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Red Sox Work To Reignite Kids' Love Affair With Baseball

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Boston did it. Sunday night, it set a new record. The key number here is 108.6 inches. That's more than nine feet.

According to the National Weather Service, that's how much snow has fallen this winter in Boston — making it the snowiest winter since the city started keeping records back in 1872. Sunday night, another three inches fell — eclipsing the previous record, which was set back in 1996.

The new record inspired Boston Mayor Marty Walsh:

However, is this really a title we want? Also, we'd have to beat ourselves to win this so-called title again, which means more snow next year!

So, perhaps like never before, there's a longing for warm weather, the thrill of the grass and baseball. But there's a challenge facing the Red Sox — and all of professional baseball: how to convince kids to become lifelong fans.

Fewer kids are playing baseball than they once did. America's favorite pastime is losing ground to football and basketball, not to mention PlayStation and Xbox. Tickets are expensive for a game that many young people say is slow and boring.

Guests

Doug Tribou, reporter and producer of NPR's Only A Game. He tweets @DougTribou.

Sam Kennedy, chief operating officer for the Boston Red Sox. He tweets @skennedysox.

More

The Boston Globe: Projecting The Red Sox Roster, Version 2.0

  • "We took our first shot at predicting the Red Sox roster for Opening Day back on March 2. In the time since, the Sox have played 12 games and a few things have changed."

This segment aired on March 16, 2015.

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