For the next few days, I’ll be travelling with my two college pals, Kevin Cryan and Victor Mendoza, two four baseball stadiums–a brief respite from work. This was Marion’s present to me for my (gasp!) 40th birthday.
We’re travelling with Bigleaguetours.com which I’d recommend highly thus far. Great hotels, great seats at the ballpark, friendly people. I’ll upload some pictures from Comerica Park in Detroit and last night’s game where the Angels beat the home team 4-2 and Torii Hunter got into a brawl with the home plate ump and threw a bag of balls out on the playing field. Can you say suspension?
There is a spiritual element I suppose to baseball and I’ve never seen a women’s religious community where baseball isn’t favored on the tv at night. Sr. Jeremy confirmed this the other day as in her new home the Yankee game is apparently a must watch. (I may have to pay a visit to the Felicians some evening now!)
But more seriously, baseball is about three things in my opinion: the ability to handle failure, timelessness and anticipation.
1) Failure: the best teams will lose at least 50 times or more during the year. The best hitters get a hit only once out of three times. One error despite hundreds of successful catches, could become a bad legacy (like Bill Buckner who had a ball go through his legs in the 1986 World Series enabling the Mets to tie the series and then go on to win a few nights later. Most don’t know that Buckner had a great overall career and was actually a good fielder most of the time). Pitchers walk batters and give up the long ball often.
Baseball, like Catholicism is a series of redemptions. We need to learn to deal with our inevitable failures and get right back in the box (batter’s, confessional or soap).
2) Timelessness: baseball is an untimed game. There’s no clock and games can last 3 or 4 hours. People complain about this and often say that games are long and boring. Sometimes that’s true but most would say that a 9-4 ballgame is exciting with a lot of runs scored and hitting. The truth is that that is a pretty lousy game and probably was filled with play that was less than masterful. A low scoring one run game is much better. Which leads to my final point.
3). Anticipation: baseball is not about what’s happening but rather it’s about what MIGHT happen. Will the batter swing? What’s the pitcher going to throw? Is that runner going to steal? How should the outfielders play this hitter? Should the manager make a pitching change? It’s a game of many decisions…much like life.
What’s going to happen in our lives? We don’t know. We trust that the journey will be worth it and that the decisions we make will play out for the best, even though we know we can’t go without suffering and loss.
So today, enjoy a hot dog and beverage and know that life is happening and that we’re all in this game together. So let’s play ball. Pictured: Cleveland’s Progressive Field known to most by their former name Jacobs Field or simply “the Jake”