There’s nothing more American than baseball–and that’s something your crazy conservative friends and your looney liberal friends can agree on.
Baseball is no longer the American pastime—football stole that role a long time ago—but baseball is still the best representation of the American dream.
This is true regardless of your political affiliation.
If you’re a conservative who believes in the promise of capitalism, you need look no further than the contracts signed by Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Manny Machado before the regular season. All of them good for over $300 million.
If you’re a progressive who believes in a level playing field and the promise of both the impoverished and the immigrant, you only need consider the players who defected Cuba—fleeing communism and risking their lives to make it to freedom.
Look at the number of players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, South Korea and Japan, Canada and Australia. And from America’s suburbs and small towns and inner-cities. All of them living out their childhood dreams and the American Dream.
When a man who is short, or even average size, succeeds in the NFL or NBA, we are shocked. Spud Web dunks, and people say, “He must have frog DNA!” Darren Sproles shimmies into the end zone, and people laugh. They chortle, “He’s so tiny! He could run between a lineman’s legs.”
They’re surprised because, generally speaking, people need to have considerable height and weight advantages to succeed in those sports. All the hard work in the world won’t make you King LeBron James size.
But when Jose Altuve wins MLB MVP at 5’6, we don’t blink an eye. It’s the kind of thing we’ve come to expect from baseball. When a potbellied Bartolo Colon took the mound in his mid-forties last season, that was no surprise either. Big Sexy isn’t the only baller to have a beer gut. Babe Ruth had one, too. No matter. A lot of people still say Ruth was the best ever.
As long as you can hit the ball or hurl it, someone will pay you to run out there.
Baseball has always been that game—the one that says, “if you bust your butt and make good on your promise, we’ll find a place for you and help you succeed.” That’s as American as it gets.
Check out this ad that celebrates Bartolo Colon rocking the MLB for 21 years without any body image issues:
It doesn’t matter where you were born, your body-size, or how much money mommy and daddy have. It only matters that you want it and will work for it.
Maybe you can’t crack 50 homers or strike out 200 batters, but baseball is much more than those guys. It’s shortstops and short relievers, utility men and pinch runners. Baseball has a place for anyone willing, and it holds promise for every able bodied boy on earth.
So, let football and basketball bask in the ratings and revenue. Judging by MLB contracts worth $300 and $400 million, baseball is doing okay financially.
Let people complain about the length of the games and the time between pitches.
How often do fathers and sons get to spend a leisurely three hours together, bonding? How often do you sit down and catch up with friends and family? No rushing. No need to get to the next place. Plenty of time to talk.
And baseball is a good example for our children. It’s what America aspires to be.
It’s a sport we can look to, even in these divided and troubled times, and say, “That! That’s what this country is all about!”
