Baseball's Fans Are Back

Lemmings have a peculiar habit of followership that results in mass migrations often ending in death by drowning.

In fact, this rodent's fealty has earned it lasting infamy. To follow someone or something unquestioningly is to behave like a lemming marching en masse to its own death.

It has taken only six months for the average American baseball fan to exchange his or her guarded loyalty for lemming-hood. The protests and low attendance figures that greeted players and owners at the beginning of this strike-shortened season have been replaced by the annual rite of pennant fever.

Although average attendance for regular-season games reportedly dropped 20 percent from a year ago to 25,257 and major league clubs will together lose more than $300 million, the hear's and minds of many fans have faithfully returned. Attendance figures mean nothing in light of recent events. A week ago Wednesday, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner criticized the lack of fan support his team was receiving as New York made its final push for a playoff spot.

"I don't know if it is the Bronx," Steinbrenner told The New York Times. "I'm not going to get into that argument again, but these guys deserve big-time support."

The Yankees sold out their first two playoff games this week.

The lessons fans thought they were teaching the owners and players have been forgotten. The greedy trespasses of the baseball establishment have been quickly forgiven.

In the beginning, we spoke bravely of teaching baseball a lesson. We held signs of protest in the Fenway bleachers. We remained skeptical and kept our distance.

But before we could truly enjoy discounted ticket prices, before we could take full advantage of hour-long post-game autograph sessions, our loyalty returned and the post-strike pampering of fans reversed.

There were streaks to follow, records to break, no-hitters to pitch, standings to watch and stories to write. There was Cal Ripken, Ramon Martinez, Albert Belle, the Red Sox atop the AL East and the Cleveland Indians clinching their first division title in 41 years.

Strike or no strike, fans did not want to miss this year's most memorable moments. Putting aside any bitterness or sense of betrayal, we returned to our stadiums and television sets.

In the name of entertainment, tradition and normaley, we played our trump card--our loyalty--too early.

Now it is October, end as the fans' hopes rise and fall with each playoff game, we resettle into our place at the bottom of baseball's hierarchy.

We cower at the admonitions of George Steinbrenner and buy tickets. We fear for the World Series until the players strike another legal agreement. We worry about local teams moving elsewhere to bigger and better stadiums built with taxpayer consent.

The voice of baseball's faithful majority has been silenced once again. And we pass through the turnstiles like lemmings no wiser for having been down this path before.

The greedy trespasses of the baseball establishment have been quickly forgiven.