What’s the first sport that comes to your mind as synonymous with America? Well, given the context of this past Super Bulldog Weekend and the fact that baseball (I wish) was on everyone’s minds, I thought some of these rambling thoughts of mine would be appropriate.
The time has come for the defense of America’s sport. It is one that has incorporated itself into all facets of her society, and it is always comforting that, at this time of year, we can turn our haggard eyes to find ourselves reflected in its warm glow.
But this warmth originates not from the beer-soaked artificial grass of the football field, with the socialist NFL teams, each struggling to be more average than the other with the slaveholding plantations of college football using computers to see which team gets to discriminate against the Mormon colleges.
No, my brothers (comrades to you football fans), I speak of the truest of American sports: baseball. This sport is the very microcosm of American life, liberty, capitalism and truth. For anyone who truly wishes to understand the heart and mind of America, they must first divulge into the sport of baseball.
Why will it forever be the sport that defines America? Baseball has and will always be a mirror to which America’s values, power, politics, fashion, class and economics may be viewed on a mini scale.
Let’s briefly go over the sport’s many influences. Remember studying in history class about how dirty cities used to be in 18th and 19th centuries due to the fast paced growth of the industrial revolution? Then came the Progressive era and “City Beautiful” movement. What spearheaded this? Baseball of course.
To inspire civic pride in the game, owners sought to define teams with their cities. Because of this, teams were deeply ingrained in their hometowns. Decaying wooden parks were replaced with grandiose steel and concrete parks. In fact, 14 of the original 16 teams built their steel parks between 1908 and 1923. Baseball critically reinforced and pushed for the beautification that is now a standard for all cities whether big or small in the United States.
What about the game’s reflection of America’s morality? Just as his counterparts in politics sought to rid state and local politics of the corruption of big city bosses, so too did baseball’s first commissioner, a progressive republican judge, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, seek to clean up the sport. There was to be no gambling and no drinking, distinguishing it from horse racing and boxing.
You may have heard of the Black Sox scandal of the 1919 world series, when a jury found eight players on the Chicago White Sox not guilty of fixing the World Series. Landis, nonetheless, banned the eight White Sox players simply for associating with gamblers. It is through these uncompromising moralist actions that the game became a pastime for everyone to enjoy that bred our grandfather’s heroes.
That’s why people still write ex-Dodger Rick Monday to thank him for preventing the burning of the American flag in centerfield those many years ago. Because aren’t those who prefer to cheer Chicago Bull Dennis Rodman on as he strips his clothes off after being ejected from the basketball court self-indulging libertines? When did we begin to think that America’s philosophy implies that complete self-indulgence is our right as a citizen?
Of course, like any other competitive sport, baseball is a natural aristocracy. Not just anybody can throw a football 60 yards, consistently hit long jump shots, or foul off a Nolan Ryan curveball when looking fastball. The general theory was recognized by Aristotle: Justice equals the equal opportunity for unequal talents to excel (or fail). Sheer talent coupled with heroic effort determines one’s place in sports. It is not family background, wealth, religion, ethnic background or skin color.
And in many ways, this principle of a natural aristocracy is uniquely manifested in America. So of course it makes sense for our national sport to appropriately incorporate this principle. This is why I argue baseball is unique. Why it is so different, and why baseball is America. It differs from the other major sports in how it applies this principle of equal opportunity for unequal ability to excel.
That’s why the home run is so inimitable. It is the equalizer. The opportunity to become the hero.
The American dream – with hard work, the greater the chance for person to one day get lucky. It’s how mediocre players like Aaron Boone will forever be remembered.
Baseball is the epitome of the Declaration of Independence. It combines the principle of individualism with the principles of citizenship. Baseball is designed to put each individual on the spot periodically as we are so often called to do in our American society. While a member of a team, the batter is alone. He stands up and his success or (failure) contributes to the success (or failure) of the whole. No other team game combines this one-on-one aspect as does the game of baseball.
What other sport boasts the story a Jew, Hank Greenberg, and an Italian Catholic, Joe DiMaggio, both whom early in their careers were routinely the subject of racial and ethnic slurs from fans and ethnic stereotypes by journalists. After the Second World War, feelings changed as they performed their patriotic duty. Greenberg was the first player to enlist after the attack on Pearl Harbor. DiMaggio was willing to enlist even though America was at war with Italy. America and baseball are the ultimate melting pots.
So while you may be right in the conclusion that in these last few years, baseball’s special resonance has declined, can’t you see that you’re proving my point? The decline of baseball popularity represents the decline of America herself. From the reserve clause system to a system of free agency, from a change of franchises rooted permanently in cities to free-floating franchises going to the city with the highest bidder, the means of entertainment have multiplied and sports is now regarded as just another form of entertainment. And sadly so has the notion that entertainment is nothing more than a self-indulgence rather than the self-government and justice required in real sports.
Because as the old joke goes, what’s the difference between Lehman’s CEO buyout package and Carl Pavano’s contract with the Yankees?
Julio Cespedes is a senior majoring in biological engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].