Base Stealing

The spirit of American Life.

Reading about the art of base stealing in baseball and softball, it occurred to me that this was another of the many ways in which baseball both reflects and reinforces central themes in American culture.  It also provides some guidance for those that want to win political elections. 

Base stealing is an expression of all our “forward” movements in American life.  Leave aside for the moment the notion of “stealing,” and accept that it is a legal act, according to the rules of the game.  Note how similar base stealing is to the way we live or wish to live our lives. 

You edge away from the base, warily watching for the opportunity to “take off.”  You move a couple of steps further from the base, retreat and then a shifting of feet.   You are dancing on your feet, leaning, in the desired direction.  You heart is set to “go.”  Your mind is exploring the right time to commit.  Then the headlong dash and the diving slide past the defender. 

There is a risk in standing pat.  One has only three or less outs before the window closes.  There is a risk in the attempt.  The advantages of success is not certain.  You have only advanced one base.  Home is still a far-reach. 

But the mind is centered on moving forward.  The very dynamic, the rhythm of the game itself, is telling you to move on. 

Is progress worth the risk?  Standing pat is not productive and there is no going back.  The game “stands still” a moment frozen in time, and then the throw, speeding bullet, and “faster than a speeding bullet,” the streaking runner. 

What is this but the DNA of America?  Here the flow of life is forward. There is no victory without progress.  Our eyes are on the future.  We send our children into the future and pledge to them that it will be “a better future.” 

Henry Ford said “history is bunk.”  I know this is not true and I have often tried to explain why.  There can be no meaningful progress without a past.  But that is secondary, merely intellectual, to the American spirit.  In our hearts we know without explanation that we are already part of the future.

But let me conclude with another observation from time spent in baseball and softball.  Once in the lead it becomes harder and harder to maintain the same drive and intensity toward adding additional runs.  I can recall a thousand times trying to rally a team to more effort once we gained the lead.  For many reason, we seem to want to “sit on the lead,” like a dragon in her cave atop a pile of gold.” 

And when we let up, when we fail to lean toward the next base, someone is catching up with us.  I guarantee.  Life is like baseball, a long-game.  Nine innings and a season of many days and nights. 

So especially in politics. It will be a narrative of the future, not a “painting” of the past that will win the election.   

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Thanks for reading. Subscribe for free to receive new posts (bi-weekly usually). Substack doesn’t ask for more than your email. Politics, history, religion and education seem like my go-to subjects, with a more expansive view of baseball when the Chicago Cubs are winning. I write, however, whatever comes to mind when I read widely in the mornings, and these days, that covers a wide area. Oh, and the pictures these days are from Ed’s garden, a topic, after reading Lewis Mumford’s essay on landscaping and the urban environment, I need to write about soon.