Many people consider baseball to be a boring or simple game, however, to me is more complex than it seems. If we break down baseball into movements we can realize that it is pure physics into action; the way that the ball is projected once it comes into contact with the bat follows Newton’s third law of action and reaction, and what it’s required to score a home run goes back to basic principles of geometry. The combination of these elements makes Baseball something more than a simple sport, and that’s how many fanatics feel.
Something that I have noticed is that if you are Dominican, it is immediately assumed that you are a baseball fan, and I’m not the exception to this general perception. I have witnessed how each year my homeland splits between the two teams battling for the first place in the winter baseball season, so I never had to ask to be part of this game, I was expected to.
Spending the summers of my childhood supporting my father while he played for a recreational league was a family mandate. My sister, my father, and I had to embark on weekly trips to distant locations in which the games were taking place. My father saw those field trips as an opportunity for us to visit his old neighborhood, and to learn about his humble beginnings. During games, I was able to interact with family and friends while cheering my father, even though at that time I didn’t exactly know what I was cheering for. To me it was not about winning, it was about having a great time.
A wonderful thing about baseball stadiums is that seats weren’t separated and I had to coexist with people who were not on my side. There, I was able to learn the art of laughing at the rival team while respecting their supporters. Years later, I had to employ the same concept while competing for my school’s debate team. While debating an opposing view, I had to draw a line between an idea and the individual, which wasn’t hard to do because I was used to interacting with people from the other team.
People might argue that a baseball doesn’t have anything to do with beliefs and philosophies, however, through the years, I have come to understand that baseball fans support their teams for many reasons. There are some people who enjoy sports in general and they enjoy baseball as any other game. On the other hand, there are those who watch or play baseball for tradition because, like me, they grew up in a family that loves the game. There also the parents who make their kids go to the games because, like my father, they see this as an opportunity to spend time with their family.
In my case, I support my homeland team, because it reminds me of where I came from and the people that I grew up with. Finally, there are those who see baseball with hope because it offers them the opportunity of a better tomorrow, like some of the kids from my country who train hard every day to achieve their dreams of becoming professional baseball players. For them, baseball is more than just a game, it represents the only real chance that most of them will ever have to escape the extreme poverty that surrounds them.
Watching my favorite sport motivated me to meditate upon my life, and served me as a road for self-discovery, to remain loyal to myself and my team during triumphs and tribulations and to never give up.
As the years progressed, I used my own experiences with baseball to guide my life. I learned that it doesn’t matter how good or talented I may be if my team is falling behind. And that life, like baseball, is not a one-man sport - it requires sportsmanship and cooperation in order to score. In some cases I must realize that a ball may be too high for me and I must leave it to those on the field to catch it.
It also helped me acknowledge the need for diversity, because a successful team is made out of pitchers, catchers, and basemen, with different expertise and skills. Games can often be long and tedious, especially if your team is losing, making it easier to get frustrated - that’s how I learned to be patient because in a blink of an eye, in one inning, everything can change and countless home runs can be scored.
Those above mentions are just a few of the great lessons that I acquired from the complex world of baseball. I understand baseball as a science, as a sport, as an art, but also as a way of life, as a philosophy of life conduction towards success, like the runner whose objective is to reach home.