The Politics of Baseball

If you want to teach your child about real adult life, sign them up for sports.

My son has always loved baseball.  He can’t watch a half-hour Disney Channel show without also doing something else, but he can sit transfixed, never moving from his seat, for 3 hours watching a game.  Name a date, any date, and he’ll tell you who the Rays played and what the score was…and, if we were actually at the game, what he ate from the concession stand!  When he was a pre-schooler, I bought him a  $2 wiffle bat and ball and fashioned a tee out of a 5-gallon water container.  He would spend hours in the yard hitting that ball, and he hasn’t stopped since.

He now uses a $300 bat and displays the pitching style of a pro, but he’s still the same old kid, just having fun.  And I am BEYOND proud of that.  It’s not the ability, it’s the attitude.  If I’ve ever done anything right with my child, it is that.

Children’s sports are about teaching them to be a team player, to follow directions and rules, to learn to socialize and support, and above all, to have fun.  At least they’re supposed to be.

And no, I’m not a fan of “everyone gets a trophy.”  Another big thing about sports is learning how to compete.  How to win or lose and still display good sportsmanship either way.  How to accept that the players with more skills at a certain position will get to play that position, and if you want it that position instead, you need to work to EARN it.  Unfortunately, this is the lesson that is often lost among adults.

I have to admit, we’ve been lucky.  We’ve had some great coaches and mostly wonderful kids and parents.  However, there is ALWAYS at least one parent on the team whose child is the greatest gift baseball has ever seen, and they will make sure everyone knows it. 

They will make sure the coach knows he is not using their child to their full potential, that he is supposed to play short stop so how can he possibly be in centerfield, and that they are going to quit if he sits on the bench one more inning.  They will make sure all the other parents know every single ball the child has ever caught, and that if he was at first base instead of your child, they would have won the game.  They are absolutely sure their child will be playing in the Majors one day, and we should all just start asking for autographs now. And, God forbid, if those same parents are coaching or on the board for the league, they will of course use their “power” to make sure that their child’s talent is recognized in post-season tournaments too, even if it means that better players get left out.

And that is sad.  Sad that people think a game is so important that it’s all that matters.  Sad that they need to live through their children’s accomplishments (real or manipulated).  Sad that they can’t just be proud of their children for who they are.   Sad that, actually, the same behavior can be seen through most of life.

Aiden, like I said, he’s always loved baseball.  He’s pretty darn good at it, too.  But he knows that there is more to life.  Knows that if it’s no longer fun, it’s no longer worth doing, and that if he wanted to quit after the current season, he’d be allowed to.  Knows that he will never get yelled at for any mistakes when playing.  Knows that every person on a team is important.   Most importantly, he knows that every other kid just wants what he does, to play well and have fun.  Sometimes he is smarter than adults.

As I’ve stated, we’ve been lucky with the teams he’s played on.  But the spring season is about to start and I’m just gearing myself back up for that inevitable parent.  I don’t handle the annoyance quite as well as my child does.  Of course, that is why they have wine!

Batter up!