| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Baseball, politics and the American way
WASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- An American politician would rather confess that he a) has no sense of humor and b) is a practicing atheist than to admit that he does not like baseball. In addition to stadiums filled with thousands of voters, baseball represents an idealized vision of America as a land of true equality of opportunity, based purely on merit -- values with which politicians like to associate themselves. In an era when Big Money too often purchases special treatment, baseball remains an admirable exception, embodying established rules, standards and punishments. It makes no difference whether your ancestors arrived on the Mayflower, who your daddy is or even if you have Johnnie Cochran pleading your case, in baseball in 2003 it's still three strikes and you're out. Baseball has meant education as well as recreation. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier to star for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Team owners had voted 15 to 1 against integrating, but baseball commissioner A.B. "Happy" Chandler, himself a former Kentucky governor, overruled them. Robinson -- who endured virulent racism in the form of death threats, hate mail and fast balls aimed at his head -- was a model of self-control and courage. Chandler later explained his historic decision: "I thought someday I'd have to meet my Maker and He'd say, 'What did you do with those black boys?'" It took the political nation a generation to follow baseball's lead and guarantee black Americans the right to watch a movie in the same public places with white Americans. There have probably been more bad movies made about baseball than any other, single subject. The worst had to be "Fear Strikes Out," in which the uncoordinated Anthony Perkins was totally miscast as the troubled Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall. It's still a toss-up as to whether the late William Bendix or John Goodman made a worse Babe Ruth. At the top of the too-short list of truly good movies about baseball is "Bull Durham" (1988), which remains the most authentic and enjoyable film ever made about the game. The stars are Kevin Costner as Crash Davis, the fading catcher; Tim Robbins, as rookie pitching prodigy Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh; and Susan Sarandon, as the thoughtful groupie Annie Savoy ("There's never been a ballplayer who slept with me who didn't have the best year of his career"). Last week, Dale Petroskey, president of the Baseball Hall of Fame, cancelled a planned April 26 tribute in Cooperstown marking the movie's 15th anniversary because Robbins and Sarandon had publicly expressed their opposition to the U.S. war against Iraq. Petroskey wrote (in a letter which The Associated Press received before Robbins), "We believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important -- and sensitive -- time in our nation's history helps undermine the U.S. position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger." Robbins, as anyone who saw "Shawshank Redemption" and "The Player" would agree, is an exceptionally talented actor and an involved citizen who actively supported Ralph Nader in 2000. Compared to Dale Petroskey of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Tim Robbins is Thomas Jefferson and Albert Schweitzer combined. In an interview on ESPN following the offensive letter, Robbins was gracious: "My kids are disappointed that we're not going to the Hall of Fame this spring. ... I would encourage everybody to go to Cooperstown. ... It's a great place to bring your family. I've brought my family on several occasions." A June 21,1999, Hall of Fame press release states, "The internationally recognized film actor and director Tim Robbins" visited Cooperstown "with his son Jack during the summer of 1997 and again in 1999 with his son Miles." That was before you had to pass a George W. Bush loyalty test to be a baseball fan. To their credit, loyal Republicans Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood came to the support of Robbins and criticized Petroskey. Has anyone checked whether Willie Mays backs the Bush Missile Defense System or where Ted Williams stood on abolishing inheritance taxes? (I think I know where he would stand today.) At the risk of going theoretical on President Petroskey, if as President Bush says, the war was about bringing democracy and freedom to Iraq, then might it not be a good idea to defend democracy and free speech here at home? His is the kind of stupidity that gives narrow-minded right-wingers, whom I don't care about, and baseball, which I do, a bad name.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
