Why Baseball??

[clydepepper]

I remember the first game I ever saw, the first game I ever pitched, and the last game I ever played.



I remember when and where I first heard what follows, but, years later, I still do not know who the author is...but that does not seem to matter.

Never before and never since has my love and deep, deep appreciation for the game been so accurately and completely stated:


It is played everywhere…

In parks, in playgrounds, and prison yards…

In back alleys and farmers’ fields…

By small children and old men…

Raw amateurs and millionaire professionals.

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It is a leisurely game

That demands blinding speed.

The only game in which the defense has the ball.

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It follows the seasons…

Beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime…

And ending with the hard facts of autumn.

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It is a haunted game…

In which every player is measured against the ghosts of all who have gone before.

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Most of all…

It is about time and timelessness…

Speed and grace…

Failure and loss…

Imperishable hope

And

Coming home.

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Followed by what I have always assumed where the last two words of Our National Anthem....

PLAY BALL!

[Econteachert205]

I love baseball because you can look like Dustin pedroia and be a great pro.

[Griffins]

Terence Mann: Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. 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.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by Econteachert205

I love baseball because you can look like Dustin pedroia and be a great pro.

That's Pedroia with a capital 'P' - he's earned that!

[clydepepper]

Somewhere is my ever-increasing random access-memory is a quote along these lines,

"For years, I tried to figure out my best grip on the baseball, when, all along, it was the other way around- Baseball had a grip on me."
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Then there was Casey Stengel saying,

'Now, everyone line up alphabetically, according to your height."
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[SmokyBurgess]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Somewhere is my ever-increasing random access-memory is a quote along these lines,

"For years, I tried to figure out my best grip on the baseball, when, all along, it was the other way around- Baseball had a grip on me."
-
-
-
Then there was Casey Stengel saying,

'Now, everyone line up alphabetically, according to your height."
-
-

I remember the "grip" comments from Ball Four (Bouton)....I believe I'm right on this.

[rjackson44]

go Oakland as