The 2011 Major League Baseball season starts March 31. For Florida Marlins fans, that not only signals the start of a new season for their team, but also the reappearance of the Marlins Mermaids, the team’s edgy cheerleading squad. The Mermaids perform at home games between innings and during the seventh inning stretch. You can even book the Mermaids for a party or corporate event. According to the Marlins official Web site, the Mermaids were voted #2 on E! Entertainment’s Sexiest Miami Jobs.
Although there are other baseball teams with cheerleaders or dance teams, such as the Tampa Bay Rays with The Ray Team and the Cincinnati Reds with The Mountain Dew Reds Crew, most teams in Major League Baseball do not have anything to do with scantily-clad dancing women. Cheerleading just does not seem to fit with the traditional, “America’s favorite pastime,” atmosphere of baseball, which focuses on sportsmanship and technique of the game.
Why have cheerleaders then? What purpose do they serve? It seems that to a certain extent cheerleaders help stimulate fan numbers and increase fan excitement during the game. However, many baseball fans feel otherwise.
Oddly, it was the Walt Disney Company who first attempted to bring cheerleaders to the game of baseball. Disney bought the California Angels in 1996 and established The Angel Wings Cheerleaders who danced on top of the visiting team’s dugout between innings. The Angel Wings performed for one year before their services were termi-nated because season ticket holders complained that the dancers blocked views of the field.
But, do cheerleaders even belong in baseball? Bringing it closer to home: would cheerleaders at Shark baseball games expand the number of fans in attendance and promote more school spirit? They might. Some college teams, like Arizona State University, do have cheerleader support at their baseball games. But then again, cheerleaders might deter traditional baseball fans who want to focus on the actual game and not on a dance routine side show. Ultimately, it depends on the audience.
Cheerleaders are rejected as trivial and distracting by many traditional baseball fans. To these fans, baseball is fulfilling enough as a sport and cheerleaders are not needed to keep their interest. Yet, there is a minority group of fans who enjoy baseball, but are bored at times by its methodical pace. A great game is simply not enough for these half-hearted fans. They need something more entertaining, more captivating than baseball to be satisfied; enter baseball cheerleaders.
I pose this question to you fans, baseball players, cheerleaders, and coaches: Should the NSU cheerleaders perform at Shark baseball games? Share your thoughts at sportseditor@nova.edu.
