More on books about baseball

I've received a fair number of responses to my question, "What's the big deal about baseball?" Some people told me that they loved baseball but hated baseball books. I also heard from people who agreed with me. Others said that they felt neutral about baseball, but hated other sports, such as basketball, ice hockey and skating. And a few hated me for posing the question.

The best response was from Dana A. Brand. He sent in three short essays from his book, "Mets Fan." With passion and humor, Mr. Brand explains the big deal about baseball.

An excerpt: "It is as if you are riding along on a wave, feeling the unknown future becoming the vivid present and then taking permanent form as the past.  In this way, watching baseball is like watching a movie or a play or reading a book.  What is different is that those who are creating what you watch do not know what is coming any more than you do.  The future is genuinely unknown and unknowable.  There isn't even the thuggish certainty that a much stronger team will defeat a much weaker team."

Wow, maybe those of us who thought we hated baseball should check it out again.

The reason I asked to begin with is that I'm open to having my mind changed about it. Mr. Brand's response has given me a glimpse of why people love baseball. It makes me want to read more, and I will. I just bought his book. 

Read a bit of what I read on his site.

Comments

[Dana Brand]

Thank you for your mention. I have to agree with many of your readers about baseball books. Most of them are cynically assembled as Father's Day or holiday presents, symbols of filial love, not intended to be read. Very few give any sense of the poetry of baseball or the joys of fandom. I wanted my books about baseball to be different. There's a real problem, though, with publishers who refuse to believe that sports fans read. This is ridiculous, as most of the highly literate people I know are sports fans of some kind (usually baseball fans). I'm hoping this will change.

[Theresa Muir]

Laura, I wish I had seen your question about baseball earlier. It is something I think about quite a lot-- since baseball feels like part of my bloodstream and nervous system, I often have to ask myself "why." Dana Brand is certainly the one of the best people to address it.

I am kind of lucky, since my dad is NOT the biggest baseball fan in my family, so I have no filial obligation to wade through the cynical Father's Day choices. I can just try to skim the cream. Dana's writings are among the cream of recent days. He can tell you about the aesthetics and logic of the game, and the feeling of community that is ineluctably wrapped up with it. If you grow up with baseball, yo9u grow up with it like your neighborhood, religion, ethnicity, and your team is something to embrace or leave behind. If you didn't, for many, it is a delightful thing to discover in your mid-twenties or later-- an ex-boyfriend from Australia left me with a taste for Australian wines, and I left him a thoroughly knowledgeable baseball fan. We are both better people for it.