06-13-2010, 09:23 PM
...is baseball writing?
Because they praise the aesthetics of the game. Check out Roger Angel. Check out The Boys of Summer. The exquisite explanation that occurs in baseball writing. All the emphasis on the meaning behind things: the manager\'s moves, the other manager\'s counter-moves, the tactics of pitching a particular batter, the great stories of the legendary players, the descriptive effort needed to illuminate the beauties of the pitchers\' duel. The descriptive praise for the beauty of the ballpark as a theater for morality and truth.
Why do the writers have to carry baseball\'s water? Why do they have to write so much about what is not actually happening on the field? I\'m thinking maybe the game\'s actual excitement factor might be mixed up in this.
Because they praise the aesthetics of the game. Check out Roger Angel. Check out The Boys of Summer. The exquisite explanation that occurs in baseball writing. All the emphasis on the meaning behind things: the manager\'s moves, the other manager\'s counter-moves, the tactics of pitching a particular batter, the great stories of the legendary players, the descriptive effort needed to illuminate the beauties of the pitchers\' duel. The descriptive praise for the beauty of the ballpark as a theater for morality and truth.
Why do the writers have to carry baseball\'s water? Why do they have to write so much about what is not actually happening on the field? I\'m thinking maybe the game\'s actual excitement factor might be mixed up in this.