Why Doesn't Baseball Have Cheerleaders?

Why are there no cheerleaders in baseball? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Answer by Bob Gill, Umpire, on Quora:

At the risk of over-thinking this - wait, I have over-thought this and created a veritable thesis on the topic.

Cheerleading lends itself to a few sports, but not to most. Football and basketball teams almost always have cheerleaders, but not baseball, soccer, volleyball, chess, gymnastics, water polo, track and cross country, tennis, swimming, or cricket. Why is this?

Some sports are more individualistic than others, but they all offer some level of “us versus them” that provides an opportunity for cheering. Anyway, why are there no cheerleaders in baseball?

The game of baseball itself:

1. Unlike most other games, baseball is a game where the defense controls the ball. As such, the primary emphasis might be preventing the other team from scoring. Inability to move the team forward a score is not necessarily a failure, but is more the norm. Further, most swing attempts will not achieve a hit; this is understandable and OK. Therefore, cheerleaders yelling for a hit will often be disappointed, which is inappropriate.
2. In football, the offense is expected to move the ball down the field. In basketball, the offense is supposed to score points. In baseball, however, the offense is also expected to take advantage of opportunities provided by an imperfect defense, such as easy-pitching or other errors. While there is momentum in baseball, the game is more about opportunism than momentum. Fans know to cheer at moments of opportunity - such as when you have the bases loaded with no outs, or a walk-off single might end the game. No cheerleaders are needed.
3. As a defensively-controlled game, cheering for the team on the field and in control amounts to “Don’t screw up!” Obviously, this sentiment is not an inspiring form of support.
4. When a defensive play is about to happen, and you want your team to perform well, extra noise is a distractionto the individual making the play. A diversion while handling a hard ground ball or standing under a pop fly can cause an error or injury. “Catch it, Billy!” is a cheap form of support. “Good catch, Billy,” is appropriate cheering, but in baseball this cheering is after the fact, not to encourage fans too.
5. Baseball is a team sport that requires specific performance from specific individuals. Batters bat, base runners steal bases, pitchers pitch, catchers control how to pitch to each batter, infielders catch grounders and make quick reflex plays, outfielders run down fly balls. Cheerleaders aren’t cheering for their squad as much as the individual expected to make the play, which only adds pressure instead of lending support.
6. Baseball seasons are long, which diminishes the specific importance of single, regular-season games. Given the number of hours played in a season, trying to keep the fans continuously excited would be artificial.Football seasons, on the other hand, include a small number of games. Every game in a 16-game season lends meaning to the team’s performance, and the status of “undefeated” is possible to prove you are unquestionably the best.
7. While baseball has no time limit, the pace of the game limits the time when the ball is not “live.” Cheerleaders typically activate when the game isn’t happening. The time between pitches, between innings, for visits to the mound, or for a new pitcher have specific time limits. The design of baseball is to eliminate or minimize long gaps, while cheerleader-friendly sports employ cheerleaders to fill the gaps.
8. Momentum in baseball typically becomes generated by the offense, the team at bat. But the defense controls the ball and the pace of play on the field in a way that can squelch momentum. Football is a game of driving the ball and momentum, a running game intended to achieve a first down, field position, or score. Basketball is a game of momentum, with time-outs stopping the action. Cheerleaders encourage and compel fans to support positive energy; in baseball this positive energy correlates to opportunities out of the control of the team.

The nature of cheerleading:

• Do cheerleaders lead cheers anymore? Or do they perform routines which only show the “cheerleaders” cheering?
• Isn’t cheerleading a separate form of entertainment, apart from the primary game? What relation is there, really, between football and beautiful girls or skillful gymnastic routines?
• Isn’t cheerleading, at the professional level, mostly about showing attractive women enthusiastically enjoying the game in front of the fans? Being on a traditional Cheer Team means popularity, feminine beauty, upbeat personality.
• Isn’t cheerleading becoming a sport unto itself at the high school and college level? That is, do baseball and basketball need competitive cheerleaders?
• Football and basketball - the sports most associated with cheerleading - favor athletes with larger physical attributes; cheerleaders offer a feminine counter to these overly-masculinized games. Baseball, on the other hand, requires a unique blend of major and minor muscle dexterity; the female counterpart is not cheerleading but softball.
• In reality, some of the best cheerleading happens spontaneously at all sporting events - one side cheering across the field at fans of the opponent they are defeating. Remember the phenomenon of the wave?

Fan reasons:

Note: in Sacramento, the local AAA team, the Rivercats, often has young ushers lead the crowd in song, dancing on the field and upon the top of the dugouts between some innings or during the 7th inning stretch. So there is some level of cheerleading, but no “cheerleaders” as the world of sport understands, including attractive, athletic women in skimpy outfits holding pom-poms.

As such, baseball venues typically use other events to entertain the crowd between innings, like shooting T-shirts into the crowd, games, and announcements on the scoreboard, etc. But in general:

• As suggested above, the times for lusty cheering for your team are unpredictable and based on opportunities that arise. Baseball fans know when to shout their support, and don’t need cheerleaders to tell them when.
• Baseball fans would suggest that cheerleaders on the field would not improve the experience of a baseball game. That is, while baseball fans might appreciate lovely ladies shaking their pom-poms, there isn’t sufficient demand from the ticket-buyers.
• Even at the high school and college levels, baseball doesn’t draw the crowds enjoyed by football and basketball. As noted above, baseball seasons are more like a marathon than a horse race.
• At the level of school baseball, cheerleaders rarely perform cheers, though many still attend games to show support as fans.
• TV appreciates pro football and basketball cheerleaders when the game experiences a lull. Baseball doesn’t draw large television crowds apart from rivalry games or playoffs.

This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

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