Baseball Poem Analysis

In American culture today we use a wide variety of metaphors to describe different situations. Today, I am going to focus on how we commonly use the sport of baseball metaphorically in our daily conversations. The reason I am choosing baseball is because, it is America’s past time, a game that has been around since the Eighteenth century, and one that has great influence on American culture.

More than just an interest, baseball is a feeling deep in your chest. Baseball is roasting in the afternoon sun at a Sunday game or the smell of fresh popcorn wafting up to the nosebleed seats right behind home base. It’s the feeling of the ball landing right into my mitt during

The game of baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday, in 1839- 177 years ago from today. Baseball has been, and is still today, known as America’s favorite pastime; additionally, due to its extensive history and partaking it monumental events, it can as well serve as a great topic to use in a story or poem. Poet Dale Ritterbusch, uses the game of baseball along with metaphors in his poem as a vehicle to write about a more substantial subject in poetry, the Vietnam War. His poem, “Behind the Plate”, can be simply over-looked to one as just a poem about an overweight catcher; nonetheless, when closely examined, it has a deeper meaning. Authors Michael Cocchiarale and Scott Emmert, both agree with the statement that baseball is a great outlet for further analysis of a more important subject: “Writers have seen sports, particularly baseball, as a useful vehicle for cultural and epistemological analysis” (Cocchiarale).

There is something magical in the crack of a baseball bat meeting a baseball. The hush of the crowd before the pitch allows the 1.4 kHz to echo through the stadium. This sound needs no onomatopoeia; we can all recall it from a memory at a baseball park or from any of the countless baseball movies ever produced. This classic sound has traveled through the years, from the beginnings of professional baseball to today. First called a national pastime in 1856, baseball has endured over two hundred and twenty years as a sport in America, almost as long as America has been America. It has been with us through revolutions, civil wars, world wars, and depressions. To quote Gerald Early in Ken Burns’ documentary, Baseball, “There are only three things that America will be remembered for 2000 years from now when they study this civilization: The Constitution, Jazz music, and Baseball.”

The game of baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday, in 1839- 177 years ago from today. Baseball has been, and is still today, known as America’s favorite pastime; additionally, due to its extensive history and partaking it monumental events, it can as well serve as a great topic to use in a story or poem. Poet Dale Ritterbusch, uses the game of baseball along with metaphors in his poem as a vehicle to write about a more substantial subject in poetry, the Vietnam War. His poem, “Behind the Plate”, can be simply over-looked to one as just a poem about an overweight catcher; nonetheless, when closely examined, it has a deeper meaning. Authors Michael Cocchiarale and Scott Emmert, both agree with the statement that baseball is a great outlet for further analysis of a more important subject: “Writers have seen sports, particularly baseball, as a useful vehicle for cultural and epistemological analysis” (Cocchiarale).

John Updike takes a very clever technique to describe baseball. Firstly in the essay titled “The First Kiss” which emphasizes that as humans we have a soft spot for our first kiss, and corresponds to baseball in saying it will always have a special place in our hearts. Updike also uses the “monster” metaphor in symbolizing the fans. He also uses diction to carefully create an image and get his point across that fans will always come back to their “first kiss” (baseball).

The delight, euphoria, and triumph that racks through stadiums and through homes when the player swings the bat just right, knocking that cork-centered ball out of the park -- is incomparable to any feeling one could describe. This game has affected our culture beneficially in many ways, though with all good there is bad, but we can’t let this cloud over all the positivity that comes with it. Baseball has provided a unity between communities, integrated races in a smooth transition, and even gives people an outlet during unfortunate and trying times. It is a game that’s cemented it’s way in a hearts, because watching it makes the world around us quieten. For a moment, it’s just you and the game, and all your troubles are going. . .going. .

The muggy air made my hair cling to my neck with sweat. I heard the clunk of a bright yellow ball hitting the yellow bat. My head spun around watching the girl ran the bases while the team behind her scrambled towards the ball. My team was watching the game that determined who we play in the championship game.

Baseball is the most popular spring sport in the United States. Something I once participated in and now watch. Just weeks before the busy season, Dad and I were working on the beautiful field. We had been impatient, working on the field for weeks now. We worked through the slush, the mud, and now the sandy dirt. Practices started and though I do not play I am at every practice. The ding of the ball colliding with the bat, the smack of the ball hitting the glove, and the players yelling, “nice job!”

Baseball is a game that is described as “America’s national pastime” (“Baseball in America: A History”). People from all over America enjoy the game for its many positive characteristics. Besides its benefits for the body, certain aspects of baseball can be seen as a metaphor for everyday life. The game of baseball and its rules can be related to a

The sun beating down on the top of my head; the sweat pouring into my eyes. The numbers on the score board keeps rising. Hit after hit after hit Navarre was not letting up; they went up five to zero in the first inning but the Patriots were not going home without a fight. We came back and scored three to make the score five to three.

I thought that everything had been a dream until I heard it… Practice! It was an extremely rainy day and the ground was like stepping into tiny lakes. I was caught up in the moment when I remembered that you need a glove to play baseball. I knew that rain could ruin your glove but I couldn’t get the sight of a perfectly stitched, woven, and laced glove being destroyed.

My eyes light up. Catching was my favorite thing to do, especially when our pitcher throws a lot in the dirt. “Oh sweet,” I gladly respond while pulling my helmet and bat out of my bag.

Our baseball field, the place where boys go to forget about all their problems. A simple ball with 108 red double stitches, the love of my life. I can hear as the ball whizzes through the air, the seams tearing the wind for that perfect curve or the rising fastball. The pinging sound the bat makes as you rip the ball for a base hit, truly a ravishing sound to hear. A piece of land filled with hard clay dirt, mixed with rocks and sand and the yellowing grass that is full of fire ants that shoot stinging pains throughout our players. Many potholes or the uneven dirt levels home plate has; down the two crooked white painted foul lines, two towering yellow poles with screens on each side.

Baseball is in the air. The snow is melting and the cold is going away. You can smell the leather of a ball glove and taste the ballpark hotdogs. Opening day isn’t coming fast enough. The urge to play the game you love is taking over. The poem “365” by Jack Buck is all about the love for baseball and how it lasts all year.