Take Me Out To The Ballgame

As Brits, we often find ourselves being indoctrinated with American culture. We're shown American TV programmes and American films, we're fed American foods, we listen to American music and we use American innovations.

Yearning to breathe free.

As a child, I became obsessed with American culture due to the prevalent depiction of "the American Dream" the entire ethos of New York. A hangover from the very first immigrants to set foot on Ellis Island and read the inscription on the Statue of Liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free."

It was this shameless display of hope which so captured my imagination. As a child, nothing speaks to an over-active imagination quite like a land where anything is possible, where sky scrapers line the streets and children play stick ball in the road. Where music can be heard from all corners of the city and jazz fills the air in a smoky swirl of ecstasy.

Because of this obsession, I ended up, even to this day, being interested in a lot of facets of American culture. Comic books have always been a big thing for me, they feel so quintessentially American (well some do) that I would often use them as an escapist portal into an ideal, super-hero filled America.

Young Baseball fan, around 1941.

The other thing that I've always been interested in is Baseball. This is probably due to its' history as the
nation's pastime. The game could have been played (in some form or another) as early as 1744, however, this wouldn't have been anything like the Baseball played today, or even when it really took off in the States. However, it has been an integral part of American history and is played with as much fervour and enjoyment today as it always has been.

It has truly captured the imaginations of, not just the American people, but a vast number of fans around the world.

As I've said, I always had a passing interest in the game. When I was 11 I got a Baseball glove for my birthday and I thought I was the coolest little bugger in the playground because of it (that didn't last long!). I would play catch with my friends and try to emulate what I'd seen in films or on TV. Street-wise Brooklyn youths playing stick ball and chewing huge wads of bubble-gum in the 1940s. That was the Baseball ideal for me.

Babe Ruth

More recently, however, I've been watching films like "42", about seminal player Jackie Robinson, and a fantastic (if a little dated) biopic of Babe Ruth starring John Goodman simply entitled "The Babe". It was these films that really
rekindled my interest in the sport and got me reading up on the game. I began to find I
was a lot more interested in it now than I ever was before. Whereas, as a child, I was holding onto the misbegotten notion that by having an interest in Baseball, I could hold onto something of the ideal I'd imagined for myself, now I was just interested in the sport. I was in it for the love of the game.

Jackie Robinson

I've recently been watching Baseball games and I've been enthralled by what I've seen. Those who know me will know of my dislike of watching Football (or as I like to call it 'Kickaball') and I have no interest in Rugby, Golf, or any other such sport. I'm not sporty by any stretch of the imagination. But Baseball has spoken to me.

Truth be told, I feel a bit silly. Mainly because, if ever I show an interest in any sort of sport, people simply can't believe that I could be interested in a sport. Now, I understand their surprise, but just like everybody else, some sports hold a special place in my heart. Baseball is of interest to me, as it always has been and, personally, I'm glad of that.

The game holds a great deal of excitement for me, where other sports simply don't. Some people would argue that it's boring and that they don't like the set up, that's fine. But I feel the same way about Kickaball. We're all different and the fact that there are so many sports, teams, leagues, cups, players and fans (of any and all sports) can attest to that.

It wasn't until recently that I realised how exciting it can be to have a sport that you love and a team you support (no matter how much of an underdog they are!) finally, as I enter into my 22nd year on Earth, I get it.

My two jerseys. The Chicago Cubs, the underdogs I love, and the Seattle Rainiers,
a vintage jersey from Ebbets Field Flannels.