More from 2002's The Faith of 50 Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture by Christopher H. Evans.
When we at the dawn of the twenty-first century speak of baseball as the national game, we are paying homage more to the residue of a sacred mythology concocted by a relatively small number of persons, as opposed to anything that borders on realities that can be qualified (after all, one could easily argue that a sport like basketball requires greater athletic and intellectual acumen to play than baseball). There is nothing wrong in claiming that baseball has an intrinsic appeal related to larger metaphysical, philosophical, or theological realities, so long as we are cognizant of the fact that these intrinsic appeals emerge from historical realities.
Like contemporary Americans who cannot conceive of Christianity without the virgin birth or the factual reality of the creation narrative in the book of Genesis, baseball still evokes upon America the exclusive claim that it is the only definitive national pastime. In part, these claims of exclusivity are reinforced by the fact that the game can appeal to a "sacred mythology" of the past -- something that other sports in America simply cannot evoke.
Similar to the arguments used by many Christian communities in American religious history, who extolled the unique virtues of their beliefs as representing the one, true faith, baseball was remarkably successful for a long time because it propagated a claim that it offered to Americans a unique gift of imputed righteousness that no other sport could offer. In a time when few other professional team sports existed, or had the ability to appeal to middle-class virtues in the same fashion as baseball, it was easy for baseball to make exclusive claims about its greatness. In our era of increased pluralism in professional sport, it is not so easy for the game to claim an exclusive hold on the nation's soul.
Yet all is not hopeless for those who come to baseball seeking redemption. For some, baseball will always just be a consumer product, something to manipulate in order to make money. Others will take the language of A.G. Spalding and his contemporaries and recast baseball's sacred mythologies in ways that suit their own personal ends. Others, however, will see in the game's imperfect and soiled history the opportunity to become more than what we are today. Just as baseball has served its priestly role in American culture, so too out of the game has come the cry of a few voices in the wilderness of a prophetic hope. For these visionaries, baseball was not just a means of celebrating the virtues of American greatness. Baseball was a means of holding out hope that Americans, regardless of class, race, or gender, could discern the fuller meaning of the words "liberty and justice for all."
The cynic might call this perspective myopic; the baseball fan and the person of faith might call this perspective saving grace.
Tags: Christopher Evans, Faith of 50 Million, Baseball, Religion
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