Take Me Out to the Ballgame
I have a lifelong love affair with the game of baseball. I grew up in the latter days of the classic New York Yankee era, with players like Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. But it was the legends and legacy of the team like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra that made it bigger than life for a small town Alabama elementary school student like myself, especially since there was no “hometown” team to root for, we were far removed geographically from the closest team, which was probably St. Louis. I was so enamored that I would sit in class and make the lineup card for the next upcoming game, I knew all the players and their positions and batting order.
In my own mind, I fantasized about becoming a professional baseball player. I was very good in Little League, made the All Star Team 4 years running. Many days, I would go out to the empty field and play the World Series all by myself, I was the starting pitcher who also was a phenomenal clean up hitter, and would single handedly take command of the game and deliver the victory. I hope no one was ever watching me, I would get quite animated as I invented these scenarios and then came through in the clutch to the cheers of thousands!
Unfortunately, I peaked too soon, and my career was in ruins by the time I reached high school. My love for the game remained strong. There were many aspects of baseball that I began to apply as life principles. The idea of teamwork and something as simple as the sacrifice out, where the overall good of the team was far more important than individual success. Even the layout of the diamond struck me as divinely inspired. I would think about a runner on first who had designs on stealing second. Remember now, the original design is well over a century old. I would think of all the improvements and growth, the pitchers getting stronger, the runners getting faster, etc. The distance between the mound and the plate was always 60 feet, 6 inches and distance between the bases at 90 feet. Yet it is always a nano second whether the baserunner is safe or out, no matter how much better the players became over the years.
I used a quote from Gaylord Perry as an analogy of how our prayers seem to go sometimes. Gaylord pitched well into his 40’s, having developed a killer spitball, which frustrated hitters to no end. A reporter asked him once, “Do you find it difficult to keep pitching and getting guys out when you can’t throw as hard as you used to?”
Gaylord replies, “Son, I’m throwing as hard as I ever did, it just takes the ball longer to get to the plate now”.
I would make the point that it seems that way about our prayers sometimes, we are praying harder than ever, but nothing seems to be happening.
You didn’t have to be a hard core baseball fan to really enjoy the movie, Field of Dreams. I still get a sob in my throat every time I watch the famous scene with the great quote from the character, Terrence Mann, who was played by James Earl Jones.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.
The comedy bit that I first saw when I was about 7 years old remains a favorite over all these years. It’s a classic bit from Abbott and Costello, Who’s On First? If you are not old enough to have remembered it, it is well worth your time to watch it now, it still delivers in a hilarious way. Enjoy!