It was coming sooner or later. It was inevitable. It was imminent. It was unavoidable. The baseball post.

Today is as good as any, since the Major League Baseball All-Star Game commences in about an hour. Ironically, the All Star Game may be the poorest embodiment of much of this post's substance, but that's OK. It was coming sooner or later. Inevitably. Imminently. Unavoidably.

Baseball seems to be most associated with exorbitant contracts, steroids and boredom. Not exactly a stellar list of things to be associated with, but this reality gives credence to the notion that baseball truly is a timeless institution. Baseball can be boring, even when played by mega-millionaires that spend mega-millions on steroids and human growth hormone. This isn't the essence of baseball or at least not to everyone. Of course, though, it's definitely an easy cop-out for those insisting on changing the TV channel or finding something better to do on a pleasant day (or Thursday night in Birmingham and Nashville). It's really too bad that every baseball game can't be played in a blizzard, complete with brawls and a combined 30 runs scored, but those who really enjoy the game itself will have to settle for what's left.

If weather phenomena and blood can't always be present to make the game fascinating, there must be something else that keeps people watching and obsessing. The key is that the game doesn't merely consist of who is pitching, hitting and fielding the ball. It would be unfair to say that a game played across such a vast expanse of grass is solely focused on where a fist-sized white ball happens to be. Obviously the ball is the catalyst for a lot in the game, but so much happens regardless of where the ball goes or doesn't go. Strategy prevails in baseball to extent probably greater than many other sports combined. Fielders must position themselves accordingly whether the batter hits the ball to them or never makes contact with the ball. A batter must not only know what the pitcher threw to the last hitter, but why he won't throw the same thing again, or maybe he will. This multi-faceted orchestra of activity is what makes the live experience of baseball unmatched. TV cameras don't pick up everything, but sitting at a game allows anyone to not only see the pitcher/batter action, but also the positioning of the fielders, the lead-off of baserunners, the signals being sent by coaches and the perspective of the umpires.

Furthermore, the fields of play can influence the action, and subsequent outcome, of a game more than in any other sport. Whereas professional football and basketball go to great lengths to ensure the uniformity of their fields of play, baseball prides itself on the opposite. Every major league field has different dimensions, different walls and different ground rules. A 320-foot fly ball down the right field line in Yankee Stadium is a homerun, where as the same hit to center field appears to barely go past second base, coming down almost 100 feet short of the centerfield fence. Fenway Park has a 3-foot high fence in right field and a 37-foot high fence in left. At Wrigley Field, the wall maintains a constant height, but might be solid brick or covered in ivy, depending what what time of year it is. This simply does not happen anywhere else.

Statistics and baseball have a love/hate relationship. Some will argue that stats play into decision-making too much and pure effort and athleticism will always win in the end. Others believe that baseball has been played long enough for reliable statistics to give the observer an idea of what to expect before it happens. Either way, the stats are overwhelming. A player's batting average and number of home runs provides a pretty good idea of what type of player he is. Add in his slugging percentage against left-handed knuckleballers in July day games played in domes with runners in scoring position and two outs in the 7th inning or later and the scenario takes on a whole new light. Clearly, this kind of detail is not for everyone, namely those who do not play fantasy baseball.

More than all the cheesy quirks of baseball, it cannot go unmentioned that baseball teams define neighborhoods, cities and lifestyles. Teams play day games on weekdays, in stadiums that pre-date World War I, that people skip work to attend with a ticket that still costs less than $10. Baseball is played in abundance on the big three patriotic holidays in May, July and September, Mother's Day, Father's Day and a lot of other days that are only significant because of what opponent happens to be in town.

So yes, baseball is important. More important than hundreds of million dollars. More important than human growth hormones. Definitely more important than just the Red Sox and Yankees.