Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, May 04, 2008
Community columnist: Baseball still our national pastime
Football fans or fans of other sports may disagree, but I think baseball is the quintessential American game.
It has been called the “national pastime” for a reason. Part of the attraction is nostalgia. Baseball hearkens back to an earlier American age.
First of all, the major difference between baseball and the other mass entertainment games is that there is no clock. A team can’t “sit on a lead” or “run out the clock” on another team. Victory actually must be earned by playing nine or more innings.
As Earl Weaver put it, “You have to give the other guy his at bats.” I think this fits the psyche of America pretty well. Success must be earned; there are no short cuts.
Secondly, baseball is a game where there is always hope. Now I know realistically a team behind by many runs is very unlikely to win. But it might happen. As long as a team keeps hitting and doesn’t make that last out, a win is possible.
My son received this lesson when I took him to a Brewers game when he was 7 or 8. The Brewers were down by six in the ninth inning, and he was disheartened. I told him that until the game was over, there was always hope. They scored five runs in the ninth and had the tying run on third when the game ended. He had hope and knew they could have won. And what is more American than hope? The country was built on the hopes and dreams of many people.
Third, in any game or series of games, baseball is more egalitarian than other mass consumption sports. There is something to cheer for even if your team isn’t very good. The best teams still lose about one-third of their games and the worst teams will still win about one-third of theirs. People like Cinderella stories, and when that last place team beats that first place team, it is very satisfying (except to the fans of that first place team of course). And America’s own story is a Cinderella story. It is a story of people striving against the odds to have a better life.
Finally, baseball is a team game that is ultimately decided by individual confrontations between the batter and the pitcher. No other player can set a screen or block for the batter and no one can help the pitcher with a double team. And the concept that an individual can make a difference also fits the mindset of most Americans.
Baseball has changed over the years. Banned substances mean more than a little spit or pine tar. There are more teams.
The designated hitter was introduced. Player salaries have skyrocketed. Wild card teams were added to the playoffs. Not all changes were good, but few really caused harm.
There are a few things I would fix; but that is a topic for a different discussion. Changes may interfere somewhat with the nostalgia aspect of baseball’s greatness. But the essence of the game remains unchanged.
Ray Sand is one of 13 Tribune community columnists, whose writing appears on the Sunday Opinion pages.
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