The Love and the Awful Longing for Baseball

There is a sense in which we all identify with baseball.  That is the best way to summarize my passion for the game.  So many more can say it so much better than I can.

“Baseball is so woven into the American past…it has a history in this country as long as the Republic itself.” George Will

“It is about time and timelessness….it is a haunted game, where each player is measured by the ghosts of those who have gone before.”            Ken  Burns

Ken Burns

“It is played everywhere. In parks and playgrounds and prison yards. In back alleys and farmer’s fields. By small children and by old men. By raw amateurs and millionaire professionals. It is a leisurely game that demands blinding speed. The only game where the defense has the ball. It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn.”   Ken Burns        

During its long hibernation the longing for the game is immeasurable.

“The old game waits under the white. 

 Deeper beneath frozen grass;

 Down at the frost line – It Waits.

 To return when the birds return.

 It starts to wake in the south where its never quite stopped;

 Where winter is a dose of hibernation.

 The game waits gradually;

 Furthering a figure to itself as the day’s lengthen  late in February  - And grow warmer.

Old Muscles grow limber – young arms throw strong and wild

Clogged vein systems and veteran oaks and leftfielders both unstop themselves putting forth leaves and line drives in Florida’s March.

Migrating North with the Swallows;

 Baseball’s winter grasses first green 

enter Cleveland, Kansas City and Boston.”  

Donald Hall (1928-2018)

Speed And Grace

 “…It is about… speed and grace, failure and loss, imperishable hope, and coming home."  Ken Burns   

Most American men have played baseball and thus most American males are failed baseball players.  The game is steeped with failure.  The most successful teams in 2023 lost between 58 to 62 games.  Yandy Diaz the American League batting champ failed 67% of time at the

plate.  Luis Arraez the National League and reigning baseball batting champ failed in 64% of his at bats.  Much of our success in life comes from knowing how to deal with failure.  Every kid should play baseball if for no other reason than it introduces them to failure and indelibly itches in their minds how to deal with that imposter. 

There is VERY little bravado heard from those who play the game.  Players understand that there is a very fine line between success and failure.   What we find instead is humor that teaches us not to take ourselves too seriously.

“They broke it to me gently. The manager came up to me before a game and told me they didn't allow visitors in the clubhouse.”                       Bob Uecker

“Baseball is 90% mental the other half is physical.”       Yogi Berra

 “A man once told me to walk with the Lord. I told him I'd rather walk with the bases Loaded." Ken Singleton 

When Casey Stengel was fired by the Yankees because they said he was too old to manage, Stengel said; “I’ll never make the mistake of turning 70 again.” 

“I never took the game home with me. I always left it in some bar.” Bob Lemon

“Little League baseball is a very good

thing because it keeps the parents off the 

streets.”  Yogi Berra

Leo Durocher, manager of the Giants, 

said of Willie Mays: “If he could cook, I’d marry him.”

                                “HOW ABOUT THAT!!!!”      Mel Allen

                                                    C’est La Vie at the ballpark.                                                        

                             

Dynasties Are Needed

 Have always stated and always will, that a person who says he loves baseball can’t then say he hates the New York Yankees.  It’s an oxymoron, it is incongruousness.  No single team has done more for creating interest and excitement in the game than the Yankees. 

When the Twins opened shop in 1961 the Twin Cities became electric with excitement whenever the Yankees came to town.  Everybody wanted to go to the games, even those who would NEVER attend another game the rest of the season.  Those who were fortunate enough to have tickets when Camilo Pascual pitched would be treated to a curve ball that could, and did, on more than one occasion, shut out the greatest team on the plant.  More than 25 years later a baseball sage had season tickets to Minnesota Twins in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  He naturally could not attend all 81 games.  So, he offered the tickets to friends, relatives, and various associates.  The team most in demand was the Yankees, even though they were cellar dwellers. 

The real beauty of dynasties is the tremendous interest they can create in their sport.  Every fan wants to see firsthand their excellence on display and carries with them the overwhelming anticipation in the possibility that their team might beat the dynasty or, at the very least, challenge them to a competitive contest.  Dynasties filled the stands wherever they went.  No team of deceitful marketing gurus could ever, or will ever, be able to create that level of interest or elation. 

In 1971 Bill Musselman had brought with him a brand-new Gopher basketball team and along with it, his pledge to Minnesota fans that the Gophers would win a Big Ten Title – UNHEARD OF!!!  Indiana was one of the kings in college basketball.  On January 8, 1972, Williams Arena was filled to the rafters.  Musselman not only won the very first Big Ten game he coached, but beat the fifth ranked Indiana Hoosiers.  This swung the doors wide open for tremendous support for a team that couldn’t give tickets away before Musselman arrived.  Beating Indiana imparted serious credibility to Musselman’s contention that they would win a Big Ten Title, which they did in 1972. 

It was the same scenario for John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins basketball team; for the Lakers and Celtics, the Green Bay Packers, and, of course, the golden era of Vikings football which were all awe inspiring.  Let’s not be misled; the New England Patriots were one of the best things that ever happened for the NFL. 

All this support doesn’t just highlight entertainment value.  It also clearly indicated that Americans cherished, highly respected and admired excellence for it is one of the cornerstones if not the entire foundation for American excellence that has so richly benefited the world.   

Looking at this year’s crop of division one college basketball teams is disillusioning.  Its landscape is littered with mediocrity from top to bottom.  Times have dramatically changed.  Many outstanding high school seniors no longer opt for playing the division one game.  The transfer portal has all but killed any hope of seeing the creation of marvelously exceptional teams.  The loss of dynasties is inestimable.  It doesn’t just hurt athletics but diminishes our thirst for excellence, acting as a real deterrent to American pride and achievement.