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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Sixty Feet Six Inches


Baseball doesn't have the lightning fast action of hockey, the constant scoring of basketball, or the regularly occuring, bone-crushing collisions of football.  It is a sport oft accused of inducing large yawns, and while I disagree, I understand the accusation.  But our national pastime has something those other sports do not... something that, in my mind, is one of the most exciting events in the realm of professional athletics.  Baseball has the physical and psychological match-up between the pitcher and the batter.

We've all felt it.  A one-run game.  Runners on second and third with two outs.  A big hitter steps up to the plate.  The catcher signals his call.  The pitcher starts his delivery.  No matter which team you're rooting for, the anticipation for the next pitch is almost unbearable.  Heaven forbid the batter fouls it off.  Then we have to do it all over again.  

Monday, December 9, 2013

Of God and Baseball


It’s not my intent to proselytize.  Your religious beliefs are a personal decision in which I have no desire to interfere.  I’d merely like to put forward some thoughts for baseball fans, of all faiths, to consider. 

Notice how I say “of all faiths” while not tacking on the socially inclusive “or lack thereof”.  That’s no oversight.  Belief and baseball go hand in hand.  No true fan is completely void of faith.  Even the staunchest atheists find themselves looking to some form of higher power when their team is down by a run with two outs in the ninth inning and their best hitter in the on-deck circle.  There is no inconsistency of theology here.  In fact, the greatest mistake a fan can make is to assume that the God (or gods) professed by the world's religions – a god that hears the prayers of followers and grants mercy to the faithful – is the same god that reigns over a baseball diamond.  I submit to you that it’s not. 


Monday, November 11, 2013

Searching for Clemente



On December 31, 1972 the world literally lost Roberto Clemente.  His body was never found.  A great ballplayer and humanitarian disappeared into a deep ocean when a plane overloaded with relief supplies failed to reach its final destination.  A search began late that night off the coast of his native island and, in a way, we've been looking for him ever since.  We look for him and we find him... in big cities and small towns, in schools and fields that bear his name, in quotes engraved upon plaques and memorials, in display cases in baseball's Hall of Fame.  But it's never enough.  Finding him in one place only makes us want to find him all over again somewhere else. Somewhere we least expect it.  To stop looking for him would be to say goodbye.  To admit he's gone.  So we keep searching.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Finding the Negro Leagues



When encountering the Negro Leagues, it’s hard to know whether to embrace the talent of the players or lament the conditions they were made to endure.  Those are the feelings I grappled with while standing at the gravesite of Thomas Altson, the first black player on the St. Louis Cardinals.  You can still see the field where Altson played as a member of the Greensboro Red Wings.  In fact, you can see it about 100 feet from his grave - next to a church on a rural North Carolina road.  I grappled some more while listening to former player Levi “Champie” Drew talk about the Green Book, a segregation-era guidebook that informed black motorists, including baseball teams, of which hotels and restaurants would accommodate them – and which ones would not.  Perhaps the two sentiments are not mutually exclusive.  Maybe it’s the talent that existed despite the conditions that make the players’ stories so remarkable. 


Monday, October 7, 2013

Playing the Flag Pole at Forbes Field


Eighty-two.  In a 162-game season, a team needs eighty-two victories to ensure a winning record.  For two long decades, beginning in 1993, this proved to be too high a number for the hard-luck Pittsburgh Pirates to achieve.  Finally, in 2013, the Pirates broke through with 94 wins.  A generation of young Bucs fans saw their team head to the post season for the first time. But for more veteran fans, the 2013 season evoked memories of the great Pirates teams of the 60s and 70s.  Some of those fans may have even felt inspired to visit the University of Pittsburgh to see what remains of Forbes Field, home of three world-series champion teams - including the 1960 club who beat the heavily-favored Yankees in 7 games.