by MLB to eliminate 42 minor league baseball teams in many local communities around America.  Baseball is not cash poor, it can afford to continue helping these teams financially.

In 2007, attendance at MLB games totaled more than 79 million.  That number has been in decline ever since.  In 2019, the total attendance number was just over 68 million.

Fewer people are attending the games, and the people at the games trend older, not younger.  This is not good.

I have loved baseball all my life and continue to love this game.  It is my view the owners have been short-sighted and have not always made decisions in the long-term best interests of the game.

What happened to the Astros, and to a lesser extent the Boston Red Sox (they had their own technology-driven cheating scandal), is a symptom that Major League Baseball is on a downward trend, not trusted by its own fans to police the game enough to believe they are honest contests.  The owners, and the man they hire to handle the dirty tasks, the commissioner, need to go out and find out what fans want.

Are the games too long?  If so, how do we shorten them?  Is the shift (radical placement of fielders using advanced analytics) good or bad for the game?

It’s time baseball did two important things – protect the history and traditions of the game while, at the same time, implementing changes to make the games a better fan experience.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers.  I am just asking the owners of baseball to start looking for those answers.