We don’t have seasons in the literal sense down here in the tropics. Oh, the Jacaranda are blooming, making everything purple and beautiful and sneezy, but that happens several times a year. We’re still in the dry season, and we await the coming of the blessed rains (cue Don Henley):
But back NOB, Spring has sprung, and baseball has returned. And that’s great, because baseball is great. I played every sport as a youth, but baseball was my first love. Now I know football is more popular in the States, and basketball has a greater global following, but baseball is America’s national pastime. Because it’s great.
Baseball is great because it has a rhythm while remaining timeless. The game is not over until it’s over. How long will it last? Who knows? Like life, it has a normal age but can suffer extremes. Yet it divides into distinct innings which have an identifiable start and finish. You can breathe during a baseball game, relax during a baseball game, heck even nap during a baseball game. You can also focus as each pitch commences, then refocus away in between. You can attend and watch a baseball game and NOT ignore the family and friends who accompany you.
Baseball is great because it is so diverse, and not in that legalistic let’s-measure-the-color-of-the-players way. There are pitchers and fielders. But there are sub-genres within each that are not interchangeable. You don’t start your relief pitcher, or put a novice behind the plate. Infielders and outfielders have different skill sets, and there are huge differences between right- and left-handers and the ambidextrous. And don’t even get me started on individual hitters. Baseball is the only sport where a crafty, overweight pitcher can develop a knuckle-ball and keep being a successful starter into his grand-parentage.
Baseball is great because statistics. Baseball was the genesis of all the crazy statistics you see in sports today. Why? Because in baseball (as in life) most of the time you fail. A solid hitter gets a hit every fourth at bat, a good one every third, a hall-of-famer slightly more often. Everyone searches for the keys to success, which leads to ever-more-detailed stats. It was no accident that sabermetrics began in baseball.
Baseball is great because there are play-offs, but no plays off. If you’re a weak-side receiver on a strong-side sweep in football, you’re mostly just there to run away: it doesn’t really matter. You might just go through the motions. But in baseball, you don’t know where the ball is going when it leaves the pitcher’s hand. Every pitch, every fielder has a distinct responsibility, and it changes with the runners on base and type of pitch. In the field, baseball is the ultimate team sport. At bat, it is the time for individual achievement (cue Al Capone):
Baseball is great because almost anyone can play, but very few can play well (it resembles golf in this way). Some deride the relative athleticism of baseball players because there are some niche spots where a less (ahem) fit player can still contribute. But baseball remains unique in the degree of athleticism, intellect, and fine motor skills required to excel. Remember that the greatest basketball player of all time (Michael Jordan) never made it past the minor leagues in baseball. While performance enhancing drugs influenced baseball, there was nothing akin to Lawrence Taylor’s drug fueled reign of terror in the NFL.
Baseball is great because on any given day, the worst team in the league can defeat the world champions. Win two out of three in each series for the entire regular season, and you’ll be in the play-offs. So much can go wrong, you can’t ever guarantee success. Which also means you can cheer for lovable losers, and they’ll win against the odds. As a player or fan, you must learn to win or lose gracefully, and be thankful either way.
Baseball is great because it is still a family game. While the game-day experience is expensive, there are 162 opportunities a year, special events, and family prices. You can attend a game and NOT be afraid of the fan behavior your kids will witness (try that in an NFL stadium). There are even real minor leagues, affiliated with your favorite club, where you can watch excellent baseball at bargain rates. Basketball and football continue to lease college teams filled with “student-athletes,” but that is a rant for another time!
Finally, baseball is great because it starts in Spring, just as life returns to the northern hemisphere, and ends in Fall, just as we close the windows and gather firewood. Like the vernal equinox, it calls to mind warmer and longer days and time spent outside. Baseball is the home of fresh starts, where “there’s always next year!” is a perennial optimistic fan’s cry. Basketball is the urban game, full of trash talk and “posterization.” Football, like war, is all-hell. Football is Lucy always pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown. Baseball is that hopeful sense that “this could be the year.”
Baseball is great; play ball!
You had me at baseball. I subsequently almost cried. Thank you Pat for the I do accurate and “great” commentary.
Having seen the ND “shrine” in Springfield, I would have tagged you as a #1 football fan. You keep surprising me!
Maybe I Dodd’s teach you something! Dad
Baseball is so great, it’s even mentioned in the Bible. It starts off “in the big inning!”