by Meghan Rizzo

Created on: March 01, 2010

Baseball super fans are a rare and interesting breed of sports fan.  They are fiercely loyal to their teams, knowledgeable about every intricate nuance of the game, and devoted to following the season through to the end, even if it has not been a very good season for their team. 

Baseball super fans share certain mental characteristics, not often seen in other sports fans.  They are possibly the most dedicated of all sports fans. Considering the sheer volume of time one must spend in order to keep up with all 162 games in the season, each averaging between 2 1/2 to 3 hours in length, keeping up with baseball can be a part time job.  But it is a job that the baseball super fan takes quite seriously, perhaps more so than his full time paying job, and he will have no problem admitting this.

The football widow - or widower - has nothing on her - or his -  baseball counterpart.  Following baseball is time consuming in itself; obsessing over trades, statistics, umpire calls, and team gossip becomes the great, big, compulsive, all-consuming, American pastime. 

In fact, for the baseball super fan, baseball season lasts year round. Fanatics - er - enthusiasts spend hours watching 'classic games' they recorded onto VHS when they were kids.  They scour newspapers and websites for rumors of trades.  They devote an inordinate amount of time to developing the perfect Fantasy Baseball team.  The baseball super fan requires such distractions to get him or her through the winter with its cruel dearth of peanuts and Cracker Jacks. 

One of the most compelling characteristics of the baseball super fan is his propensity toward superstition.  While watching a game, he might engage in such activities as eating exactly three sunflower seeds for every home run hit by the opposing team, refusing to spit out the shells until the commercial break.  He might wear the same pair of socks for an entire season, or assume the pretzel yoga pose, complete with arms in Namaste position, every time his team has an at-bat. 

The baseball super fan believes that these small actions, performed by one fan out of millions, have a profound effect on the universe at large and that they work to appease the baseball gods (who, apparently, are quite fond of unwashed clothing). 

Though they might engage in some bizarre behaviors and, from the onset of spring season to the bitter end of the post season, perform only the most necessary of non-baseball related functions, baseball super fans are a smart bunch.  Natural statisticians, they can rattle off batting averages, errors, and at-bats at breakneck speed.  They also have a high capacity for recall and can tell any non-interested person the exact year in which such and such a player did such and such an extraordinary such and such to save the game!  Baseball super fans are also excellent at calculating wind speed and direction and determining exactly how these elements will affect the outcome of each pitch.  They have at-bat precognition and this is why they often become so incensed with umpires and their bad calls.

Love 'em or hate 'em, baseball super fans are fascinating specimens of the human race.  Their loyalty, tenacity, their unwavering support of their teams through thick and thin are to be admired, regardless of how foul their socks may smell ... pun intended.

Learn more about this author, Meghan Rizzo.
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