baseball

[Aaron Yeater]

> Baseball has cursed teams--the Black Sox, the Cubs, and my poor Red Sox. It
> is haunted by legends, titans of the game, like Ruth, Gerhig, and now
> Mantle.
> 
> Baseball during WWII was a refuge for the preterite, as old timers,
> midgets, one-armed players, and women took the place of inductees.

interesting--i think baseball is always a refuge for the preterite.  
In olden days they were louts, men who could not maintain regular 
jobs, vicious men like ty cobb, gamblers and cheaters and drunks, and 
the occasional gentlemen (like christy mathewson) were odd and 
notable and never insured of glory and celebration...and the 
tradition continues.  Baseball allows the most success for the least 
virtuous--John Kruk is a clear glutton, yet he hits 300, Roger 
Clemens is out-of-shape and too prideful to admit it, yet he was the 
best pitcher of the late eighties-early nineties, Mantle a drunk and 
the greatest switch-hitter in history, Pete Rose--enuff sed.

anyway, baseball as america's game is in some sense the sport of the 
preterite, the one sport in which the loser (the red sox, cubs, bill 
buckner, Charlie Liebrant, Ralph Branca, Bob Uecker, Tony Mendoza and 
his line) often carves a place in history, where the preterite 
success is celebrated (Bucky Dent's 78 home run, Bill Mazeroski, 
etc.) where a single moment (hit for the cycle, a no-hitter, a game 
winning homer) often lasts longer than a lifetime 300 
average...Baseball is about redemption (going home is the act of 
coming back into the fold) but you have to be fallen first...

my $.02 (this is an awesome discussion out there, btw)

aaron