Return to the days of yesteryear when men played baseball, not to become millionaires, but for the love of the game. I got that title for a Kevin Costner movie if you haven't seen it. He plays an aging baseball pitcher who finds himself pitching a perfect game.
Back in the early days of baseball before wokeness and greed took over the nation, baseball players like DiMaggio, Ruth, Kaufax, Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Cobb, Williams, Musial and Clemente to name a few, played because they foremost loved the game. They didn't live in gated communities, but on the same streets as their loving and devoted fans.
Last year, Buhl Farm Park invited some local Ohio teams to come in and play using the rules of early baseball. Players didn't wear gloves, catching the ball on one hop was out, and pitchers threw underhand.
The centerpiece of modern baseball is the duel between the pitcher and the batter. This
duel didn’t exist in early baseball. The game was seen as a contest between the batter
and base runners on the one side and the fielders on the other. The pitcher’s role was to
put the ball in play for the batter to hit. The batter was not required to swing at any pitch,
but if he swung at and missed three pitches, the ball was in play as if it had been hit into
fair territory (with the batter out if the ball was caught by the catcher).
Take me out to the ball game, when the game of baseball was America's true pastime.
" the early days of baseball before wokeness and greed took over the nation"
When exactly would that be? The days before black players were allowed to play in the "white" leagues?
@gardencat - Sadly Joanne, that is the history of many counties the black man was treated horribly. Not only at the hands of white men but also at the hands of their own people who willingly sold their fellowman into slavery and became very rich doing it.
You might have noticed that I included some truly great players that are enshrined in the MLB Hall of Fame. Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. Many black players in the early days of baseball before black players were allowed into the majors did quite well in what was called the "Negro Leagues" before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier as it is referred to, into major league baseball. One of the true greats was a player named, Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige, who was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro League baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
A right-handed pitcher, Paige first played for the semi-professional Mobile Tigers. He began his professional baseball career in 1926 with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League and became one of the most famous and successful players from the Negro Leagues. On town tours across the United States, Paige would sometimes have his infielders sit down behind him and then routinely strike out the side.
At age 42 in 1948, Paige made his debut for the Cleveland Indians; to this day, this makes him the oldest debutant in the National League or American League history. Additionally, Paige was 59 years old when he played his last major league game, which is also a record that stands to this day. Paige was the first black pitcher to play in the American League and the seventh black player to play in Major League Baseball.
“The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.” ― Roy T. Bennett
When exactly would that be? The days before black players were allowed to play in the "white" leagues?
You might have noticed that I included some truly great players that are enshrined in the MLB Hall of Fame. Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. Many black players in the early days of baseball before black players were allowed into the majors did quite well in what was called the "Negro Leagues" before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier as it is referred to, into major league baseball. One of the true greats was a player named, Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige, who was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro League baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
A right-handed pitcher, Paige first played for the semi-professional Mobile Tigers. He began his professional baseball career in 1926 with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League and became one of the most famous and successful players from the Negro Leagues. On town tours across the United States, Paige would sometimes have his infielders sit down behind him and then routinely strike out the side.
At age 42 in 1948, Paige made his debut for the Cleveland Indians; to this day, this makes him the oldest debutant in the National League or American League history. Additionally, Paige was 59 years old when he played his last major league game, which is also a record that stands to this day. Paige was the first black pitcher to play in the American League and the seventh black player to play in Major League Baseball.
“The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.” ― Roy T. Bennett