What is there about American society that makes baseball America's "national pastime"?

History, tradition, and baseball's influence on American culture. Baseball's been referred to as our "national pastime" since before there was even "professional" baseball in the 1870s, and has been remarkably consistent in popularity for a very long time - of the most popular sports of the 1870s, baseball's the only one that's still on the short list of most popular sports today.

For most people, it is a way to pass their own time because they are too lazy to move and go anywhere. However, some people actually feel meaning in watching baseball. It kills a few hours in a day for people who have or think they have time to kill.