Here’s a statement that I have heard more than a few times over the past couple of years: Baseball is boring.

And, before we start the debate, think of the last time that you watched an entire baseball game from start to finish. Having trouble?

The Yankees and the Red Sox played 19 innings on April 10. If you watched the whole game, congratulations are in order. Most of the fans had left the stadium by the time the game was over — after seven hours — at 2:15 a.m. As for me, I picked it up in the 12^th inning and was asleep by the 16^th.

Was I bored? Maybe. Was I tired? Absolutely.

We have evolved into a fast-paced society, and it’s only going to get faster. However, baseball games have actually become longer over time. In the 1920s and ’30s, Major League games were over in two hours. From 2000 to 2009, the average game time was 2 hours, 57 minutes.

Of course, elements of baseball are fast: pitches, hits, and running. But we might see a field of players standing around, waiting for a chance to react. Or sitting in the dugout, waiting for an at bat.

Baseball is a leisurely game in a world that doesn’t have enough relaxation going on. Our society isn’t as patient as it used to be, which means that sports fans are less willing to endure any breaks in constant action. And why should we, when we can just turn on Sportscenter and watch all the important highlights, or check a game cast on our smartphones?

Admittedly, a baseball game that I covered recently became a slog in the later innings. It was windy, so I made the walk to retrieve my sweatshirt from the car. And what did I miss? Not much. It was still a slog when I returned.

Baseball has an element of anticipation unlike any other sport. We may spend considerable time waiting for a triumphant moment, but, when that moment comes — a home run or an inning-ending double play — it’s usually sweet.

Major League Baseball has a “pace of game program” that is experimenting with ways to speed up the game. For the 2015 season, a batter’s box rule was implemented — all batters must keep at least one foot in the batter’s box with a few exceptions: Batter swings at a pitch, forced out by a pitch, someone requests “time,” a defensive player plays a runner, there’s a bunt attempt, there’s a wild pitch or passed ball, the pitcher leaves the dirt area, and the catcher leaves his box.

This batter’s box rule was used in the Minor Leagues during the 2014 season.

Additionally for the 2015 Major League Baseball season, timers have been installed to measure non-game action and break time between innings and pitching changes. Timers have been placed near the outfield scoreboard and behind home plate in every stadium throughout the league. The timers count to either 2:25 or 2:45 after each third out, and include these stipulations:

— Pitchers can warm up until 20 seconds are left;

— Batters are encouraged to be in the batter’s box with 20 seconds left; and

— Batters need to be in the box by five seconds left on the timer, and pitch thrown by zero on the timer, or it’s deemed as a violation of the rules.

Apparently, these new rules have a warning and fine system, and discipline for flagrant violators, even though enforcement seems minimal. And guess what? Average game length is actually down by 10 minutes in 2015.

Major League Baseball wanted to streamline the pace of play, and it appears to be happening. “The most fundamental starting point for improving the pace of the average game involves getting into and out of breaks seamlessly,” MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred has said.

When instant replay was introduced a few years ago for democratic reasons, it did not help with the pace of play. If a manager wanted to challenge a call, he would leave the dugout to approach the umpire, and then the umpire would go look at a replay. The process could take several minutes.

The replay process has been modified for the 2015 season so that managers can invoke replay from the dugout. But, to challenge an inning-ending call, mangers must still leave the dugout. Manger challenges are retained if a call is overturned; managers get one challenge per game.

However, umpires are still going to slow the pace of the game when taking time to review a call. But we all know why replay was introduced in baseball; umpires make mistakes.

Tim Wiles, director of the Guilderland Public Library, and the director of research at the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame from 1995 to 2014, said that baseball should market its slowness.

“Take a break and come see us” could be a motto for Major League Baseball, Wiles says. He doesn’t understand why people complain about the sluggish pace of baseball, but does think that a four-hour game is too long. “I love the slowness,” he said. “People may rediscover this.”

How do you advertise slowness in a fast-paced society?

Seems daunting. It may be easier to market the uniqueness of baseball.

Unlike football, basketball, and hockey, baseball doesn’t have reoccurring field dimensions. If you play at Fenway Park, you’re going to have to deal with the weird bounces off of the Green Monster. If you’re playing at Yankee Stadium, you may have a better chance of hitting a home run because of the supposed “wind tunnel” affect. Or, you may go to Tampa Bay, Florida, which has awesome weather, and play in a dome. Also, Minute Maid Park in Houston has a slope in center field with a pole in it.

Wiles, a Chicago Cubs fan, compared baseball to a soap opera. “The fan gets an ongoing story,” he said. He also compared watching baseball to sitting on a beach. “Very little happens,” he continued. “It’s a good time to be with the people you care about.”

Baseball is more enjoyable in person. Watching a game on television, it’s easy to flip the channel, go back, until you create this endless cycle of back-and-forth channel changing. On Tuesday night, I tuned into the New York Mets versus the Atlanta Braves while simultaneously flipping between playoff basketball (Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavilers) and playoff hockey (Washington Capitals at New York Islanders).

I didn’t watch more than a half of an inning of baseball at a time because I felt like I would miss something important in the basketball or hockey games. And, once the Mets went ahead, 5 to 1, rarely did I return to the baseball game; New York ended up winning, 7 to 1.

If you’re a sports fan who likes to be stimulated often, baseball may be your last choice of the four major sports — football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. If you like to relax and wait for excitement, baseball might be your first choice.

As a sportswriter, I enjoy most all sports; saying otherwise would probably be detrimental to my career. But my devotion to baseball has decreased over the years.

That’s why meeting someone like Jost Nickelsberg was inspiring. He has a great heart for baseball, and even greater knowledge of the sport. As an elderly man with Parkinson’s disease, he could live for 10 more years, or die in two.

Nickelsberg, who lives in Medusa, started The Baseball Academy in 1979 in Mount Vernon — it was originally called Bedford Academy — with Frank Bartolotta, who died in the early 2000s of Paget’s disease. Nickelsberg and Bartolotta scouted players, helping the players get drafted, and “getting the most out of what God gave them,” Nickelsberg said. Pedro Alvarez, third baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was one of Nickelsberg’s students.

The Baseball Academy closed down eight years ago; Nickelsberg is now running operations from his house. Currently, the Academy is not much more than a vehicle for getting local kids serious about baseball again. Before a camp at Greenville High School on April 6, Nickelsberg said that the best high-school-aged talent in the area would be on hand, so, I was a little confused upon walking in on a group of kids that were 7 to 14 years old.

“There is a lack of interest in baseball up here,” said Brian Parish, who was up from Atlanta to instruct for the Baseball Academy; he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 after being scouted by Nickelsberg. “We’re here to spark interest because the population is dwindling.”

Does this mean that more people have become bored with baseball?

It’s tough to tell, but baseball gives us the opportunity to slow down and chill out for a moment. It also gives us a level playing field, as it were, to compare current players to those of the past and — if the rules don’t change — to measure the heroes of the future.

If you’re ever at a baseball game, Nickelsberg says to close your eyes. And listen closely because that’s the sound of a classic American culture that does not care how fast the rest of the world is moving.

_{^{Backhanded stop: Cole Flannery takes a ground ball during a camp hosted by The Baseball Academy. The Enterprise — Jordan J. Michael}}