Monday, March 24, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Two years after the end of the strike, enthusiasm for baseball has failed to bounce back, according to a nationwide AP poll.
Forty-seven percent of Americans reported lower interest in attending baseball games since the strike, which affected parts of the 1994 and 1995 seasons, compared with 30 percent who said interest is back to normal.
"It's going to take a while for people to forget what they've gone through," players' association head Donald Fehr said. "It will be like that until you have played for a significant period of time with no stoppages."
The poll found the decline in interest linked to a belief by 48 percent of adults -- and 55 percent of fans -- that the cost of attending a major league game is out of reach for people like them.
The average price for tickets alone is expected to exceed $50 this year for a family of four. Only a third of adults under 35 are bothered by this cost, but young people are less likely to be baseball fans, and concern about ticket prices rises with age to 66 percent for those 65 and over.
Acting commissioner Bud Selig said the results matched baseball's internal polling.
"It points out the comeback, but there is much work to be done," he said.
The poll indicated enthusiasm for baseball could get a boost from interleague play, being tried this year for the first time since the major leagues were formed in 1871. About 54 percent said regular-season games between the American League and National League is a change for the better, and only 12 percent said it's a change for the worse.
"I've said all along that interleague play will be bigger than anyone else believed," Selig said. "Now I'm convinced of it."
The poll of 1,000 adults was taken by telephone from March 5-9 by ICR of Media, Pa. Results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Asked about the desire to attend games, 26 percent of those surveyed said interest is a lot lower than it was before the strike, and 21 percent said interest is a little lower. Only 6 percent said interest is higher and 30 percent said it's back to normal. The rest were not sure.
Reports of lower interest in attending games came more from men than women and more from whites than blacks.
After the strike, average attendance for a game dropped 20 percent. It bounced back 6 1/2 percent last season and, based on season ticket sales, owners are predicting a 9 percent rise this year.
In the poll, 38 percent said they are fans -- 47 percent of men and 30 percent of women. Younger people are less interested: 44 percent of those from 35-54 said they are fans, but only 32 percent of those from 18-34.
While 73 percent said baseball player salaries are too high, only 10 percent of those people said they are especially high compared with salaries in professional football and basketball. Eighteen percent said salaries were about right, 1 percent said they were too low and the rest were not sure.
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