One of my favorite quotes is "The sound of a bat hitting a baseball is the heartbeat of America," and with this Memorial Day weekend marking about the first one in ten years that I won't spend it at the ball field, I figured I'd explain deeper into America's pastime.
Going back through the history, a sports fan can see how baseball has affected America for the better. The only thing that has ever stopped the heartbeat of baseball pumping through stadiums is the sport itself. Wars never stopped it. The Depression never stopped it. The only time it ever stopped was due to strike, and what an empty summer that was. The crack of the bat was simply an echo in the mind; but that showed how much baseball really affects.
Scrolling through more history books, you can find a quote from Jacques Barzun: "Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball." Baseball gave hope to the poor, do nothing boys. Foster child's, farm boys, the do nothings, could all grow up to be Babe Ruth.
Baseball players once made more than the President of the United States, but how couldn't they? Presidents sat there knowing every step they took was another critique. Meanwhile the ball players laughed mighty laughs, swung big for the fences, bought all money could buy and were the faces of the American people.
Now, where large amounts of money is earned comes many critics. The contracts continue to grow bigger. But where does the money come from? You can say the home-run, or the strikeout for that matter. One of the biggest money-makers in the sports world is All-Star week for Major League Baseball. Why? Because people want to see the larger than life individuals. But what the critics don't understand is that the big money wasn't just given, it was earned.
By the time a major leaguer hits 25 years old, I can assure you they've thrown the ball and swung a bat one million times. They spent countless hours in the cage. Hours in the heat during the summer. Hours perfecting their game just to get a shot. They felt the heartbeat that America built for them.
What people don't seem to know is how little minor leaguers get. I see many kids drafted at 18 years old and ready to take on the pressure, but instead they spend a lot of their time sleeping on run-down hotel mattresses, broken down buses squeezed way too tight next to a teammate and moving from coast to coast in a blink of an eye.
The life of a ballplayer is not the glamorous life it all seems to crack out to be. It truly gets down to the nitty gritty on a regular basis. But a ballplayer is a dreamer. We spend our days dreaming of walk-off home runs, perfect games, championship dog piles, signing that major contract. We feel the heartbeat.
The heartbeat America built for us.
