The Magic Carpet

By enova

My idea is to write about why I believe that baseball is the best sport, or worded more appropriately, why baseball is MY favorite sport. Now, I understand that this post will in no way change anyone's opinion of their personal favorite sport, nor is it intended to. There are reasons for the love of many things, by many people, that I would no sooner try to change about a person than I would attempt to change a persons religious beliefs or their preference of foods. It is what it is and sometimes what it is, is just right. And baseball is what makes sports "sports" to me. Without it, I may never have gotten interested in another sport. Call it my gateway sport that lead me to harder sports like football, or call it my first girlfriend, after which all others are measured (rightly or not); but as stated before, it is what it is.

A friend of mine and I talked about this very topic during last seasons playoffs. He asked me why in the world am I a baseball fan more than a football fan, especially since I have always talked football with him, but not baseball. My answer was, you've never asked me about baseball, even when I played it. Sometimes you can tell that someone is just not interested in a certain topic and there's no reason to bring it up. But last year started to get him into baseball. Before, it was too boring to him, too slow, not enough action. If you're a baseball fan, you've heard all these things before. But last year he got excited during some close games and spent some time actually watching the Chess match that is a baseball game and suddenly realized that there was more to a game than non-stop action that could make it exciting. And that brings me to the first reason of this non-debate.

Strategy

In baseball strategy is King. Without getting into a heated debate over the use of the DH in the American League, strategy plays a major role in the game. Sure, all team sports use "strategy", but baseball is different if only because of the time factor. There is no timed end to a match. If your team is down big in football, and time is running out, your strategy is pretty simple. Pass the ball and pass it often. You can't employ a long drive filled with running plays and expect to tie or take the lead when time is not on your side. Same with basketball. One minute to go, you're down by 15 points, what do you do? You shoot three's, hope to get fouled when shooting a two or a three-pointer, and you foul the snot out of the other team when they have the ball. Hockey, well you just have to score in a flurry and not shooting would be very poor strategy indeed. You may pull the goalie, but that fails more than it succeeds.

Baseball is not handcuffed with time constraints. If your team is down by six runs in the ninth, you don't need to try for a homerun in order to get back into the game. You play until the final out and small ball works wonders in getting a team back into the game. Base hits, moving runners over with stolen bases, pinch hitting.... ah, there's a dandy regarding strategy right there. Hockey may use a goon here and there to exact revenge, but do they ever replace a player with another that has more scoring potential late in the game? Not in the same way by any stretch. Football doesn't have a better quarterback (healthy) on the bench. Or they shouldn't have anyway. Only in baseball will you find a player being removed (pitcher) for purely offensive reasons. You might bring all your big scorers onto the floor in basketball late in the game, but again, your defense is simply limited to fouling the other team at that point. Time is a huge factor in the differing strategies, but it's not the only one.

In baseball, you will often see a pitcher come into the game to face one hitter. Retire that batter and it's a job well done. Let him get on base and the strategy has to be reworked. Do you let him stay in? Or do you pull him for another pitcher that may have a better shot at the next batter. Is the next batter a ground ball hitter, or is your pitcher a guy that pops batters up? This means something because you would rather have a pitcher that induces ground balls facing a ground ball batter when there's a man on base. A pop up may get an out and at the same time, put the runner in scoring position. When a runner is in scoring position, do you walk a batter to have a chance at a double play with the next batter? Do you walk a batter because he's hitting great? Does any other sport give you the opportunity to score on a free pass like an intentional walk does? Let's not forget the other side. If I pull a pitcher to bring in a new pitcher that I think better matches up with the next batter, does the opposing skipper pull that batter and replace him with a batter that matches up better with the new pitcher? That's strategy and no other sport employs it from minute one to minute last like baseball.

Field Of Play

Besides Doubles in tennis, there is no other team sport that has variety in its playing fields quite like baseball. Although the surfaces may be different in tennis, the dimensions are always the same. Let's take the away the indoor and outdoor and playing turf differences as well. Football is played in different climates and different lighting, as well as on different surfaces. Baseball has that and more. From city to city, the playing fields are as different as back yards. Lefties love the short porch in Yankee Stadium, Petco is a long flyout for many a slugger, and watch out for the light pole in Houston!

Could you imagine what it would be like if other sports had playing fields with dimensions that differed from one another? You need a bigger swing to hit it out in San Diego, so let's raise the rim a foot or two and see if the dunking doesn't slow down in The Garden. How about lining the wall at- with a row of bushes? Works for Wrigley. Throw a wild pitch in some parks and your catcher will have to run a mile to get it. Let's extend the size of the end zone in Denver and see if Elam can kick it from the 35 yard line now.

Couldn't you just picture Marvin Harrison running uphill (Houston) to catch a pass before running into a wall of ivy (Chicago)? How about totally killing the Lambeau Leap with a Green Monster (Boston). Let's laugh a little as the puck rattles around or gets caught in the weird corners of the rink wall at-. Just wouldn't happen in other sports and baseball wouldn't be the same with one homogenized pattern for a playing field. Nor would it have the history of great stories provided by those quirks. Which brings me to my next reason.

History

All sports have it, but baseball IS it. Other sports have had dramatic changes in regards to the way the game is played from period to period. Before the passing game, there was still football, but would the NFL be as popular as it is today if it were still just a game of running? I would say, no. We can't imagine basketball without the dunking, but there was a time in the game that it just wasn't played like that and it wasn't that long ago. Hockey has been pretty consistent. Like all sports, protective gear has evolved, but it's still a stick, a puck, and a net. Baseball is a bat and a ball and for over a hundred years men have been trying to hit a round ball with a round bat as it is delivered to them by a pitcher that has every intention on him not hitting it.

Baseball has had it's regrettable past with bigotry, other sports have as well; but he game itself is played, now, like it has been for over 100 years. Little changes yes. The mound has changed slightly, games are played at night, and athletes are bigger and stronger (for a variety of reasons). But the game has been fluid and its history benefits from that fact.

Because of that long history, baseball fans recall the story of Babe Ruth pointing his bat to the stands just as well as they recall watching The Red Sox sweeping the Cardinals in The '04 World Series. Fans, that weren't alive when the events happen, recall them as if they were there. Everybody has seen the footage of Willie Mays and his over the shoulder catch, Carlton Fisk (sorry no video) willing a homerun around the foul pole, George Brett raging out of the dugout during the pine tar game, Reggie trotting around the bases after hitting his third homerun in the same World Series game.

We've all heard the staticky, yet dramatic audio of Lou Gehrig's Luckiest Man speech. We know who we are seeing when we look at a picture of Ty Cobb and a picture of Honus Wagner. We know that (my personal choice as best player ever) Ted Williams lost years of his prime do to military service. We also know that he came back and played just as well as he did before he left. We know the name of the first black player allowed to play in the Major Leagues (Jackie Robinson). We also know the legendary name of Josh Gibson and how he may have been the best hitter ever.

It's the history and the game remaining the same that makes baseball unique. We know that Dizzy Dean could thrive in today's game. We know that Satchel Paige could have as well. We know the names of players that lived before our grandfathers because of the history. Other sports may have a few names, but nowhere close to the number as baseball. With those names comes statistics and no other sports is as stat important as baseball.

Stats

Of course the game wasn't as homerun heavy in the beginning, but the homerun has been a major part of the game since Babe Ruth captured the attention of an entire country of fans (and non) with his amazing power. Babe Ruth played his first game 93 years ago and when he finally hung up his cleats for the last time, in 1935 (72 years ago); he had amassed a whopping 714 homeruns. For almost 90 years, the baseball world has been enamored with the homerun and stats in general.

Of course, all sports have their treasured records and stats. Football has 2,000 yards and 40 touchdown passes, but how many football fans can list more than that? Sack record, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, who's footballs Iron Man? Many may know the answers, but I have a Redbird World Series flag that says, not as many know the answer to other stats in other sports as they do for baseball.

Because the game of baseball has been the same for so long, the treasured records have more meaning. Passing records in football don't have the same history as a Homerun record. Season or career. 2,000 yds rushing is fantastic, but its been done more than once. Try 4,000 hits. 40 touchdown passes doesn't hit me the same as 30 wins does. Neither does a season touchdown record getting broken every few years. Baseball has had only four season homerun kings since Babe Ruth and two of them are tainted! The highest career passer rating doesn't get me juiced up either. I'll take the 4,000 plus strikeouts or seven no-hitters, thank you very much. For that matter, I'll take the collection of 300 game winners, 3,000 hitters, 500 HR hitters, the stolen base records, and the glorious .400 batting average over any other collection of stats that any other sport can offer (no offense to Wayne Gretzky). Records are made to be broken, but given baseball's long history, it doesn't often happen.

Rivalries

The history feeds the stats and it also serves the flavor of the game to the fan in a slow cooked fashion. The history, the stats, it all would be pointless if they didn't play the game. Look into baseball's bag of history and you will find rivalries unmatched in sport. Just as the game has remained the same, so has the fierce competition between heated rivals.

The Steelers and the Browns can't hold a candle to the Yankees and Red Sox. Not in this fans book anyway. You like the Lakers/Celtics? I offer you the Cubs/Cardinals. Sometimes teams move and remain rivals with a team that hasn't, but find me a rivalry that had both teams switch coasts like the Giants and Dodgers did and I'll give a second look. And baseball likes its rivalries lopsided. Until recently, the Red Sox stood in the Yankees World Series Shadow for what seemed like forever. Cubs fans have watched the Cardinals win a host of World Championships over the last 80+ years and have done so with an empty plate. The Dodgers finally winning one in Brooklyn is the stuff of legend and the move to the west coast has turned the tide for both teams. But all of baseballs lovable losers have one thing in common.... rabid fans that show up to watch. Sometimes with little hope. Sometimes with none, but show up they do. The Raiders were in the Super Bowl a few years ago and, now that hard times have hit the team, can't seem to sell out a game. Seems hard to believe with the fan base they are rumored to have, but ask a Cubs Fan if he won't go to a game because the team isn't winning.

True, there are some football cities like that. Cleveland comes to mind. Green Bay and D.C., but only the Browns can truly take ownership of the "lovable loser" role. I would say the Eagles could have that title too, but (no offense) the fans really aren't that "lovable" sometimes. Hockey and basketball have its rivalries and some are very intense, but basketball doesn't have the history and, for much of the United States, hockey is still a foreign game.

Just ask your average, hardcore hockey fan that has never put on a pair of skates. Rivalries and the game itself lacks a little luster when you haven't grown up pretending to be your favorite player beating your most hated rival. Hard to do that when you haven't actually played the game the way that it's meant to be played (on ice). But that goes straight to the heart of what hockey means to the average U.S. fan in comparison with their Canadian brethren. I expect most Canadians to love hockey more than baseball. It is their Past Time after all. Which brings me to my final point...

How's the weather out there?

When the Boys of summer get back together, it means that spring is just around the corner. It means warm afternoons watching my Redbirds playing the best sport there is. When the fall classic rolls around, a little part of me goes into hibernation.

For me, football season doesn't kick into full gear until baseball season is over. In my mind, Baseball season starts tomorrow, when pitchers and catchers report to camp, and won't end until the final pitch of the World Series. Every moment from tomorrow on will be on my watch list.

So another summer is creeping upon us. Another year of basehits, strikeouts, and round-trippers. Another season of lemonade and ice cold frosties. Another eight months of pure heaven played on a diamond that may or may not have a big green wall somewhere close by. The grill will soon serve its purpose again, the coolers will become extra seats, and the roar of the crowed will soon echo through the warm summer air. New friendships will be made and old ones will be rekindled. The rivals will set their sights on each other, while their fans will set their hopes high once again. It's springtime, it's summer, it's late fall and then another warm stove to keep the spirits comfortable. But right now it's just beginning. It's baseball, my friends, and there's nothing quite like it.

By the Way...

Go Cards!