Baseball Heroics and Strategies
Sport's Season-Long Popularity Overshadows Super Bowl and Final Four
Baseball, though increasingly challenged for the title of national pastime, nevertheless retains the loyalty and sustained interest of millions of Americans from April to November. Though overshadowed by media attention to events like the Super Bowl and the Final Four, the game goes on attracting record numbers of fans.
To be sure, baseball does not have the near-exclusive hold on the public attention it enjoyed in the days of Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, Joe DiMaggio, and Bob Feller. Then, pro football and basketball were hardly blips on the pre-television screen and college loyalties were primarily regional. Since then, the marketing of the National Football League, including half-time shows and cheerleaders, has been one of the great commercial successes of the last four decades. The National Basketball Association learned some of those lessons and added a few of its own in becoming a world-wide brand.
Meanwhile, baseball plugs along with a minmum of showmanship. To the untutored eye, it may even appear to be a slow and rarely eventful sport. And truly, there is a lot of standing around, seemingly waiting for something to happen. But fans, old and new, have learned to analyze and appreciate what is going on both on the field and in the managers' heads.
Football and basketball have a relatively limited number of plays to run and can rely heavily on one or a few star performers. Every baseball play, by contrast, depends on what a batter is able to do with each of perhaps hundreds of pitches thrown in a game. Each ball may be missed, popped up, hit on the ground, or driven to a far corner of the field. Any base runners have to decide, with or without guidance, whether to attempt to advance depending on their speed and the throwing ability of the fielder..
Is a pitcher tiring? That single judgement has cost league and world championships, and even managers' jobs from the days of Walter Johnson to those of Pedro Martinez. The judicious use of relief pitchers, pinch hitters, and other substitutes is another hallmark of a successful manager. The ability of pinch runner Dave Roberts to steal a base and get into scoring position enabled the Boston Red Sox to turn the tide and begin the most spectacular comeback win in postseason history in 2004.
Baseball fans are also attracted to the team nature of the sport. In contrast to 40 carries for a running back or 40 shots for a power forward, every one of nine batters must get his turn, the best pitcher can start only every fourth or fifth game, and the best fielder can only go after a ball hit reasonably close to him. As the eminently quotable former Yankee manager Casey Stengel said after a World Series win, "I couldn't have done it wiithout my players."
And some of the greatest rewards do come from watching clearly extraordinary individual performances: Willie Mays running to the farthest corners of the longest center field to catch a bid for a triple, Don Larsen retiring all 27 batters under the pressure of a tied world series, DiMaggio hitting safely in 56 consecutive games, Ozzie Smith covering more ground between second and third bases than anyone before or since. Those things don't happen every day, but there's always the potential for something historic. And there's lots going on in between.
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