Its not the game, its the fans. I'd bet most of us Baseball fans played the game at some level in our youth. We quickly learned that catching, throwing and hitting the ball takes effort and concentration. We came to understand that the game is subtle and demanding and requires patience and attention to detail.
Most of today's fans only superficially played the game. They have other amusements to capture their attention after school.
For me, nothing is more exciting than a low scoring, 1 run game going into the 9th inning. After a game like that, you go home from the game knowing that you saw a good one.
Try to explain that to a kid that played video games instead of little league.