Opening day is here and baseball season is upon us. This once great event used to be celebrated in our country. Baseball is, after all, America’s favorite pastime. Or at least it once was. Many would argue that the NFL is now our country’s defining sport, and perhaps it is. The Super Bowl is pretty much a lock to be the most-watched event every year. NFL players have transcended the sport for pop-culture notoriety in ways MLB players can only dream of. Week after week, people spend their entire Sundays plopped on their couch watching every millisecond of football that their brains can handle (or wives will allow). The NFL season is watched and scrutinized from the moment of the first kick-off until weeks after the Lombardi trophy is hoisted. Football may sit atop mainstream sports culture, but baseball should not be taken for granted. Baseball is still America’s best sport.
While people anticipate the NFL season and spend every second agonizing over every snap, it pales in comparison to baseball season. Baseball itself may not be as exciting as football to some, but this isn’t about singular games. I’m talking about the overall season of baseball and everything that comes with it. Baseball season is still the best season. Not only for sports fans but people in general.
The Game Can Be Exciting
“Baseball is a boring sport.” You hear it all the time. Pitches take forever to be thrown, and the results are nothing more than a ball or strike, which adds to this idea. While it’s a fair assessment at times, these same people fail to look at the NFL in the same light. Not every play results in a touchdown or a player getting jacked up. In fact, only about 11 minutes of the 3-hour game time is actual action; for baseball, it’s around 18. Sure, neither of these are great lengths of solid playtime, but it’s important to note the similarity between the two. The NFL being a contact sport gives the allusion that those 11 minutes of playtime are nonstop high-impact moments. Baseball however doesn’t hide what it truly is; a series of mediocre events before an unforgettable occurrence that reminds us why we love it.
It’s a metaphor for life
This to me is why baseball is so important and exciting. The game is a metaphor for our overall lives. Not every second of life is a colossal event that we’ll replay in our own minds version of SportsCenter at night. The majority of our days are nothing more than menial tasks and hours spent trying to just get by and make a living. We wake up every day and push through the relentlessness of life, waiting for something to happen that will bring us joy for a fleeting moment. Therein lies the power of baseball. For all the days wasted winding up to just throw a ball or strike, it’s worth it for that eventual crack of the bat.
We all have those moments in our life that we cherish. This could be the day you get married, have your first child, or buy your first car. Hell, it could just be to win at bar trivia or even wake up and have the energy to get out of bed. Whatever milestone makes someone happy, those are what keep us going. Those are the home runs of life, the seconds we all are dialed in. In those moments, nothing else matters. The instances that make life worth living aren’t always what we see coming either. Much like during a game, we become comfortable with strikeouts and singles in life. Yet when the bat makes the right contact and the ball winds up deep in the stands, people are enthralled. Baseball is a euphemism for life and the celebratory moments we all relish.
The Summer Season
Baseball season also signifies that Summer is near. Even people who hate baseball can’t argue about the overall pleasures that come with Summer. Summer means BBQs and weather that replenishes the vitamin D many of us sorely lack. Not only do many people use this time to take their vacations, but seasonal depression goes away for the time being as well. You don’t have to shovel snow, but instead, get to smell fresh-cut grass. Even after working another day at our mundane jobs, we feel as if we have all the time in the world to head home while the sun is shining as bright as it does.
Baseball season happening at the same time as these things just adds to its overall stature. Football suffers as it takes place during the months many of us would like to forget. Time moves slower during the cold harsh days of winter, and quality of life takes a hit. Summer on the other hand gives us rejuvenation and feels like it’ll never end when you’re in the thick of it, much like baseball. Unfortunately, this isn’t true, as both will eventually come to a finish. However, it helps to know that each one will inevitably happen again, like clockwork, at the same time next year. It’s a season we all truly look forward to with excitement, and it never fails to deliver.
Nothing Beats Going To The Stadium
Going to an NFL game in person is honestly not always the greatest. While the tailgates are superb, the games themselves are often more enjoyable to watch on TV. Baseball games however are made to be enjoyed in person, and the stadium experience adds to the quality of the sport. To be fair, this idea has somewhat taken a hit in recent years. Ticket prices and concessions have made it almost necessary to take out another mortgage in order to afford a game for an entire family. But for those who can make it work, or just live in areas with smaller market teams, the trip to the ballpark is worth it.
Whether it’s getting there early and watching batting practice or just making it in time for the national anthem, being at the park is special. Watching players warm up, bringing your glove in hopes of catching a foul ball, singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. These are things that bring people back, regardless of cost. The thrill of seeing those in-game moments, such as home runs or big strikeouts, is worth the price of admission. Few joys in life rival being in a sold-out stadium watching the home team get a walk-off win. Life feels almost surreal in those moments, and you lose yourself in the excitement of the crowd.
Stadium Experience
Stadiums have also been getting upgrades over the years, adding as many things as they can to enhance the overall fan experience. Slides, riverboats, and fountains are some of the newer features of stadiums. While those things are fun, the older parks still possess qualities that make them acclaimed hallmarks of the sport. The Green Monster, the Ivy Wall, and the Big Apple at Citi Field… and I guess the lattice design of Yankee Stadium*, are all pieces of history worth seeing.
Plus, baseball games have great giveaways. While we are no longer treated to 10-cent beer nights, we still often go home with fun trinkets. Free bats, jerseys, and bobble heads await us as we enter the stadium. Not to mention some, like Cleveland, allow you to run the bases and step on the field for a moment. It’s meant for kids, sure, but screw that. If I can pretend to be starting MLB shortstop as a 35-year-old man, I am taking advantage of that opportunity. Every single time, no question.
*My own bias made it hard to admit this
Beer
This may be controversial, but baseball is the best sport to watch while drinking a beer. Anyone who has read any of my other articles on BellyUp, you’ll know beer is an integral part of an overall watching experience. Sitting back with a beer in your hand and watching baseball (on TV or in person) is a true modern-day joy of life.
Football and beer are synonymous these days, but that’s more due to the sponsorship deals that dilute our Football Sundays every week. Every other commercial is either for a beer or fast food (Ask Damar Hamlin). This isn’t to say it’s not great having countless beers during a seemingly endless Sunday Funday, but those will catch up to you. Especially on a Monday morning. Baseball and a beer is a more relaxing experience. Plus, there’s a game played pretty much every night, so that’s actually more opportunities to drink a beer. It’s not alcoholism if it’s during a sporting event, remember that.
Definitive Beer rankings while watching
- Baseball
- Football
- Hockey
- Basketball
- Literally anything else competitive
- Soccer
Anyone can play Baseball (sorta)
Baseball players have a reputation for not being the most athletic. It doesn’t help that the greatest player to ever live basically subsisted on hot dogs and beer.
It goes further than that, though. Every year adult men find themselves spending their summer days playing in slow-pitch softball leagues. Smacking the hell out of a ball that slowly fell from 12 feet in the air helps many of us overcome our failed athletic dreams of youth. Every week finds people putting on batting gloves, oiling their mitts, rubbing eye black on their faces, and momentarily emulating baseball icons of lore. Full disclosure, I am 100% talking about myself. Hence why every time I’m at the plate, I point my bat like Jim Thome, aiming for deep center. Right before hitting a slow dribbler back to the pitcher.
Baseball is America
It truly is the most American sport. Our nation’s best holiday, the Fourth of July, often is spent with a game on. BBQing on a porch in the hot summer sun, kids playing in the pool, a cold beer in hand. Add a game in the background and that’s the American dream. The celebrations of our country, our milestones, and memories of our heroes, baseball has always been enmeshed with that. Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and even remembering 9/11. Images of these days and lasting memories, for many, are tied to baseball.
When America was trying to pick itself up after 9/11, it was baseball that helped us regroup. Mike Piazza hitting a 2-run go-ahead homer in the 8th, 10 days after the tragedy, was for a lot of New Yorkers a defining moment in our nation’s recuperation. Sammy Sosa running around with an American flag resonates still to this day for some. Wearing the hats of first responders is something players still do to this day, honoring the heroes.
It’s a part of our lives
Whether you’re a fan or not, baseball will always be a part of life. Whether you still watch religiously or casually or even haven’t in a long time. The memories associated with baseball have created a lasting impression on us. Its association with our country has placed it firmly in American culture, but it also touches on a personal level. Think of Costner asking his dad to have a catch at the end of Field of Dreams. How many other people have memories of that from their childhood, and would give anything to experience it again? One more catch with their dad. Or just walking into a park for the first time as a child, the sky wider than you’ve ever seen. The grass was a shade of green you didn’t even know existed.
Baseball season brings with it hope and excitement. The temperature is changing and no matter what hardships you’ve been dealing with, baseball offers a fresh start. Suddenly life seems better, normalcy has been restored and we get 6 months of regularity and comfort. Many of those 6 months will be filled with balls and strikes. That’s a given. Yet we’ll sit and anxiously wait for that home run of life. All with a beer and hot dog in hand.
Thanks for reading! For more sports content, visit Belly Up Sports and follow me on X, @RyanCapalbo.
