Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime

Page 270

#18- When Was Baseball’s Crown Bestowed?

I was hoping that I might find a clear reference to the

first time baseball was called “The Great American Pastime,” but

found none. It would have been nice to see who coined the term

along with their reasoning. The closest quote I could find was

that contained in the aforementioned 1889 speech given by Mark

Twain, where he said; “Base ball, which is the very symbol, the

outward and visible expression of the drive, and push, and rush

and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming nineteenth

century!” I must note that the speech concerned a possibly

metaphorical reference and visit to the Sandwich Islands, now

termed Hawaii, though prior to statehood.

One reason it may well have been popularly called "The

Great American Pastime" was that during the late 19th and early

20th century it was the most widely played sport in the country.

At that time baseball was what video games, the net, and

television are now. Before television, cyberspace, and androids,

baseball was just what kids did after school, on weekends, and

during summer breaks from academe, in seeming imitation of what

their fathers and some mothers did when work permitted. It was

literally how America passed the time.

Before 1950’s television, 1980’s DVD's, 1990’s internet,

and the increased popularity of football, basketball, NASCAR,

and the genre based marginalizations of American cultural icons;

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baseball was one of the few enjoyable things that most Americans

knew something about and could discuss with anyone. In all its

importance the weather report went just so far. Baseball was the

nation's pastime off the field as well as on it.

I don't think, in this day and age, that we have just one

"national pastime" anymore. Culture is simply too splintered.

American football may be the most popular sport according to

some polls taken, but allegedly being the most popular sport

does not make something the "national pastime." Nor, have I seen

any mention of the methodology the polls use. Those I have seen

usually result from a small sampling used in conjunction with a

magazine article. They often seem to have as much relevance as

asking 2,500 Seattle residents their favorite sport right after

Seattle won the Super Bowl.

Yet, though we’ve all heard the phrase many times; perhaps

it was infrequently spoken by fans as it was just common sense.

One thing which has undoubtedly changed since the advent of

TV and professional teams going west is a decline in non-

professional baseball adult participation. Discussed at more

length in the chapter titled “Barnstorming” most areas once had

adult teams and leagues which could occasionally outplay a team

of professional barnstormers. No more.

Imagine. The many daddies who now come home from work

exhausted grab a beer and flop in front of the TV. There was a

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time when many of them wolfed down their dinner, put on a

uniform, and went to the ballfield.