He Hit the Bull

“What in the heck do you see in baseball?”. One side of me was tempted to respond, “How the heck could you not love baseball?” But I didn‚t. I knew I wasn‚t going to change my friend‚s mind and he certainly wasn‚t changing mine.

First, baseball is about a season, a 162-game season. If you win 60% of your games you have had a stellar season.

So, you just lost 12-1 and your best pitcher got chased in the 3rd inning. As any baseball fan knows, “We‚ll get them tomorrow.”

First and foremost, baseball is a platform from which we can communicate with our family and friends.

Baseball is multidirectional. I can communicate about and through baseball. A friend can be explaining a problematic work day and I can say, “There is no crying in baseball.” Baseball movies make the world a better place.

Bull Durham. Oh, I enjoy Bull Durham. This spring, in the heat of his baseball season, I made a decision that I‚m certain all of my family did not agree with, but I did it anyway. I watched Bull Durham with my 13-year-old great-grandson. Yes, I know but I also know what a fun and effective platform for communicating it could be.

I don‚t recommend it for everyone but it has been great for us. We watched the movie and we had belly laughs together. We understood.

People who are dogging it became lollygaggers. It seems life is full of lollygaggers. You don‚t want to be a lollygagger, especially in the classroom or on a ball field.

In the July heat and in the midst of grinding tournament, I texted, “We need a Bull Durham rainout”. No, we didn‚t turn on any sprinkler system but the simple acknowledgement made the circumstances bearable. We laughed and felt better.

Ebby Calvin LaLoosh was a raw, undisciplined yet talented pitching prospect, “a million dollar arm with a 5 cent head”. He was wild and erratic. A Skiatook Bucks pitcher unleashed a heck of a wild pitch. It was high, wide and handsome. A voice from stands said, “LAA Loooosh”. The pitcher laughs.

Recently watching a Cardinals game, a pitcher threw a 100 MPH fast ball wild, dislodging a letter from the brick wall behind home plate. The TV announcer blurted out, “Good Lord! He hit the bull.” The text messages flew. Any piece of wisdom is a Crash Davis. A wiffle ball sailing over the roof of the house to a 90% on a math quiz have become a Crash Davis.

In a recent post-game interview, a young player started, “I‚m just happy to be here. I hope I can help the team.” My phone lit up, “A Crash Davis”. It seemed to be4 verbatim restatement of the advice Crash gave LaLoosh about giving an interview. How about that.

Wisdom doesn‚t always have to come from some high, faraway place. Sometimes a movie is just a movie, but sometimes it‚s not. Just ask me.

I see great things in baseball. It‚s our game, the American game. It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us. – Walt Whitman

Hal McBride writes a column, Just Thinkin‚, published each week.