On Baseball
Today is (more or less) opening day for the greatest of sports, baseball. A game of strategy, teamwork, skill, and many possibilities to showcase individual stamina and accomplishment, baseball is also, perhaps, the most family friendly and social of games. Playing catch with dad is often a rite of passage into both boyhood and manhood, and the explosion of the sport across environment and gender, and of adaptations such as tee ball in recent decades, here and across the world, attest to the universal appeal of youngsters running, throwing, catching, hitting a ball, sliding in dirt, and being with friends. Not steroids, labor trouble, or a wide variety of childish antics have dimmed the game’s appeal. Football – high speed violence and committee meetings – may be the most popular American sport, but baseball, unregulated by a clock, unspoiled by “penalties,” leisurely in approach, widely adaptable for all talents and aptitudes, interactive with fans, and decentralized in its professional product, is meritocratic, elitist, and egalitarian all at the same time. Its superstars rise from a wide variety of backgrounds by their gifts and hard work, and all kids can dream of reaching the big leagues due to the rather differing skills required of various positions. The game reveres its traditions, values its statistics and great historical figures, and tends to error on the side of simplicity. There is no “replay,” and it is understood that the human element means tough decisions made quickly may or may not be “fair,” but such is life, so pick yourself up and go again. The recently retired Greg Maddux, my favorite player of all time and one of the greatest pitchers of all time, like Cal Ripken and many others exemplified the very best of this beautiful sport: show up every day, do your best, don’t complain about a long season, prepare, don’t show or mouth off, play well with others, give back to your community, and appreciate your many blessings. So go to a game, eat a hot dog, try to catch a foul ball, and soak in an invention that can teach us how to conduct a better life.
Comments are closed.
Great post! I was born a baseball fan and I wish I could share your hope and enthusiasm about the sport, but I have to admit that, unfortunately, I cannot watch baseball anymore. My main reason is of course the steroid scandal. But also the lack of limits on pay among many other things have made baseball players celebrities in a way that athletes in other sports are not. I think I’m going to have to wait for another generation of baseball players before I watch baseball again. The MLB will only start doing something about steroids and everything else when the ticket sales go down significantly.
Baseball IS in its purity everything you say. I am a Pittsburgher who, even with our Steelers and Penguins, thinks baseball is America’s game and anticaptes early Spring far more than early (Steelers) or mid (Penguins) Fall. And the Pirates have had 16 consecutive losing seasons.
Too bad, however, that MLBs 5-6 moneyed teams can now use their financial excessses as a means to treat the rest of the league as minor league plus satellites, late July sites for talent buying and dismantling.
Sure, the minor market teams can surprise every once in a while,even winning it all in one year or another, but they have no real chance of long-term competitiveness, within the existing structures.
And I agree with Kat, that MLB took a weak stance toward steroids, to revitalize the game with longball sluggers, after the disastruous strike in the 90s. The result has been a big stain over everything, as all extraordinary accomplishments-performances are now and will be forever more tainted with the staining question-reality of illegal body-enhancing substances.
Another one of Baseball’s beauties is that it is a global sport– Asian teams, Latin American Teams, the Canadians, and even the Dutch were able to play competitively in the World Baseball Classic this year. Sadly we’re seeing fewer young African Americans in the game; but it does remain a notably multi-ethnic experience.
The steroid scandals have hurt. I’d also argue that the reliance on public funds for what is increasingly a rich man’s experience of attending a ball game at a ball park is become an injustice. Still, I think we’re also fortunate to see competetive baseball and a level of talent parity that defines the disparity of team payrolls. We complain about the Yankee’s gargantuan payroll, but they’ve not won a world championship since 2000. Last year Tampa Bay made it to the World Series with the second lowest payroll in MLB. For its faults, baseball remains a fantatsic game!
Katerina,
Both the player’s union and the owners share a huuuuge amount of blame for blatently ignoring some very obvious problems with steriod abuse (check out Game of Shadows for this in the context of Bonds). If we think back a decade, the game was riding extremely high due to the homerun races, right after the disasters of the lockouts, and no one wanted to talk about the abuse. Very unfortunate. I do think there is reason for hope, however….a lot of players are angry at being thought cheats and the movement is strong for big reforms.
Mark,
You have much patience to be a Pirates fan, and as a Rangers and Astros fan I feel the pain.
Matt,
It is a global sport…the Japanese in particular have gotten very good very fast. I also love the Tampa Bay story….the AL East is a monster to begin with, and that was very impressive last year.
Matt K,
Very true about not being able to afford to attend a baseball game anymore!
Baseball has become one of my least favorite sports, but that’s probably a product of not having a team nearby (Astros are the closest thing to New Orleans and are my team, much to my emotional detriment, which reminds me:
Mark DeFrancisis: The Pirates of Pittsburgh couldn’t outplay the Pirates of the Carribean. :)
I do think the steroids have hurt, but not as much as the lack of a salary cap. Every other sport is positioned as to make every year a new opportunity. Every sport has its top franchises, but the draft and caps make it easier for the little guys to have a chance. Thus I can be a Saints fan and Hornets fan and know that every year my team can do something miraculous.
In baseball though, success is dictated by the fan base. The Astros don’t have a chance (unless they receive a direct miracle ala Clemens/Petite in 04 and 05) compared to the Yanks, Red Sox, Mets, Cubs, etc. I think that makes it less interesting, especially over a 162 game schedule that if not competitive, makes October a significant relief.
As for me, I’m more interested in following college baseball (LSU is #5 and just beat #1 Georgia) then the pros.
I love the Giants’ new ballpark in SF. Compared to Candlestick Park, it is traditional (baseball-only) in its layout, and there is no more of the biting, swirling gales that froze game-goers at the ‘Stick. Even the hot dogs are better.
I agree about the cost – I can’t really afford to go to ballgames any more. It used to be that your average Joe could afford to take his kids to the game a few times per season – maybe even get them hot dogs and malts; that is pretty much beyond the range of the median wage-earner these days.
I do think the steroids have hurt, but not as much as the lack of a salary cap. Every other sport is positioned as to make every year a new opportunity. Every sport has its top franchises, but the draft and caps make it easier for the little guys to have a chance. Thus I can be a Saints fan and Hornets fan and know that every year my team can do something miraculous.
Very true. College baseball is also more exciting and a purer sport.
Katerina:
I think that’s true for all college sports, though baseball seems to escape the commercialism that is plaguing football and basketball.
Something I didn’t mention before is the fad of new stadiums that lead to tense relationships as teams try to gouge cash-strapped states and cities. Colleges don’t do that (they gouge rich alumni who want their names on a plaque for their grandkids to see), and I think that helps increase devotion and make the sports more enjoyable.
The reason I like baseball best is because it is “boring,” compared to football or basketball. Those other sports are, indeed, “high speed.” There are so few football games, each one is an event of immense importance. Basketball goes from one end of the court to the other in a half minute.
People complain that baseball is too slow, but I think that is part of its charm. When I take in a baseball game, I can also really enjoy the company of other people. How many wonderful conversations I had sitting in the bleacher seats of Jacob’s Field!
It is pleasant and leisurely entertainment punctuated by excitement … instead of the constant tensions and thrills of football or basketball.
Thanks for the post. It is a good day. I would encourage anyone who has not already done so to watch Ken Burns’ Baseball.
Go Dodgers!
Football I like, but baseball I love. It’s a sentimental sport. It’s reassuring in its routines, hope spring trains eternal, the final day of the season is a bit like dying. Books like “The Boys of Summer” or “Wait Til Next year”, shows like Ken Burns’ Baseball or HBO’s “When it was a game” – deeply sentimental.
Baseball is a wistful late summer’s breeze. At least in retrospect. I took to it immediately 12 years ago, a Red Sox fan early on (I liked the Quixotic tale, the Sisyphus errand – Boston is my favorite city in the US alongside San Francisco), going through the agony and the ecstasy – 2003 and 2004. I could never have been a Yankees fan. This is also why my Republican adventure was a bad idea to begin with :)
And – there are no cheerleaders (I know, Mark – Steelers don’t have them)
The people attending are more pleasant than football crowds, one gets chatting easily, usually along “Remember when” lines, there are families, even in Oakland it’s not unpleasant (unlike the post-apocalyptic world that is the Oakland Raider “Nation”) – there the fans are characterized by the common California apathy. We Red Sox fans are in the majority, was the same in San Diego.
I was in Boston for the World Series in 07 (it being the “World Series” is typically American hyperbole of course), ran with the crowd until 3am, was there for the big parade and even got to hold the championship flag before it was hoisted :D I can truly say that whenever I wore a Red Sox item in Europe, I ran into people shouting “Go Sox!”- including the Vatican and the road to St. Francis’ hermitage, heh.
I play Yahoo fantasy baseball with friends… MLB Extra Innings Package, iPhone MLB app…you name it :D
Next week, I’m seeing the Red Sox in hell, I mean Oakland. I probably shouldn’t go in my one car, aka the SoxMobile (decked out in merchandise). People might steal my “SOXLOVE” license plates. (Even here in California it took me forever to find a Sox license plate that wasn’t taken)
Hit it wicked hahd over the Green Monstah, into a pahked cah.
Here the text of George Carlin’s classic piece on baseball vs. football (video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om_yq4L3M_I )
Baseball is different from any other sport, very different. For instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball. In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball intentionally, he’s out; sometimes unintentionally, he’s out.
Also: in football,basketball, soccer, volleyball, and all sports played with a ball, you score with the ball and in baseball the ball prevents you from scoring.
In most sports the team is run by a coach; in baseball the team is run by a manager. And only in baseball does the manager or coach wear the same clothing the players do. If you’d ever seen John Madden in his Oakland Raiders uniform,you’d know the reason for this custom.
Now, I’ve mentioned football. Baseball & football are the two most popular spectator sports in this country. And as such, it seems they ought to be able to tell us something about ourselves and our values.
I enjoy comparing baseball and football:
Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.
Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.
Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park.The baseball park!
Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.
Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything’s dying.
In football you wear a helmet.
In baseball you wear a cap.
Football is concerned with downs – what down is it?
Baseball is concerned with ups – who’s up?
In football you receive a penalty.
In baseball you make an error.
In football the specialist comes in to kick.
In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.
Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.
Baseball has the sacrifice.
Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog…
In baseball, if it rains, we don’t go out to play.
Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.
Football has the two minute warning.
Baseball has no time limit: we don’t know when it’s gonna end – might have extra innings.
Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we’ve got to go to sudden death.
In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there’s kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there’s not too much unpleasantness.
In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you’re capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.
And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:
In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.
In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! – I hope I’ll be safe at home!
Hope springs eternal: Game 1, Pirates 6, Cardinals 4