April, It's Fools, It’s Baseball; It’s America

          April 1st has two meanings in our family. For the Admiral, it is April Fools' Day, and she lives up to the suggested behavior. She loves practical jokes, so the day is for her. She has gotten me so many times over the years that I have begun to dread the day, but this year, I got her.

            Our day starts early by most standards, but when the alarm went off on April 1 at the customary time, I shouted, "Oh, my gosh, it's 7:30!" Meaning, all who have to be somewhere, are horribly late. It was a good laugh, but I sat on pins and needles all day dreading her certain revenge. Not even that level of anxiety can dampen my mood and joy for the true meaning of the day. April 1st is the holy day-of-days, the Opening Day of baseball season.

            I love this time of year. The whole of America is innocent with new beginning. We’re born again. It is trite to quote John Fogerty’s “Centerfield”, but there really is “new grass on the field”. Another season of baseball has begun, and with it, America’s heart beats.

            Baseball is America’s game. It is a microcosm of the American experience. Just like our country, baseball is a game of individuals. Nine come together for a common cause, to win. These nine people are as diverse in character, stature, ability, and motivation as is the populace of our nation, but they, like our nation, ban together to contest for victory. No one person is greater than the whole. There may be stars on a baseball team but it is the utility player, the player who has a role, the unsung who labors in the shadows, it is he who makes the team and our nation winners. It is the common guy who is willing to sacrifice for the good of the team, for the good of us all.

            Again, like life in America, if you fail today, baseball allows you to get up and swing for the fence tomorrow. It almost insists that you do. Take the opportunity. Try again, fail again, but keep at it and you will succeed.

            Ted Williams is the last player to hit over .400. He hit .406 in 1941, a remarkable achievement.  If you break it down, that average means that for every ten times Ted Williams went to the plate to hit, he failed six of them. The National League batting champion for 2012, Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants, hit .336.  That means that he failed 66.4% of the time. Our country is the same way. We may stumble and fall, but in the end, we will be winners if we keep swinging. We do not quit even if we are knocked down six times. We will get up and win the next four, and the game.

            As in America, there is symmetry in baseball. Our country is all about being square, and just. There are ninety feet between the bases. If there were ninety-one, no one would ever be safe, and if there were eighty-nine feet, no one would ever be out. That is not American. In America, we all have a chance to succeed equally. The American way of life is based on our dedication, skill, willingness to improve, level of sacrifice, and our never quit attitude, just like baseball.

            Baseball is the only game where the offense faces the entire defense of the other team one person at a time, just like Americans, we are never afraid of the odds. “It will take all nine of you to beat me. Bring me your best.” That is the American spirit. It is what makes us unconquerable. You cannot beat one of us much less nine of us. The only way America can be defeated, like a baseball team is from within.

            Dissension and complacency will bring us down. We all have to do our part or the team fails. No one is asked to do it all, but we are all asked to do some. With new grass on the field, we have an opportunity to revel in what makes us great, each other. Let us not let each other down, and as for the jokes made at our expense, let us revel in the fact that someone cares enough, and is secure enough to joke with us.