Baseball; A Love Story
Photo by Pixabay
Major League Baseball is starting its 159th season. Not a typo! The original National League was chartered in 1869. America embraced the game immediately after the Civil War and it has been an essential component of the national character since the 1890s. Baseball was the first sport to attract a mass audience and produced the first genuine celebrity superstars (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Dizzy Dean, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams). The 1919 Black Sox scandal (my Chicago White Sox throwing the World Series) was the earliest and most vivid example of the intersection, between money, gambling and professional sports. It has also been a mirror of the country’s struggles with race, immigration and the battle between labor and management. Major League Baseball did not integrate until 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the collar line with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He is now a national hero and icon. Marvin Miller and Curt Flood challenged the Reserve Clause, won in court and the players developed a strong union which generated huge player salaries. Superstar players with multiyear multimillion dollar contracts are now the norm. Free agency guarantees player freedom of movement. The nature of the ownership class was a steady constant in times of great change- they were always greedy, narcissistic and without a clue. There have been multiple work stoppages and the decline and ultimately the demise of baseball has been predicted by many pundits. Latin Spanish speaking players from Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico have supplanted black players as the most common minority group members on major league rosters. The steady disappearance of African American players is worthy of a serious sociological study. Asian players have entered the fray in the past 25 years and and baseball’s biggest superstar today is Shohei Ohtani- a native of Japan. Baseball has been a key subset of the rapidly expanding media profile- from radio to tv to streaming. Expansion has made the Majors truly national in scope. We now have divisions, wild cards, multi round playoffs instead of the traditional World Series featuring the regular season champion of each league. Recent rule changes attempt to speed the game up- a direct response to critics who claim the game is boring and slow. We shall see- I have always enjoyed the more tempered rhythms of a baseball game.
Jacques Barzun, an eminent philosopher, normally associated with generating “big thoughts” stated,"Whomever wants to learn the heart of America better learn baseball.” I agree! The game provides the opportunity for inter-generational continuity and bonding. Awkward silences between political adversaries will dissolve when the conversation turns to the baseball pennant races. It creates a comfortable bridge between different ethnic and demographic groups. it also reflects the nation’s self proclaimed values. It is a meritocracy which embraces individual genius and collective team excellence.
I love baseball. It has a place of honour in my brain and in my heart. I enjoy football, basketball, hockey, soccer, golf and tennis but baseball was my first sports crush. It has the advantage of primacy. Literally, my first clear childhood memory (at the age of 6) is Bill Mazerowski’s game winning ninth inning home run in the 1960 World Series between the Yankees and the Pirates. It is great injustice that I have no recollection of the 1959 White Sox American League pennant. My second memory is watching the TV screen in November of 1960 and seeing the vote totals change next to pictures of Kennedy and Nixon. How is that for context! 64 year later I remain a fan. I subscribe to the MLB app and watch White Sox games on my couch in Miami Beach. Retaining useless trivia information remains in my wheelhouse and I can identify World Series Champions by year and have an unhealthy retention of individual player stats. I also played the game, I started in 1962 in Little League as a slick fielding second baseman (nicknamed Kenny Hobbs by my coach- after the Cubs second baseman at the time) and went on to blazing success as an All Star outfielder in Olympia Park Pony League. I then maxed out as a two time All Conference left fielder at Quigley North. I hit for average, stole a bunch of bases and was a “heady” player. Unfortunately, my career ended abruptly when I realised the 20 or 25 players who were better than me in high school were, to quote my cousin-in-law Frank Marrese “not any good either.” I then migrated to Chicago’s ruthless 16 inch softball leagues and retired gracefully and without fanfare in my early 30’s. I attended my first major league game in 1962- a Cubs-Cardinal tilt and saw Stan Musial hit a home run. I have attended hundreds of games in person and watched thousands on TV. I travelled a lot for work and made regular pilgrimages to Major League parks when visiting a new city.
I am a loyal White Sox fan. The reasons why require a lengthy discussion of Chicago culture and demographics. Not today! Therefore, by definition I am a masochist who dutifully signs on for yearly pain and disappointment. One spectacular World Championship in 2005 with occasional playoff appearances in 1983, 1992, 2000, 2008, 2020 and 2021. I am not a Cub hater and thoroughly admired their 2016 World Series win. Thrilling finish, a great parade - only to be followed by a crushing of my spirit when Donald Trump won the Presidency a week later. Again, startling context for my baseball experience. My favourite White Sox players are Luis Aparicio, Dick Allen. Frank Thomas, Jack McDowell and Mark Buehrle.
Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins and Anthony Rizzo are my top Cubbies. Chicago also has a rich history of radio and tv announcers; Bob Elson, Jack Quinlan, Jack Brickouse, Milo Hamilton, Harry Caray, Jimmy Piersall, Steve Stone, Ken Harrelson, Jason Benetti and Len Kasper.
The game is cool and requires speed, grace, timing and power. Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in professional sports. Ask Michael Jordan! It also demands resilience, patience and perseverance. The best players fail 70% of the time. Your mistakes are duly recorded for posterity as errors. The basic idea is to make hard contact, but the swing and miss is a constant reminder of human frailty. It is a statistician’ nirvana. Everything about the game is memorialised with numbers that document your performance. Acronyms rule! Batting average (BA), Runs batted In (RBI), On base percentage (OBP), slugging percentage, OPS, K’s, BB, ERA, Whip- you get my drift. New categories and subsets are created every year. Retroactive analyses have been completed and we now compare players from different eras using Wins Above Replacement (WAR). The numbers build a narrative and provide the foundation for spirited barroom argument and endless punditocracy by self appointed baseball gurus. Fun though! Objective data- reams of stats, combined with the subjective- do you look good doing it make player performance and quality a source of never ending debate. Who should qualify for the Hall of Fame?
My plan is to use the blog to identify and highlight the excellent players and teams. Who really was the best? Pitchers, hitters, fielders, base stealers, managers- we will weigh in over the course of this season. Thanks.
