Baseball, the Beatles and Hobbits

The Fan was going to write about teams with new managers this year, but maybe that will wait until tomorrow. Why is baseball such a defining sport in some people? The Fan has to consider that other sports may hold the same passion for others that is baseball here at heart. All that can be said is that there are three defining themes that underline life for this author: Baseball, the Beatles and Hobbits.

To some, there is the belief that we all long for Eden. The heart yearns for the simple, the beautiful and the fulfilling. But we've been kicked out of the garden and the simple always turns to complex. At first, we accept the complex and believe that it's an evolutionary necessity. We are mistaken of course and find whatever we can that brings us back a bit to the garden.

Baseball was and is such a haven. From childhood to having a giddyup when crossing the street, baseball is a trip back to the garden no matter how crazy, sad and messed up life can become. Even the ball parks are these emerald green islands in the middle of grey cities.

That's not to say that baseball is always stress free--and not just with drama and close games. Between labor issues, drugs, corked bats, hold outs, lock outs and the Chicago Black Sox, there have always been threats to the game.

And there is evolution with the emphasis on conditioning, statistics, specialists and technology. But take the game back to the field and it's simplicity itself. It's the same simplicity that some find tedious. No matter how evolutionary, as the commercial says: "It's still 90 feet from third to home."

This isn't the space to delve into the place in the soul held by the Beatles and Hobbits, but these are Edens for the Fan and so is baseball.