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| Grace in the follow-through. The late, great Roberto |
I justified wanting to work in the USA in several ways: cultural, linguistic, sociological, geographical, the usual portentous stuff. Plus one secret reason: to watch and understand baseball.
As it was I saw more softball (larger ball, underarm pitching, easier on middle-aged/elderly players) than out-on-the-bleachers baseball games while I was there. Two to be exact, one in Pittsburgh, one in Boston. Later, on a professional visit, I watched the Seattle Mariners but that hardly counted; the stadium was so huge the game was reduced to a bunch of ants disputing a fig leaf.
But I saw dozens of games on TV. Learnt the difference between a fast ball and a curve. Grasped the reasoning behind the infield fly rule. Thrilled to the hard precision of the double-play. Watched the great (alas, late) Roberto Clemente augment his “three hundred plus” batting average.
Being on TV meant baseball was interspersed with commercials and occasionally spoiled by inane commentary. But it also meant I could watch the Pirates (my home team) play away at Candlestick Park (San Francisco Giants) or Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs). More than that, baseball meant summer; wearing shorts; lolling on the couch; a chilled can of beer to hand. But never a can of the local brew, Iron City, since VR was convinced it would taste of metal filings.
The smack of a baseball, pitched at close to a 100 mph, into a leather glove is loud enough the create echoes in some stadiums. It’s also unmistakable. For me it evokes a special kind of tranquillity even though the games can be as tense as the outbreak of war. Games never end in a draw and the rules are fashioned to prevent “negative” pitching.
Bought a glove and used it playing knockabout with local kids. Fantastically satisfying.
I love knowing that you loved to watch baseball. My dad and brothers were big sports fans. We went to my brothers' softball games, and my family watched the World Series every year. My brothers also played basketball. Sports is a big thing here.
ReplyDeleteNewRobin13: Unfortunately my interest in baseball, which quickly reached obsessional levels, had a malign effect on my social life in the USA. Especially with women. During the first year in the USA my wife and I were often invited to parties, etc, by people who thought they liked to listen to us talk. Unaware that my accent (but not my wife's) - influenced by an upbringing in one of the unfashionable northern counties - was regarded as a social defect in the UK.
DeleteAt one dinner party I'd been holding forth - in relentless detail - about the progress of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Endless stuff about earned run averages and the fact that the Pirates' success with double-plays was evidence of their lousy pitching. That too many opposing batters were getting on base, thus providing more opportunities for the Pirates shortstop/second baseman combination than in other teams with tighter pitching.
The men regarded my conversation as perfectly normal, their type of chat. But the women, perhaps expecting revelations about the UK royal family or about The Beatles (then very popular), were bored out of their skulls. Until one woman, slightly affected by drink, said something like: "Jesus Christ, why are we all listening to this British guy going on and on about baseball. A Brit for Chrissake!"
Shocked silence from the normally hospitable Americans round the table. Me? I saw it as some kind of triumph. Having reached the stage where I knew so much about baseball's technicalities that I'd become a bore on the subject. Beat that Boris Johnson.
I loved reading your account of that dinner party conversation. I would have felt the same way as the woman who had to listen to all that baseball talk. I grew up with all that talk. You made me laugh out loud with, "Beat the Boris Johnson." First laugh of the day. Thank you for that.
DeleteThe family I grew up with are all about sports. A game was always on the TV during weekend afternoons. My Mom was a bigger fan than my Dad. My Baby Sister was an excellent softball player in her teens, she was the catcher for her local team. Baseball and basketball both seem like beautiful team sports, but I'm only barely interested. I am the only one in my large family who didn't become a hard core sports fan. Luckily my husband isn't interested either. Still, when the Chicago Cubs (aka The Cubbies) won the world series a few years ago after a, what, 72 year slump, I was ecstatic. I'm not sure why.
ReplyDeleteColette: My case was slightly different.I had developed a mystical interest in baseball (not played in the UK) long before I crossed the Atlantic. I arrived at New Year 1966 and couldn't wait until the baseball season opened, eventually forcing my American pal to accompany me to Forbes Field in mid April and sit with me in the bleachers where the temperature was said to be 37 deg F.
ReplyDeleteHe agreeably explained the details as the game progressed, arousing the interest and approval of the men sitting, shivering, around us. Now here's a test for you. A runner at first base had managed to steal second base leaving first base open. My pal groaned, saying "Oh, I sort of wished this wasn't going to happen." Those listening laughed knowledgeably as my pal started to explain the apparently contradictory stratagem behind "the intentional walk". Had you been accompanying me, would you have been able to do this?
I remember reading about the Cubs' (never the Cubbies among the baseball intelligentsia) world series in the UK newspaper, The Guardian. Do you remember what was odd about Cubs playing at Wrigley Field? Correct: all games were played in the daytime. The owner, who also owned the chewing gum company, refused to install lights. This situation has now been changed.
Nope. All I know is that intentional walks are unpopular because it robs the audience from seeing their favorite players do their best. So the game may go by a little faster but it's not as fun.
DeleteColette: Yeah, but you're only referring to half the game. There are times when your team's pitching and there may be tactical reasons for filling first base intentionally. Tell the truth, it hardly ever works. More often than not an intentional walk is an act of desperation from a team with pitching problems; most of the time at least one run scores.
DeleteThanks for the wonderful morning laugh about baseball. My boys got their comeuppance when our gal NZealand and Scot friends during Thanksgiving. They knew extensive stats and intricacies of the teams endlessly playing on the television during the holiday's festivities. Here, I had been worried about what we would talk about, while they disappeared into the basement to watch the endless Thanksgiving Bowl Games with the men. Interesting enough, they will be moving to the Chicago area and now will be a regular part of all our holidays. And we do love to listen to them talk, LOL. Enjoyed your post! Sandi
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a big baseball fan. So was the guy I dated before the husband. I enjoyed going to games before they were ALL televised. That spoiled it for me. The games took longer to play, players standing around on the field scratching their balls (both kinds) while the commercials played and I'm in the stand yelling PLAY BALL! Then the kids came along and it was just too much, the games took too long, little kids get bored, and we stopped going to games. Besides they were increasing the cost of tickets some much we just couldn't really afford it what with the concessions and all.
ReplyDeleteElllen Abbott: I like your spirit. Despite the problems you've faced, and are facing, you take time off to slip in a delicious little double entendre into this comment, brightening my day as well - I hope - as yours. I of course only knew baseball post-TV so I wasn't affected in the way you were.
DeleteAs to games being too long, a fig for that. Although there is a tendency to shorten cricket matches (our summer game) these days, test matches (ie, those between countries) can last five days. One reason out of many why cricket never took off in the US.