America's Game

Pre-season games start today. O.K., there were a couple of  -- vs. college games and one intra-squad game earlier in the week and the Pirates played the Braves yesterday but (including a couple of split squads) there are eight games today and roughly that number every day from now to the end of March.

(Jet Blue Park, Ft Myers. Boston Red Sox)

I love baseball. It's a generalist game. Unlike say, basketball, where height confers advantage above and beyond skill, or football, where sheer mass can be sufficient, there are positions and strategies that favor almost every body type, size, speed, agility, etc. Big and slow? No problem. You're a first baseman. Otherwise small and weak but good reaction time? Short stop. Left handed? Right handed? As a game that turns on statistical variations almost any little deviation from the norm can be made into an advantage.

(Steinbrenner Field, Tampa. New York Yankees)

It's a game of strategy. There are batting and fielding and pitching coaches but there's a reason the guy in charge of the team and the plan of the game is called the manager. While there is a core roster of players, who plays that day and the order in which they come to bat depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the batters and the opposing pitcher. The pitcher's choices of pitches depends on the batter, the count against that batter, the current score, the innings left in the game, whether or not other opponents are already on base, the number of outs already recorded and the player due to bat next. And that calculation changes with each pitch. And both pitchers and batters can be changed at any time if the manager sees a potential advantage.

(Digital Domain Park, Port St. Lucie. New York Mets)

But mostly, it's a game of occasionally running after and throwing a ball, or hitting a ball and then running around that provides an excuse to get out in the sunshine and warm breezes on a green field and mostly stand around talking. In other words, a rural summer day.

That's what makes baseball America's game, the nostalgia for an idealized lost past and the innocence that went with it.

And beer*.

*At least through the seventh inning stretch.