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PEANUTS AND CRACKER JACKS 8/21/2010 6:50:44 AM
Ab initio, was the Word—and the Word was PLAY BALL!
Baseball has been the national pastime since Isaac Newton invented it in 1374. What? It wasn’t invented in 1374? Daggone it, wrong again! Try 1874.
Well, whenever. Although never a rabid fan, I probably know more about baseball than the average American, with the possible exception of George Will.
True, I have attended more hockey, basketball and football games in my time (I once saw Slingin’ Sammy Baugh play for the Redskins,) but there was a period when I was at Silver Stadium on Norton Street in Rochester (International League AAA) more often than I was at Vic & Irv’s Drive-In in Seabreeze.
In fact, the first two radio stations I worked for in the 1950s carried the Rochester Red Wing baseball games, and my earliest sports’ mentors were Ad Penfield, Dave Curtin, Jack Buck, Joe Cullinane, Tom Decker and Don Fischer. Collectively, they taught me all I know about the game, and their combined wisdom was tantamount to-—everything!
It was, therefore, with deep-rooted interest that I hung on every pitch a few weeks ago in the annual 2010 All-Star Game from Anaheim, CA. The National League hadn’t won the mid-summer classic in 13 years, and once again the American League was favored by a betting margin of 5 to1.
But they hadn’t taken into account the power of Atlanta Brave’s Brian McCann, nor the prowess and defensive skills of Marlon Byrd from the Chicago Cubs. McCann was the game’s MVP with Byrd a close second: the Senior Circuit 3, the Junior Circuit 1. Wow!
And when was the last time you heard the National and American Leagues referred to as the Seniors and Juniors?
I, for one, cannot recall. Founded in 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the Senior Circuit (NL) in comparison to the Junior Circuit (or the American League) was established as the “major leagues” back in 1901. I kind of liked it, hearing it thusly over the years (mainly at the Pastime Pool Room;) but the nomenclature seems to have been phased out by the Red Smiths and Harry Carays of our time, See what I mean by wisdom?
Anyway, over the years the National League had beaten the American in All-Star games 42 to 38 times (with 2 ties,) but the Seniors had not pulled it off since 1996. Brian McCann, his grotesgue goatee notwithstanding-—actually, I prefer the goatee to the idiocy of tatooes favored by so many professional men and women from a variety of disciplines—-changed all that with a bases-emptying double in the 7th innng. When the Juniors threatened later, Marlon Byrd executed the most perfect defensive play this “fan” had ever seen. Let me tell you, it heightened the hackles on my hoary head!
None of this would matter, however, if this wasn’t a mid-term election year. It appears the Senior Circuit (the GOP) has confused “Americare” with what they call “Obamacare”. That word, which is an unabashed synonym for Health Care Reform, is used in so many ad campaigns I cannot wait to vote. But I think I’ll hold off for the Junior Circuit to start maligning each other (and of course they will.)
This, along with everything else, is President Barack Obama’s fault, in spite of the cluttered back burner he contends with (even much harried Harry Reid has abandoned him, sort of.) Like no one ever thought of Health Care Reform or freedom of religion until lately!
Well, not quite. The idea for instituting “Americare” has been richocheting off the walls of the Oval Office for many decades. The first I heard of it as a possible policy ploy was in 1956, but one administration after another let it die on the vine.
And then, this “inexperienced community organizer” came along and said, “Full speed ahead—and damn the torpedoes!” Or something like that. The nucleus of a sensible and badly needed Health Care Reform Bill has become the law of the land, and the Senior Circuit can think of nothing more deserving than to undermine its very existence. ”Obamacare”, indeed! Why not besmerch it with a Scarlet O?
The word is out-—and, in a way, it’s the essence of PLAY BALL! But in order to participate in the game, the Senior Circuit demands we level the playing field so that it can always have its way. The Junior Circuit has, they say, an unfair advantage because the electorate (the fans) chose more of them than the others. And, besides, whatever the reason, it just doesn’t count.
I don’t think that’s what Isaac Newton, Thomas Paine, or any of the other Founding Fathers had in mind (whaddaya mean Newton was not a Founding Father? He wasn’t? Well, so what! It makes as much sense as calling Mr. Obama a Muslim!)
No matter; the Seniors will strike out in the 9th inning come November.
Of course, when worse comes to worse, they’ll demand six or seven outs to make sure they get in. The same as they would have needed in the 2010 All-Star Game if the Seniors had had any hope of changing the final score.
OK, you want the last word—-what has Isaac Newton to do with any of this? I will concede he was not one of our Founding Fathers—-and he did not invent baseball. But are you kidding? Who was it then-—Abner Einstein? Come on!
