SEARCHING THE SOUL OF BASEBALL

Finding Hope for America
By Mark Noth

I love baseball – leaving the field with a sore right knee and grass stains, sliding head-first into second base and standing up with red clay on my eyelashes and blood trickling down my forearms. I love fouling off two strike pitches way outside the zone, moon-shot home runs, bench clearing brawls, and perfect games. I love sunflower seeds, peanuts, crackerjacks, and, of course, hot dogs. I love that Ted Williams, the self-proclaimed “greatest hitter who ever lived,” sacrificed his best years to serve in World War II.

I love America too – the tales of our Founders, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation. I love the flag, the liberty bell, and the Washington Monument. I love the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court. I love federalism, checks and balances, and vetoes. I love that I could be writing about how much I hate America, and that it would be okay.

In my mind, baseball and America go hand in hand; it is only natural to me that the glory days of each would fade simultaneously.

Steroids seem to have corrupted baseball. Some have characterized the last decade in Major League Baseball as “lost.” Impassable records have been shattered with ease by men with inflated arms and bigger egos. The great players of the modern game have fallen like dominoes from grace: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and now Alex Rodriguez. The League caught its biggest stars, and the stars have offered the weak defense that “everybody was doing it.” My mother would ask them, “Would you jump off the Sears Tower if everyone was doing it?” But this is not a laughing matter.

Sadly, Americans have come to expect their heroes to falter. Who was really surprised last week when Alex Rodriguez was caught? I was not. We have come to expect cheaters and allow them to continue their craft. When the NFL caught Sean Merriam using steroids, they gave him a slap-on-the-wrist four week suspension and the matter was forgotten. Baseball is sick. But steroid use is only a symptom of a much larger problem.

The problem lies in the American soul. It is difficult to pinpoint the root of the problem with so many symptoms abounding. Congress toils, people burden courts daily with frivolous law suits, businesses like Enron erupt in scandal and crash, divorce rates hover around fifty percent, prisons are full, obesity festers, and people no longer consider television pornography to be risqué.

Something has gone wrong with America. Even my detractors must know it is true. Both candidates promised “change” during the 2008 presidential campaign: change in lobbying, change in Washington, and change in the way we do business with each other. The change we really need, however, is a change of heart.

Individuals have always driven American growth and progress. The “American Dream” to some is to break free of poverty and make a name for one’s family and self. It is a good dream, but are we allowed to compromise our integrity along the way? When did this become permissible? How did professional athletes learn that it was okay to cheat to get ahead? Where did Enron founder Ken Lay learn this? Where did Chris Brown learn to beat his girlfriend?

America has some soul searching to do.

Former President John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” The change cannot come from government. Government does not hold sovereignty over the souls and characters of citizens; the change must come from people and begin in people. Americans must reject apologetic mitigations of blame for crimes. We must remember the morals we learned before the first grade and incorporate them into our daily affairs.

Some argue that baseball has not yet been lost. Teams bring up new, young players like Dustin Pedroia and David Price, who play with heart and passion for the game. While I remain skeptical, I cannot help but love baseball, despite its faults. W.P. Kinsella eloquently wrote in his 1989 classic Field of Dreams, “Baseball is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and could be again.” I am convinced that if baseball can heal, America can too. The two are inextricably linked.

Mark Noth is a junior Political Science major.

The difficulties we face are not in our policy preferences or institutions; rather, they are in our hearts and in our minds