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Nori Aoki at Bat for the Seattle Mariners
The ‘American Dream‘ and baseball’s ‘Field of Dreams’ are tightly interwoven, in myth and in reality. In a nation built on immigrants, Norichika Aoki (playing here for the Seattle Mariners) is one of over 25% of pro-baseball players who were born outside the USA. (06June2016)
“Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win, it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.”
There can’t be a North American child who doesn’t know that chorus from the 1908 Tin Pan Alley song Take Me Out to the Ball Game. A central element in countless television shows and popular movies – including the eponymous 1949 musical starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, the song has been recorded by artists as diverse as Carly Simon, Bing Crosbie, and Dr John.
This chorus is also a feature at the baseball games for which it was written. What I didn’t know when I attended my first professional game, however, was that you have to wait for the middle of the seventh inning before you hear it!
This year, there is no music blaring from the loudspeakers. It is, as they say in baseball, a whole new ball game. The fields and ballparks are quiet and the bleachers are empty. Around the world, various sports have experimented with playing to empty stadiums. Here in Australia, the major football and rugby codes are struggling with social distancing regulations in attempts to get games up and running again. In the United States, it is spring, which is normally the start of the baseball season. But in March, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Major League Baseball announced that the season would be postponed “indefinitely”.
That has to hurt! Baseball has been called the National Pastime and the Heartbeat of America. In 1954, French-American historian and social commentator Jacques Barzun wrote: “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.”
Baseball is so embedded in the American psyche that its idioms are an everyday part of the language: to hit a home run or bat a thousand; to go to bat for someone or to touch base with them; to play hardball or make a ball park figure estimate; to have two strikes against you or to strike out completely; to step up to the plate or swing for the fences; to play ball, throw a curve ball, or take a rain check; to be on the ball, off base, out in left field, or out of one’s league, to list just a few.
Unlike me, my husband spent most of his early years in the US and grew up to be a keen fan of basketball and baseball. No matter what time-zone he was living or working in, he would find March Madness basketball tournaments on television. He called the Seattle Mariners his “home team” in baseball, and followed their games – by phone and wifi where necessary – from one end of the season to the other. Twice we were able to co-ordinate short travel-stops in Seattle when the Mariners had home games (both times against the Cleveland Indians), so, off we went to the home field.
I don’t know enough about baseball to find the game all that interesting, so I took my cameras with me – otherwise those long intervals during which nothing seems to happen would have driven me to distraction!
Join me at the ball game.
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Safeco Left Field
We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather for our excursions – via public transport and foot – into the ball park. (29May2015)
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Womens PGA Players
Before the game starts, all sorts of things happen on the field. One year we watched pro golfers returning baseballs! (06June2016)
Miller and Seager Warming Up
The home team does their warm-up routine on the field. (29May2015)
Stretches
Some of the players get the trainers to help with their pre-game warm ups. (06June2016)
T-Shirt Bearers
Security staff are visbly present, and giving out gift-packs. (06June2016)
Meeting the Fans
Many of the players meet fans at the fence … (29May2015)
Nelson Cruz
… or just smile at the audience from the field. Another foreign-born player, Dominican-American Nelson Cruz is a six-time MLB All-Star who spent four years with the Mariners. (06June2016)
Local School Choir
Once the National Anthem has been sung, the first pitch is not far away. (29May2015)
Meeting Team Mates
Robinson Canó, currently with the New York Mets, is another Dominican-born player who was four years on the Seattle Mariners line-up. He was named for Jackie Robinson, the civil rights hero and legendary ball player who broke the baseball colour barrier in 1947. (29May2015)
Walker Pitching
Seattle’s starting pitcher Taijuan Walker winds up and lets a ball fly. (29May2015)
Kipnis at Bat
The first batter for the Cleveland Indians was Jason Kipnis. To amuse myself, I tried to catch the balls in flight; you can just see this one streaking towards his bat. (29May2015)
Jason Kipnis at Bat
I’m sure it was pure coincidence that Seattle was once again playing against Cleveland when we attended our next game over a year later! (06June2016)
Confab
A lot of discussion seems to take place between innings – and even between plays. Center-fielder Austin Jackson is on first base; coach Chris Woodward is there to give advice. Who knew you needed help to decide whether or not to run? (29May2015)
Nelson Cruz at Bat
When the batters connect with the ball, you can hear it – and see it. (06June2016)
Fresh Lemonade
Half the fun of the game is watching the vendors spruiking their wares. (06June2016)
Popcorn, Peanuts, and Cracker Jacks!
Cracker Jacks were a real treat when I was a kid – one I didn’t get very often. Today, many ball parks sell only popcorn because of the risks to people with peanut alergies. (06June2016)
Nelson Cruz at Bat
Baseball fans love their statistics: 2015 was possibly the best season of Cruz’s career. (29May2015)
Cruz on the Run
By the end of the season, he had a hitting average of .302, with a career-high of 44 home runs and 93 RBIs. (29May2015)
Cruz Heading for Base
Fortunately, Cruz made it to base before the catcher got that ball! (29May2015)
Young Fan
Baseball is a family affair, and many of the fans are very young. (29May2015)
Yes we Canó!
The big screens gee-up the crowd. The home team is losing and Robinson Canó is the last hope. (06June2016)
Canó at Bat
The ball comes in… he hits it, but it wasn’t enough: the game was lost by two runs. (06June2016)
Evening Skies
As the games draw to a close, the skies over Seattle darken. (29May2015)
Farewelling Teammates
The Mariners won this game, and happily congratulated each other after the final runs. (29May2015)
Friday Fireworks
We had the added bonus of enjoying the fireworks display …
Safeco in Lights
… that started as soon as it was dark enough.
We won one and we lost one. Not bad, I guess!
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the lights over Safeco Field – now called T-Mobile Park following the expiry of the original naming deal – are currently off and the Seattle Mariners have been told to enter off-season mode.
This year’s spring training never happened. Once the season opening is announced, it will take time for players to recondition. Even then, the competition won’t feel the same without the audience.
Like I said, it’s a whole new ball game.
