Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
This past week saw the start of the annual Little League World Series, arguably the greatest moment in youth sports in the world. This event—particularly over the last few years—always leads me to reflect on what is happening with boys in America, in large part by figuring out what is happening to youth baseball. Much could be said on this front. When I was doing research on my book about boys and baseball, I came across a number of trends in the game, some of them disturbing.
For example, I am at a loss of what to make of the changing mission of Little League. Compare these two statements.
Better than any other sport activity, baseball expresses the heart and character of the nation. To those who play it, watch it and take satisfaction from it, baseball truly mirrors an American way of life.
It is engaging both as a game to watch and a contest in which to participate. In the latter, it embodies the disciplines of teamwork, it challenges players towards perfection of physical skills and brings into play the exciting contest of tactics and strategy.
—Little League Baseball, Official Regulations and Playing Rules, 1982
Better than any other youth sport activity, baseball and softball have become the thread that has sewn together a patchwork of nations and cultures around the world. Children in diverse nations such as Israel, Jordan, Ukraine, Germany, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Poland, Mexico, China, Venezuela, South Africa, and the U.S. have discovered baseball and softball— Little League Baseball and Softball—are ways to bring their people a sport that mirrors life itself.
Baseball and softball embody the discipline of teamwork. They challenge players towards perfection of physical skills and bring into play the excitement of tactics and strategy. The very nature of baseball and softball also teach [sic] that while every player eventually strikes out, or is on the losing team, there is always another chance for success in the next at-bat or game.
—Little League Baseball, Official Regulations and Playing Rules, 2009
On the one hand, baseball spreading throughout the world must be regarded as a victory. On the other hand, what are we to make of the emphasis on diversity, the long list of countries, the addition of softball, the haste to reassure kids about the next at-bat, and, most of all, the disappearance of “an American way of life”? Hasn’t most of the meat been taken out of that first statement?
We should look at the Little League Pledge as well to obtain some perspective.
I TRUST IN GOD
I LOVE MY COUNTRY
AND WILL RESPECT ITS LAWS
I WILL PLAY FAIR
AND STRIVE TO WIN
BUT WIN OR LOSE
I WILL ALWAYS
DO MY BEST
—Little League Pledge
I wonder how often that pledge gets said nowadays. I hope it does. Maybe the parents of Little Leaguers could give me some insight into that.
One final quotation, this one from Jaques Barzun: “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game—and do it by watching first some high school or small-town teams.”
If baseball is America—and vice versa—does not such a substantial change in the way we think about the game reveal some definite loss of a sense of ourselves as Americans?
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May '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
In a word: multiculturalism.
Nationality is no longer pivotal to the personal and social identities of many Americans. No nation is better than any other. No religion or god is better than any other. And winning is nothing to brag about — we're all equal.
In my own experience, thankfully, people who devote much of their lives to playing sports don't have much patience with such equivocation.
General Patton agreed: "I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed."
May '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
Welcome to today's PC educational environment. These are the "values" we are teaching our "utes." In our Tee Ball games these days, they won't let anyone keep score so the losers don't have "esteem" issues.
Yep, we sure are preparing them for the real world, eh?
Oct '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
Those who would bring down America must first bring down baseball.
Over the last year, trying to adjust the dose to avoid acute toxicity, I have been viewing Ken Burns's documentary Baseball. Being previously ignorant of Mr. Burns's point of view, I expected a recounting of the national pastime. Instead, what we have is a self-loathing picture of America that views the game through the lens of “race, class, and gender”.
I get it—for more than a century melanin-rich players were confined to their own league. This was wrong, and harmful to the game. But isn't the essential message that it was self-corrected, not by coercive government diktat but rather competition in a free market: one team owner bringing in a singular talent barred from the league by irrational bias?
One of the most execrable aspects of this Baseball series is George Will acting in his usual useful idiot rôle, book-ending the communists and thus giving them legitimacy.
Edited on Aug 20, 2011 at 3:35pmDec '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
John Walker: Those who would bring down America must first bring down baseball.
Over the last year, trying to adjust the dose to avoid acute toxicity, I have been viewing Ken Burns's documentary Baseball. Being previously ignorant of Mr. Burns's point of view, I expected a recounting of the national pastime. Instead, what we have is a self-loathing picture of America that views the game through the lens of “race, class, and gender”.
...
One of the most execrable aspects of this Baseball series is George Will acting in his usual useful idiot rôle, book-ending the communists and thus giving them legitimacy. · Aug 20 at 3:09pm
Yes, I had no idea after that documentary that baseball had anything to it other than the color barrier and the reserve clause. Besides the liberal bias, it was just tedious. I mean, the reserve clause? Really? Over and over again?
I pity George, though. He'd been waiting for this documentary all of his life. He would have appeared on it if it were produced by Michael Moore.
Jul '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
Here's the difference: Little League Baseball's mission has changed, but America's, The Constitution, is simply ignored.
May '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
By the way, if baseball is played professionally in more countries than football, doesn't it stand to reason that football is even more uniquely American?
Oct '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
It's just a temporary loss of confidence.
The fact is no-one outside the US plays or cares about baseball. There has been no statistically significant change to this state of affairs between 1982 and 2009. The current lack of self-confidence leads to the wish to have ones choices validated by a (completely imagined) growth of international interest: if they like it, it must be OK!
When the US gets its mojo back the usual autarkic approach to sport will resume.
Edited on Aug 21, 2011 at 4:46amSep '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
Baseball has a mission? What a quaint idea. All this time I thought I played baseball because I enjoyed it and later in life I watched it for the same reason and had the leisure time, some weeks to do so. I also check box scores and talked with friends about the game for the same reason. Baseball is a pastime. The statements you refer to may tell you something about the people who wrote them and little about the game. Yesterday’s Mets/Brewers game tells you more about baseball than a hundred mission statements.
Jun '11
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
The fact is no-one outside the US plays or cares about baseball. There has been no statistically significant change to this state of affairs between 1982 and 2009.
Edited on Aug 21 at 04:46 am
30% of the players at the pinnacle of the game, the US Major Leagues, were born outside of the United States. 14 foreign nations are represented in MLB. This trend is growing, by the way, as 48% of the players in the US Minor Leagues were born outside of the US. Obviously, many people outside the US "care about baseball".
As for the official documents of Little League baseball I can speak to my three years coaching Little League in Ohio as a high schooler 1968-70. (Yes, for some reason they let me coach against all the dads.) We read that booklet for the rules and nothing else. I'm certain that not a single kid ever read the creed, motto, slogan or anything of the sort. That was certainly the case when I played Little League in the early 60's too. It's an interesting artifact pointing to societal change but has no bearing on the play of the game.
Jun '11
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
American football is without a doubt uniquely American. Attempts to spread it around the world haven't done well while baseball and basketball have spread outside the US very well. Even where American football is played outside the US the teams are largely made up of guys who played NCAA football and can't stick on an NFL roster.
Another way to look at it is if you took foreign-born players out of MLB the level of play would drop dramatically. If you took foreign-born players out of the NFL it would open up a couple of jobs for place-kickers.
Aug '11
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
What I find disturbing is how much distraction there is throughout the game. It used to be kind of quiet and relaxing to go to an ordinary ball game. No more. Noise, music, flashing signs, big screens, fancy foods, people running up and down, getting up an down. Can't Americans just sit and watch a game anymore?
Jun '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
Just for some facts on the ground, I happen to live one block away from the site of the Little League Softball World Series for 11-12 year old girls held in Portland, Oregon. I caught snippets of some of the games while walking the dog last week. They DO recite the Little League pledge before every game, so that was nice to see. There were teams from Italy, the Philippines, Canada, Puerto Rico, and several from the U.S. (The American teams generally stomped on the others, though Puerto Rico and the Philippines held their own pretty well. The team from Illinois won)
I've watched this tournament off and on for several years and have always been impressed. The quality of play is wildly higher than when my sister played long ago and the girls are very competitive. Like you, I pay close attention to baseball/softball as a sort of bellwether for American life. In this particular case, I'm reasonably optimistic. Participation is declining, unfortunately, due to the rise in soccer and lacrosse, but I still see the great, traditional magic of America present at the World Series tournaments that I see first-hand.
Nov '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
Terrence O. Moore, Guest Contributor:
Better than any other sport activity, baseball expresses the heart and character of the nation. To those who play it, watch it and take satisfaction from it, baseball truly mirrors an American way of life.
Period!
And may I join Stephen S. in his appreciation for your commentary this past week and perhaps, pressure you to join Rico as a full-time contributor?!
Nov '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
Terry
American football is without a doubt uniquely American. Attempts to spread it around the world haven't done well while baseball and basketball have spread outside the US very well. Even where American football is played outside the US the teams are largely made up of guys who played NCAA football and can't stick on an NFL roster.
I would say that football attracts fewer foreign players because there is some competition from rugby in the UK and many international athletes aren't tough enough for the rigors of the NFL!
Basketball is a supremely unique sport, requiring height and the Slavs are able to compete here. I predict this sport will become more internationally diverse because of the physical requirements
I consider Hockey (90% Canadian/Russian) an equally American sport, because gosh darnit, we're the ones who paid for Gretsky's salary and because four of the "Original 6" teams were supported by U.S. citizens.
Same goes for MLB... My fav Mariano Rivera is still paid by the Steinbrenner family.
Oct '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
I think, rather, that such a vast infrastructure is necessary to have a functioning American Football system - high school leagues, college leagues, as well as the huge and expensive array of equipment - that no foreign country has a chance of producing their own home-grown players (outside of kickers, perhaps). Indeed, the US college sports system is so unique, and so important to football, that this alone would prevent the growth of a truly foreign league.
As to comparative toughness, I'll let you watch the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
Nov '10
Re: Has the Mission of Baseball (and America) Changed?
genferei
Indeed, the US college sports system is so unique, and so important to football, that this alone would prevent the growth of a truly foreign league.
As to comparative toughness, I'll let you watch the upcoming Rugby World Cup. ·
Agree with your first point.
And thought I'd agreed with your second!