Why I Love Baseball

Image by Troy M.G. via Flickr

You may be familiar with George Carlin’s comparison between football and baseball. You may have been lucky enough to have read Tom Boswell’s 99 reasons that baseball is better than football. Those are excellent, of course.

I don’t plan to denigrate lesser sports here. Those fans suffer enough. This post is a valentine. Any similarity between my thoughts and the thoughts of Carlin or Boswell is proof of the universal appeal of baseball.

It’s a pastime- Yes it’s a game. But there is plenty of time to discuss the action. To anticipate the next play and to savor the whole experience.

Ball park differences- Every ball park is different. And intentionally so. Home field really is an advantage. Managers and umpires go over the ground rules at the beginning of every series because it’s different from park to park. That adds to the variety and unpredictability of the game.

Umpires- There are the Rules and then there are the Umpires. Ball or Strike. Fair or Foul. Safe or Out. Nobody argues with the umpire with impunity. Everybody knows who’s in charge. If you want to watch the game from the tunnel, you argue.

Keeping Score- OK, I don’t keep score. But, I like to watch other people keep score.

Opening Day- Everybody’s team is in first place. It’s next year, no more waiting.

Web Gems- Men who spit tobacco, work with leather and wood and slide in the dirt, produce some of most elegant athletic poetry.

Bob Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Honus Wagner, Addie Joss- Great stories. There are plenty more. Those are some of my favorites.

Vin Scully’s call of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run.

Individual Sport or Team Sport- It’s both. It’s a team sport that focuses on the individual who plays for the team.

A Kids Game? No. It’s the game all kids want to play when they get big and strong. Just ask Michael Jordan.

The 7th Inning Stretch- Take Me Out to the Ball Game is second only to the Happy Birthday song in number of times sung annually.

Win streaks and win-less streaks- Everybody is going to win about 60 and lose about 60. The other 42 to make the difference. No one goes undefeated over a 6 month season.

108 stitches- Hand made balls rubbed with mud from somewhere along the Delaware River.

1975 World Series- Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine and the Bosox. In my mind, the greatest Series ever.

Batting .300- Hitting a round ball, traveling upwards of 95 mph, using a round bat is the most difficult skill in any sport. Some scientists have claimed it should be impossible to do. But some guys can do it 3 out of 10 times for 15 or 20 years.

Frozen Minute Maid Lemonade on a hot day at Dodger Stadium.

Sausage Races, Beer Batters, Hit This Sign and Win a Suit, Free Chicken Wings at Hooters if the Angels Score 10 Runs.

Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit homer- off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

90 feet, 9 players, 9 innings- Cloud 9.

6 month season- There’s a game every day. If you missed last night’s game, watch today’s.

Seven different ways to reach first base, at least. Hit, walk, error, hit by pitch, catcher drops third strike and, um, I know there are more. Ask the guy in the seat next to you keeping score.

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