Bye-Bye Baseball at Cal

University of California (Cal) announced this week that it was cutting five sports including baseball.

Back in the day, sports were almost sacred. Sports were hardly ever slashed, they actually grew. But this is a new era and with tight money, everything is on the potential hit list.

However, I find it interesting that every time baseball is finished at a major university, there is a tremendous outcry. I love professional baseball, but apparently the sport of baseball it isn’t popular on most college campuses. Sure you have your USC, Florida State, Miami programs, but can you tell me the four finalists in last season’s College World Series?

College baseball is considered a “minor” sport because it doesn’t generate enough money to finance itself. So sports like baseball must depend on the cash cows such as football and men’s basketball or other athletic monies.

I wonder why college baseball isn’t more popular. Is it because of the lack of major scholarship money? Is it because the media doesn’t provide college baseball much attention?

We have three state universities in Iowa and only the University of Iowa still offers baseball. The University of Northern Iowa dropped its program early this year. Iowa State dropped its team a while back.

Look for more college baseball fields to grow silent unless some multi-million dollar pro stars come to the rescue.