Baseball Still Rules

We woke up early for my oldest child’s football game at Prairie Ridge High School. And since no one else was up and about, I put on my best announcer’s voice and gave him this comment: “There’s a high drive to left field. It’s going, going gone for a home run. Wait a minute, it’s called back because of holding.”

My favorite baseball writer growing up in the DC area was Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post. I couldn’t wait for the next morning to see how he would tell the tale of another miracle win by my beloved Baltimore Orioles. In 1987, he penned an exhausting but truthful story of 99 reasons why baseball is better than football. Oh, gosh.

Of course one was the clock. Time doesn’t run out on baseball. There is always a chance to come back. Paul Petty of Antioch baseball gave me great quote after his team stunned Stevenson in last spring’s playoff. “We didn’t have to block them or tackle them.”

Football is a super game. It brings out the crowds. But penalties can be thrown at any time taking away some of the fun. I don’t like a game in which a kicker, who never plays, can decide a contest by kicking a field goal. How about this play: 5 seconds on the clock. Your team trails by a touchdown. The quarterback fires a great pass to his receiver for the apparent tying TD. No, the defender has blatantly (and smartly) knocked that receiver flat to the ground. It’s a clear penalty. But what does that do for the offense? Simply moves the ball closer. No automatic TD for this serious foul. That’s weak.

If you have time, google “Why is Baseball So Much Better than Baseball.”

One time the estemmed Mr. Boswell came down to the Orioles Baseball Store in DC. I worked there for 5 years. We ended up arguing who was a better third baseman: Brooks Robinson (of course) and New York’s Graig Nettles. I won that argument of course. What did Red Smith say about baseball. It’s from memory of course: “Baseball or the 90 feet beween bases is the closest to perfection as man has yet achieved.”