Ahhhh….

30 March, 2008

Smell that?

That's spring.

That's people in Kansas City with the same hope as people in Boston. That's Tampa thinking this is going to be the year that they matter. That's people in Detroit feeling the pressure. That's people in New York already unhappy that their team wasn't picked to win from the gate (at least the ones wearing pinstripes).

Baseball's opening day is like a scene from literature... it's so uniting in its hope in a way that just isn't there for other sports. It's like the snow falling in Joyce's The Dead or, for the lower-brow amongst my readers, the snow in Crash (yes, they mean the same thing, crash jacked if from joyce). It's that unexpected thing that brings us together "faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

And this is very strange when you think about it. There will be 161 games still to come after the final out. 161: that's 10 full NFL seasons (well, technically, if you're a Detroit Lions fan that's 10 seasons and 1 game into the 11th), that's 2 NBA seasons.

So, why the connection with baseball?

I think I have an educated guess; Baseball history is black and white, other sports are in color. Think about it, the past greats in most sports are seen in vivid color (and possibly short-shorts)

But baseball is not the same, I think of somber images, good-ole boys, and legends whose memory has so little to do with the game.

And of course this isn't completely literal. On one hand Gordie Howe, Jim Thorpe, and the like fall into the black and white category. And There have been uncountable memorable players and moments in baseball since games have been broadcast in color. But the point is simple, baseball has an ancient feeling to it. It has a level of mythology untouchable by other sports. Think of the introduction to the movie glory which is set during the civil war; it features a scene of soldiers playing baseball. And on the topic of baseball and mythology, think of The sandlot and the magic associated with the game. Think of The Natural. Think of Field of Dreams with it's surreal association of baseball as all that is good with the country, spawning the most over-quoted baseball line ever (not to come out of Yogi Berra's mouth)

The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. Its been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But, baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and could be again.

That says it all. Even though things were never as good as America collectively remembers them, baseball is the hope that one day baseball can can be used to trace the fall and Phoenix like return of the good.

Of course it can't happen. I mean, what great past is going to be rebuilt? But still, it's wonderful to feel so positive for one day, to know that there is one real, genuine connection to the past no matter how much changes for better or for worse in the country and the game.