When I was a kid, baseball was life. My entire day, quite litteraly, was consumed by baseball. I’d go to school, where my friends and I would spend valuable class hours tallying up fantasy baseball scores (yes, some of us played fantasy sports before there was Yahoo.com or ESPN.com to calculate for us). I was into journalism and would write for hours about baseball for my junior high school paper (now that I think about it, that audience probably didn’t care, huh?). After school, I’d go to my friends’ houses and trade baseball cards until it was time for baseball practice.
In the late 80s and early 90s, I grew weary of baseball (or at least Major League Baseball). The player strikes, the fact that the Royals were (and still are) terrible, the inability of the league to make things fair for smaller markets, and the rise of the NFL just made Major League Baseball seem like more trouble than it was worth. I pretty much still feel that way today.
But, growing up on baseball, I understand the significance of the ALCS we all witnessed last week and the World Series that is going on right now. If you’re too young to understand, or simply haven’t heard the story, Mike D. has a great post that details the legendary “Curse of the Bambino”. In short, the Red Sox traded away Babe Ruth in 1920 and haven’t sniffed a World Series trophy since. Whoops.
Add to that the evil that is the Yankees, and it seems that baseball once again has a story to tell. There’s a whole bunch of things wrong with Major League Baseball, and I’m convinced the sport will never be the same without some reform from the top down — but, somehow, baseball always seems to matter in October. This year, perhaps more than ever. As much as is football is truly “America’s Pasttime” these days, baseball has one thing that people will always keep coming back to: history.
And they’ll walk out to the bleachers; sit in short sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.
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001 // Brian Ford // 10.26.2004 // 10:17 AM
Well, baseball never consumed much of my time at any point in my life, but I definitely remember a time when there was a general sense of wonder about the sport.
But, I started to think while I was reading your article, and I’m not sure anyone has written anything about this:
Do you think that the shift to Football as an American past-time reflects a shift from simpler times? Football has an almost military-like setup. Offense and Defense, a playbook, and you advance down a field of battle.
Do you think our more cynical times require a more war-like and aggressive sport like football? Have we evolved past something as simple and “American” as baseball? I mean, baseball isn’t even simple and honest anymore…. and the play seems to be focusing on bigger players who can hit the ball harder… possibly to keep up with the times?
002 // Jeff Croft // 10.26.2004 // 10:24 AM
Well, at least for me personally, it’s simply that football is a helluva lot more fun to watch.
Baseball offers a great atmosphere. A nice summer day, a hot dog and a beer, and a ralaxing time in the stands. While that sounds nice, it’s not near the adrenaline rush that is an NFL or big-time college football game. With football, fans are part of the game. Everyone screaming at the top of their lungs on 3rd down when the home team is on defense, and then being so quiet you can hear a pin drop when your team is on offense. Forcing the opposing QB to take a timeout because he can’t hear himself think. All of that. It’s just a lot more emotional.
It’s possible what you say is dead-on — but if it is, I don’t think it’s consious. At least not for me. I don’t think much about that stuff. I just go to football games because they’re fun as hell — that’s all.
003 // Brian Cornett // 10.26.2004 // 11:36 AM
Nicely said Jeff. Baseball has and will always be my number one sport. I played from the age of 5 all through school and into college. All sports are just sports but baseball has a little extra something. Indeed this post-season could be one that our country talks about for the next 100 years. It’s exciting and almost hard to believe as I watch this World Series. Also, I do belong to the “Evil Empire” and this may also go down as one of the worst post-seasons I have been alive to watch. I have no fear though, New York will always own Boston. :)
004 // Brian Cornett // 10.26.2004 // 11:39 AM
….forgot to give you kudos on the great quote from Field Of Dreams. Man I love that movie.
005 // joey // 10.28.2004 // 12:43 AM
Hey Jeff,
I’m just excited about when I’ll be able to buy one of these for real:
http://www.janisheck.com/comments.php?id=694010C
joey
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