Article: Why Baseball? Why The Twins?

[Blackjack]

For the most part, those that took the time to share their comments on this article are not the ones who whine and complain about every little thing.

 

 

As I was reading thru this post that EXACTLY what I was noting, very few of the normal suspects have posted. Interesting.

 

Seth, thanks for the uplifting post, it was getting discouraging reading all the other posts about how bad the Twins are going to be this year even before the season started. I followed you over here from SethSpeaks and have learned so much about the minor league players, info that I never even thought about 10 years ago.

 

I never played baseball, I'm just a fan, I like having the Twins on the radio when I'm barbecueing or mowing or in my shop or sitting around the campfire. I try to plan my activities according to the Twins schedule so I'll be within reach of a radio. I hate when they play on the West coast, the games just get too late.

 

Go Twins!!

[Otto von Ballpark]

I think you meant central Minnesota, not way up north. Geography tells me Star Lake is central Minnesota, and Minneapolis is in the southern third of Minnesota. (I grew up on the Iron Range and take offense to anyone who says anything 30-90 minutes north of the Twin Cities is way up north!) :-)

 

To be fair, on the DNR web site, I count 5 lakes named "Star Lake" in Minnesota. That's bound to happen, with 10,000+ and some uncreative namers...

[Devereaux]

1. It’s beautiful. Eric Davis just throwing out Carney Lansford at third. Kirby Puckett leaping higher than he should be able to leap. Short stops making backhanded stops. Home runs hitting the tops of flagpoles.
    
   
2. History. Baseball goes back to the Civil War and hasn’t changed much since the end of the 19th Century. I can read Ring Lardner stories from 100 years ago and know just what he’s talking about. It’s America’s First Game.
    
   
3. You don’t need to be a physical freak. You just need quick strong wrists. You don’t need to be taller than 6’5” or weigh over 350 pounds.
    
   
4. No clock. No tenth-of-seconds. No hundredths-of-seconds.
    
   
5. No penalties. No free throws, no power plays.
    
   
6. You can never stop learning. Whether it’s advanced stats, or just something you didn’t care about when you were younger. There’s always something you don’t know. There’s always something to take note of.
    
   
7. It takes place in the summer.
    
   
8. It’s played outside, on grass.
    
   
9. No bone-on-bone. We don’t have to watch our most physically talented young people intentionally ruin their futures, like in contact sports.
    
   
10. The ebb and flow. Whoever said it’s like real life, slowness interspersed with bursts of action.
     
    
11. Baseball is for lovers. There’s not the martial spirit in fans as you see in football and other sports.
     
    
12. The dimensions. 90 feet to first base is perfection. Should be enough time to make a throw to first. Unless the defender double clutches and the runner is hustling.
     
    
13. No padding or body armor. Baseball caps instead of helmets hiding faces.
     
    
14. No tie games.
     
    
15. It’s a family game. The tickets are more affordable than in other sports and you tend to see more older and very young people.
     
    
16. It’s every day. There’s always another game to look forward to.
     
    
17. It’s a literate game. So many good stories, from Dan Gladden on the radio to Patrick Reusse in the newspaper, to fans on the Internet.
    

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Grew up in suburbs. Many trips to Met Stadium and metrodome and other ball fields. Baseball ran in the family. Learned to keep score from my grandfather. When going to a friend's house for the first time I always sized up his backyard for whiffle ball potential. I bounced a tennis ball off my back steps just like many of you did (but stood closer than 30 feet, which allowed for long fly balls over the outfielder's head.. Loved reading box scores in the paper. Found friends to play catch. Had a grade school teacher who genuinely didn't understand why the boys were better on multiplying the 7 on the multiplication tables than girls (hint: football). I played ball for as long as I could, until I couldn't anymore.

 

It is so true: every player that is discussed on Twins Daily is the best of the best and in almost all cases, they deserve to be talked about in the best possible light. Which they often don't get. The discussion threads often get divisive and unreasonably critical but I think that gives the site credibility; I think the moderation works; and I think the positive voices at Twins Daily are the soul of the site and the moral compass. The site would fall apart without them. I wish I had been here from the start of Twins Daily but am thinking this might still be the beginning.

[Sarah]

Why the Twins? My parents tell me the story of sitting on the floor when I was 4-5 years old sorting out my baseball cards and listening to Herb Carneal and Joe Angell and the Twins games during the summer.

 

I have almost the exact same story- my mom says I used to go into the TV room and turn on the Twins game when I was a little girl. She says one time when I was about six my dad came in and said, "Sarah, how can you watch this? They are so bad." I don't remember this but according to my mom I replied, "Oh, I don't care if they win- I just like to watch them play."

 

And some of you who have mentioned the lack of a clock in baseball might enjoy this quote from Earl Weaver:

 

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the goddamn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."

[BigTrane]

Thanks for starting this thread, Seth- this is truly community work!

Also: there are some truly great stories and even poetry on this thread. These experiences are the non-analytic "stuff" that makes baseball the greatest sport ever.

 

There's more than enough negativity right now, and much of it for good reason. However, one of the great things that makes baseball such a beautiful game is the fact that while we can project (and baseball must be the stat-friendliest sport) we will never be able to predict. Case in point: the 2012 and 2013 Bosox. Hope is never unreasonable, even if unlikely.

 

My own story: my maternal uncle was the Little League coach in small town South Carolina, and bought me my first bat, glove, and ball. Every summer when we went to visit them, he'd just add me in to his team. I'm 45, so this was the early 70's, and he was the local tobacco-spitting champion (43 feet, if I recall). Anyway, the chaw, the pinetar (this was all wood bats & tons of tar-style Little League) the smell of the dirt, the grass, and the pines will never leave me. Through him, I discovered that being a lefty is a blessing. Where else would you get that?

 

He is a diehard Braves fan, and so I remember watching Hammerin' Hank do his thing, watching with him. We also marveled at The Big Red Machine and the We Are Family Pirates- my first Bert experience- though Kent Tekulve's delivery made a bigger impression at the time.

 

Later, my family moved to Europe and did primary school in Brussels, Belgium. I played Little League there, and that was an anchor to me. When we went back to the US for summer vacation, I always had ball to talk with my uncle. Stranger in a strange land, but I was good.

 

A few years later, we moved back to MN, and that was the Butch Wynegar/Roy Smalley period. I think I had a Ron Cey bat at the time. The Twins were not good, but that wasn't the point. Your team is where your heart and home is, and even with all the moving, Minnesota was my home. Case closed.

 

In '87, I was in my freshman year at college, and from where I was in the Wedge on 24th St., I could hear the cheering from downtown. In '91, my team was pitted against my uncle's team. What a dream come true!

 

Now I am teaching in China, but still avidly following the Twins every day. I'm truly concerned about the state of the club. However, baseball is The Great Leveler- another beauty of the game. Just look at the injuries in Spring Training. If Verlander goes down and Cabrera has some sort of lingering injury, then the AL Central is wide open. Sometimes, that's all it takes.

 

Anyway, I am teaching US Culture this semester, and I've made baseball the centerpiece. I don't think you can grasp America if you can't grasp baseball. I've set up a simplified fantasy league, am holding clinics, am teaching all the baseball idioms that make American English what it is, and next week will have an opening day party. At the end of the semester, we'll have a scrimmage, followed by a tailgate party. Gotta do it right.

 

Many other posters have made great points about the uniqueness and beauty of the game- that's all in the lesson. Certain memories stick in my mind though. Moving from Chicago to LA after graduation, and listening to games all through the night, even in New Mexico... 2001 working in Ventura and having the choice of listening to Scully or Jon Miller. Watching the D-Backs beat the Yanquis post 9/11...

 

In the end, I guess it's all about tradition, culture, family. I love the history (I'm a historian) and stats, but there's so much more. Listening to a game while driving cross-country through the night is sublime... where else do we get extended story-telling in our culture? What is more quintessentially American than listening to a ball game while you are On The Road?

[Jerr]

Great article and thread!

 

I was 8 when the Twins first arrived and baseball was the sport in that world of mine. Never played any organized ball. Just neighborhood pick up games as little league wasn't in my Minneapolis neighborhood.

 

We played baserunner on the sidewalk with the lines being the bases and one would try to get as many bases without making an out from the 2 catchers. Record was 36 held by me.

 

Also threw a ball against the cement steps for hours, used a tennis ball as the flies off the cracks or line drives were coming back fast. Had a large barn like garage with a huge roof where we threw the ball to catch high fly balls.

 

Plus hours of pitcher and catcher with all the dreaded Yankees coming to the plate. Catcher would call strikes and balls and throw hits to field.

 

And baseball cards, that I gave away after I grew up. I can cry as I had cards from the 1950's! It really hurt to take my son to Twinsfest and see those cards for hundreds of dollars a piece!

 

So many memories and baseball endures for so many of the reasons in this thread. The mind games, no time, any thing can happen, along with all the great stories and memories from games gone by.

 

Up north on Kimble Lake each Summer, with just Herb Carneal calling a game as we fished and swam. Only interruption would be to find a station playing the Beatles new release.

 

Thanks all for bringing back so much and firing me up for that next pitch!!!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

(Short version, as I don't know if/when I'll get to long version, and I want to get this in before the game starts)

 

Why baseball?

 

Nothing is better to pass the time than playing catch. And running down fly balls at the edge of one's range is worth it.

 

I played in high school. I got the nickname "Skud" ("back in the early 90's, just about the time of our conflict with Saddam and the Iraqis" as the movie says) because, both at bat and in the field, when I threw/hit the ball, you didn't really know where it was going, just that it would hit hard. It was a load of fun, to say the least.

 

Why the Minnesota Twins?

 

I lived in Rochester, MN during '87. We moved during the summer of '89, but retaining sports loyalties have since become a point of pride, if nothing else.

 

Why TwinsDaily? (I know it isn't part of the original question)

 

At least for me, amongst all the discussion, opinions, reporting, I think I see something of the atmosphere I grew up in back in the 80s. Anyway, I do enjoy following what's here.

 

For what it's worth. (While this thread has fallen off the top listings, and I haven't taken the time to read everything before me, I will come back to it. This is one of those threads that isn't really time sensitive. And maybe I'll give a more in depth response.)

[JB_Iowa]

Why Baseball?

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/30/the-timeless-beauty-of-baseball.html

 

 

There are reasons why some people are paid to write. I wish I had Mike Barnicle's turn of phrase.

[mattjc1983]

First post so I'll keep it (reasonably) short. The easiest answer to why I cheer for the Twins (coming up on 31) is that my Dad is a western Minnesota native and he and my mom met at University of Northwestern - St. Paul. I was born to cheer this team on.

 

Why baseball? Because no other sport can compare:

 

1) Mike Trout being an obvious exception, for the most part you can't come into the majors and dominate from the get-go. While 18-20 yo kids have regularly come into the NBA in the last 15 years and instantly become the best player in the league or close to it (what's that tell you about the quality of that sport), the typical ROY in baseball has what, a .270/20/70 line?

 

2) It's a thinking man's game. Watching the NCAA tournament games just reminds me that about 95% of basketball is genetics. Baylor had 3 guys over 6'8" this season. The strategy was pass the ball down low, and let that guy throw his weight or height around until he got close enough to lay it in. That's not skill, that's genetics. With some exceptions, football is the same. It's about size and speed. Meanwhile, baseball has had all kinds of stars in all shapes and sizes. Whether at the plate, on the mound, or in the field, it's about knowing your opponent's tendencies, the situation at hand, and being prepared.

 

Best game in the world!

[Jdosen]

Why baseball? I wish could better articulate my feelings about the most beautiful game I've ever known. I'll try anyways, but I won't do it justice.

 

It's my dad's favorite sport. I never once had to beg him to toss the ball around in the summertime. I really fell in love when I was a kid, maybe 8 or 9 years old. The summers were the best. Beginning of May was when the Big Ten tournament was always on TV and when Little League started in my town. I would watch the Gophers play whoever during the day and then go out to the garage and throw myself grounders off the door for hours. I fashioned myself a shortstop and I wanted to play for the Gophers. I had some pretty high goals!

 

The most fun I ever had in baseball was my 14-16 year old summers playing VFW baseball in Hibbing. We had practice every morning at 10 unless we had games. The carpools were so much fun, as well as our relative success. The coaches I played for on that team were really fun, but great motivators at the same time. My first year, the last game I hit 9th and ended up hitting about .220 on the year. That's when I decided I actually wanted to get *good* at hitting, so I quit my winter sport and got a makeshift cage with a Mauer Quickswing in my garage. The next year I was hitting in the middle of the order for the varsity. I put in a lot of hours, but I loved it. I'm happy I did, because baseball is a lot more fun when you're not an automatic out!

 

My high school career was ok, but I wasn't good enough to play at the only D3 school that I wanted to go to: St. Thomas, so I ended up getting cut as a freshman. Now I'm playing town ball every summer and I don't plan on stopping any time soon (I'm only 21). Also, this past summer, I got the privilege to coach with the guys who coached me in VFW ball, which was an honor and a thrill.

 

Why the Twins? They're the home team, and they've been on every night in our living room as long as I can remember. I grew up on the Hunter/Jones/Mientkiewicz/Guzman Twins that revitalized baseball in the state. Those were fun teams and now that I'm living in the area, I can't wait until we are back to winning teams. Hopefully sooner than later.

 

That's basically my baseball story to date. I hope I didn't toot my horn too badly