Is the MLB destroying our national pastime? This Frederick author thinks so.

BY SHUAN BUTCHER Special to The News-Post

Growing up in Long Island, Eric Marcus was a big sports fan. Baseball, in particular.

“It started with the World Series when I was 7 years old, with the Giants versus the Yankees. The excitement of watching Game 7 — it overwhelmed me. I was hooked from there,” he said. “We lived and died baseball. We were always outside and played all the time. We were always playing stickball or wiffle ball or trading cards.”

He also has fond memories of attending games.

“We went all the time. Sunday double-headers were a staple for me and my friends.”

Marcus would hop on a bus, without parents, and go to Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium. “Mom would give me two dollars — $1.25 for a ticket and 75 cents for the bus. We would bring our own lunch and spent the whole day there. It was wonderful.”

But the game, Marcus asserts, has changed significantly since he was a boy, which prompted him to write and publish the book “Going, Going, Gone: How MLB is Destroying Our National Pastime.”

“I decided to write a book to explain what it was like growing up a huge fan, about all my heroes, and why the game is difficult to watch now,” said Marcus, who now lives in Frederick. “It is a much different environment now than it was back then.”

In the book, Marcus recalls some of his fondest memories — but also the Top 10 reasons why the sport is in serious decline.

“Twenty years from now, baseball is not going to be anywhere near where it is now in popularity,” he said.

Most people from New York either love the Yankees or the Mets and hate the other team, but not Marcus. Growing up, he loved them both and went to all their games.

When Marcus moved down South to go to the University of Maryland, he became a Baltimore Orioles fan and began going to games and following them on TV. Marcus still goes to an Orioles game or two a year but says it just isn’t the same.

As someone who was a pitcher in collegiate intramural softball and continued to play the sport for decades, Marcus was particularly fond of other major league pitchers like Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer. They were his heroes, as well as players like Bob Gibson and Roberto Clemente.

“These guys weren’t there for the money. They were there for the love of the game, the love of their team, and their love of the city. Seaver, aka Tom Terrific, threw 28 complete games in 1970. He was amazing and my favorite.

“Watching Roberto Clemente play and the way he hustled and his throwing arm, you couldn’t help but adore him,” Marcus continued.

“I was also a huge Bobby Mercer fan. I was there when he hit four home runs in a row over the course of a doubleheader. The place went bonkers. And Cal Ripken Jr. spent 20plus years with the Orioles. He could have went somewhere else but loved the city.

“I admired them for their talents, their personalities and their dedication to their teammates. I don’t see too many players like that these days. Now it is all about themselves and all about the money.” The book can be purchased at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.