MLB is trying to make inroads into the Chinese market by having the Padres and Dodgers play exhibition games there this weekend. This might be the ultimate Meatball Sundae move. Baseball will not succeed in China for one of the same reasons its popularity has dwindled in America: there is no place to play! China is just too crowded to embrace a sport that requires a field dedicated to one thing. Besides, more people play basketball in China than there are total people in the United States.

Maybe instead of trying to follow everyone else to the perceived Chinese economic land rush, MLB should be trying to repair its tarnished image at home. Baseball doesn’t need China for its survival. Baseball needs Americans to remember the game that has been a part of its heritage for twice as long as football.

I know Bud Selig didn’t ask me, but here are 3 things he can do to start:

1. Play World Series games earlier. It’s your time on the stage, but the next generation of fans (kids) have long since gone to bed on a school night.
2. Stop tossing crumbs at the RBI Program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) and start investing heavily into it. That means owners and players alike. You make millions of dollars and enjoy ridiculous tax breaks on the stadiums. The paltry sum you invest in RBI is criminal.
3. For heaven’s sake, stop making ridiculously short-sighted and selfish moves like canceling the Hall of Fame game. Are you kidding me? The fans pay your salaries. And they have options.

Carry on, Citizens!