People need to remember that the sport of baseball exists independently of the MLB.

Baseball is one of the USA's great cultural innovations. Yes it contains elements of English 'rounders' and Prussian bat-and-ball games from the 18th century, but in its present form it is an American cultural tradition. Boys and girls playing with baseball/softballs, bats, and gloves, running around in the sun and sliding in the dirt is something that needs to be preserved, not shunned because the stinky MLB has gotten involved with it.

I'd hope that even Patriots who never played baseball or simply don't care about it, would at least see the need to preserve and promote baseball alongside other aspects of American culture.