Baseball: the Perfect Game
Posted: Thursday, October 06, 2011
by Jack H. Schick
“Baseball and Ballantine, baseball and Ballanitne.”
“Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.”
It’s interesting how; sometimes we remember TV commercial jingles better than we remember our wife’s cell phone number or our kids’ birthdays. Of course, the jingles were written with the intent of having the product etched into our memories. Advertizing is a psychological science, a form of brainwashing. They don’t make Ballantine beer anymore, but the 50+ year old jingle, which I’ll never ever forget, still makes me want to try a bottle. I’ve bought a few Chevys over the years, too, and yes, they are as American as hot dogs and apple pie. Heck, didn’t America just loan them a couple of billion dollars so we could keep buying them? But, those unforgettable jingles always make me think about baseball, too.
It wasn’t until I went to college in Pittsburgh that I started to get into baseball. The Pirates beat the Orioles in a seven game World Series that October. The campus and the town were really hyped up for the Bucko’s. When they won, my roommate and I hiked all the way downtown (that’s ‘donton’ in Pittsburghese), to join the celebration. There probably weren’t many more than three quarters of a million people in all of Allegheny County, but 300,000 of them were packed into the Golden Triangle that night. It wasn’t quite a riot. It was fun.
Big league baseball began on September 23, 1845, when Alexander Cartwright founded the New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club. He intended to organization the plethora of teams that ‘casually’ played in the New York City area, and promote the sport. Kids and adults had been playing stick ball and Rounders, an English game, since the colonial era, but Cartwright and “Doc” Adams established new, American rules. The familiar game began to emerge with their changes: infield was to be diamond shaped rather than square; foul lines were established; the ‘balk’ defined and outlawed; batter got three missed swings before being called out; runners were to be tagged or thrown out, not thrown at.
The first ‘official’ Base Ball Match was played on the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, on June 19, 1847. Cartwright’s New York Knickerbockers (second squad), faced the New York Base Ball Club. In those days, a base ball match ended when a team scored 21 aces (runs). The NY Base Ball Club won that first game, 23 to 1.
The popularity of the “new” game soared. By December 5, 1856, in an article in the New York Mercury newspaper, base ball was called “the national pastime.” In 1857, the National Association of Base Ball Players was founded. There were nearly 50 clubs in Manhattan alone. The Association modified and standardized rules: a team ahead after nine innings was the winner; questioning the umpire resulted in a 25 cent fine, swearing on the field was fined 6 cents; a maximum of nine men per side were allowed; bases were to be 90 feet apart; umpires could call strikes if the batter didn’t swing at a good pitch; catching the ball with a cap or hat was disallowed; no player was permitted to be paid. The modern baseball--yarn wrapped rubber with a horse hide cover--was developed then.
In 1862, “Doc” Adams said, “…Thousands were present to watch matches. We…didn’t expect to see the game so universal as it has become.” A new innovation to speed up the game was established. Umpires could call “balls” if the pitcher was stalling or not “serving” good pitches. The first baseball super-star emerged. James Creighton of the Excelsior of Brooklyn team was a fastball/change-up pitcher and tremendous hitter (At the time pitchers were required to throw underhand with a straight elbow no wrist snap. The pitcher’s plate was 45 feet from home plate). In 1863, Ned Cuthbert of the Philadelphia Keystones ran from first to second base without waiting for a hit to get him there. The move was determined to be legal and is recorded as the first stolen base.
By 1865, the mandatory amateur status of players began to cause trouble. The first major scandals in baseball involved Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall in NYC. Rather than pay his best player, he provided them with jobs working for the city. The catcher and 3rdbaseman on Tweed’s NY Mutuals were banned for life from playing ‘big league’ baseball for taking $100 each to “heave” a game.
The problem was solved by allowing players and coaches to be paid. The first all professional baseball team was the 1869, Cincinnati Red Stockings. Their star (well paid), player, George Wright, batted .519, scored 339 runs and hit 59 homers that year. The Red Stockings finished the season with a 65 wins, 0 losses record.
There has been over 140 years of baseball since then. There have been dozens of heroes whose names will never be forgotten; and, there have been scandals, from the Blacks Socks to Barry Bonds, that would have made Boss Tweed proud. But, baseball lives on. I've always wished I played more than that one year of little league, but I was able to do so vicariously during my son’s illustrious career. I am hooked on baseball, now. By June, I have to watch at least one inning of baseball every day or I get nervous and sick in the stomach. I’ve come to believe that baseball is the perfect game.
It is the only sport in which the defense gets the ball.
The 90 foot base paths add up to 360—the degrees in a circle.
It is the only major team sport with no clock. A game could last forever.
The odds are nine to one: fielders against the batter.
It’s a slow game where speed is critical.
90 feet to a base has been perfect through the ages: at 85 feet most runners would be safe, at 95 feet almost all would be out.
Three strikes, three outs, three bases, nine players, nine innings, played on a 90 foot diamond on a 90 degree wedge of turf.
All players are judged against every other player who has ever played the game.
If you fail to hit the ball seven out of ten times, you go to the hall of fame.
With minor modifications, baseball is the same as it ever has been, and the same as it will ever be.
Any one can play.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Thanks for the memories, Jack. I grew up listening to baseball on the radio. We were Orioles fans. My brother and I kept stats and listened faithfully to every game we could. When I got to make my first trip to a game, I was disappointed at how slowly the pace moved, it was much more exciting on the radio!Thanks for reading and commenting
You know your stuff and it's all good!Thanks for readign and commenting
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