Anyone remember Grantland Rice? “It’s not about winning… It’s about how you play the game”.
That’s how we used to feel about our national pastime. Beisbol — not Futbol — at this address.
Ebbets Field, over looking Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, was my field of dreams. Harry Truman. Then Dwight Eisenhower would issue special remarks about the significance of each new beisbol season. It was bi-partisan stuff and it pulled Americans together in the love of that greatest of all pastimes.
Each spring, hope sprung eternal.
Growing up as a kid from Brooklyn, there were my beloved Dodgers. The Bums, one of 16 teams in the Major Leagues. Eight teams in each league playing a 154 game regular season. We could identify the players on all the teams, including the batting orders. We respected opposing players, like Stan “The Man” Musial, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Bob Feller. Rivalry wasn’t war. It was part of the game and you cheered the winners, even when it wasn’t your team.
A young Vin Scully, Mel Allen, Red Barber, Harry Caray, and Jack Buck were prominent voices carrying the games across the country. St. Louis was the west coast. Virtues — not vices — were extolled. The pennant winners went directly to a September World Series.
Most games were played during the day, giving kids a chance to follow everything.
The World Series champions were special guests on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Frequently, they were the dreaded New York Yankees. We still applauded, because they were heroes. We respected them for their prowess.
That was beisbol, when our world was young.
Everything has changed. Nowadays, there are too many teams and many more games. The season is like a Eugene O’Neill play, a long day’s journey into night.
The Prez Race has become like the modern beisbol season. Spencer Tracy’s “fictional” Boston Mayor foretold these changes in “The Last Hurrah”, 60 years ago. Tracy’s candidate would just be shaking his head now. It has all come true. Truer than true and worse than we imagined possible.
There’s the monumentally long regular beisbol season. You do everything you can to reach the post season. Lots of players are injured or burned out by the time the season’s winding up (or down, depending on which teams you are following) to the big finale.
The Post Season is the General Election race.
The World Series are the final campaign days. The hottest team of the moment will win it all with the best strategy — and a little luck.
Ike’s thoughts were noble. Pre-expansion beisbol. Another time, another world.
JFK was a game changer.
Obama was Jackie Robinson.
Orange Head — Ty Cobb wins it all!!
In beisbol jargon, next year is 2020.
Grantland Rice is turning over in his grave. Let’s sign some good free agents, Maybe next season we’ll get the win!!
This post is also one of three responses to the “Three Days, Three Quotes” challenge on Sue Vincent’s site. Check her out, too. She is magic!
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Categories: #American-history, #Photography, Election, Garry Armstrong, Politics, Quotation
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Reblogged this on The Sannitation Man and commented:
nice game
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Thanks for the reblog. I went to your page but couldn’t find a place to leave thank you comment. It’s very nice of you. I believe we have one more episode of “Baseball” to watch. Looks like maybe Red Sox ’04 season is included. Obviously, Burns needs to do another segment including Cubbies and President elect Orange Head. Might already be in production.
Thanks, again!!
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Thank you 🙂
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De Nada, Sue.
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🙂
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I do remember being about 8 years old on 66th Street in Los Angeles (near the baseball stadium), where one day a plane wrote “I like Ike” against the blue sky. I knew he was the President so I liked him too.
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Elva, Ike was a nice fella. He looked like my maternal Grandfather.
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Cool!
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An excellent post and how apt it sounds…The Prez Race has become like the modern beisbol season. I don’t follow this game but it is always a pleasure to read baseball posts done by Garry. I fail to understand that when no one seems to support the newly elected Trump then how come he won? Might be the best strategy and little luck?
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A lot of people DO support him, but the anti-supporters are making more noise right now. That will change. Actually, we have no way of knowing how this administration will play out. I’m trying to just watch and wait. Nothing has yet come clear.
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Soul, I frequently find beisbol (I just love using the Hispanic version of the word) as the perfect metaphor for social and political issues. It’s a complex game with lots of strategy employed, from beginning to end. Victory is often snatched from defeat and vice versa.
Sometimes the most unlikely player emerges as hero and victor.
As for Trump’s victory, the Clinton campaign didn’t employ the right strategy. They snatched defeat from victory.
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I had not known that Eisenhower was such a big baseball guy until I did a little research. If I’d known, I probably would have liked him better. Actually, I’d probably like him a lot better at this stage of my life than I did when I was a kid. He was a pretty amazing guy, even if he didn’t make it to the “bigs.”
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I’ve read a lot about Ike. Forgot about baseball. He sure loved his golf during the White House Years.
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