12/4/99
Far
from the call 'Play Ball!'
ג€I had a bartender friend in Philadelphia,ג€ American sportswriter
Red Smith once wrote, ג€a devoted
baseball fan, who told me - and
he said this with tears in his eyes
- that the most beautiful thing
in the world, more beautiful than
any blonde, more beautiful than
a mountain lake at sunset, was bases
filled, two out, three-and-two on
the batter, and everybody moving
with the pitch.ג€
Haifa resident Bill Freedman sighs. ג€In Israel, a baseball fan has to settle
for the blonde and the sunset.ג€
Last Sunday was Opening Day for Major League Baseball, a time for people like
Bill to traditionally take stock
of their Zionist commitment. They
can't have both.
ג€It's perhaps the greatest sacrifice of moving from America to Israel,ג€ Bill
says. ג€You're giving up a treasured
piece of your experience.ג€
He is not being entirely solemn when he says that the pioneers had it easy when
they came here because ג€there was
no baseball in Russia.ג€
Bill is probably the only Israeli to publish a book on baseball in America.
ג€More Than a Pastime - An Oral History of Baseball Fansג€ (McFarland, 1998) is
a confessional by its lovers of
how deep an effect the game has
had on their lives.
The book doesn't say so, but many of Bill's interviewees live in Israel. For
most of them, baseball is an emotional
throwback to their childhood, their
heritage and values, and as expatriates,
a defining pillar of their cultural
identity.
ג€More Than a Pastimeג€ is masterfully written, heavily philosophical, remarkably
eloquent in its attempt to articulate
the enigma of baseball's allure.
It is not jock talk; it is highly
intelligent people examining their
souls, and wondering why they care
so much.
ג€Since I thought of winning not only as a function of ability but as an expression
of moral superiority, it was only
right and proper that the Yankees
win,ג€ says Gene W. in his interview.
ג€If they didn't win it wasn't only
their being outplayed that had to
be explained. It was almost a theodicy
where you have to explain how God
can be evil.... Just as there would
have been something wrong, obviously
far more terribly wrong, if the
moral superiority of the Allies
hadn't been translated into victory.ג€
An Israeli diplomat named Moshe waxes exuberantly - and Jewishly - about the
bunt: ג€Sacrifice is... a human attribute
of great rarity and worth. It can
be Abraham offering up Isaac on
Mount Moriah. Or it can be a soldier
going out to war and being prepared
to lay down his life if necessary.
Or it can be somebody giving a sum
of money to charity that he might
have spent on himself.
ג€It can also be somebody laying down a bunt in order to let a teammate score.
That, too, is sacrifice.ג€
Just as immigrants embrace unfamiliar interests to become Israeli, ג€Baseball
was a way of rebelling against your
immigrant background and establishing
yourself as a full-fledged citizen
of this new country [America],ג€
says Bernie O. - who became an immigrant
himself, and now lives in Haifa.
ג€Little boys grow up doing things, and little girls grow up looking at little
boys. That's how it is,ג€ says Jerusalemite
Carol T., in a particularly poignant
interview. ג€It's the boys who do,
and the girls who watch.
ג€I was very conscious of it. Baseball was part of this masculine thing, this
active approach to life. It's the
men who do and have the power, and
I ate my heart out for many, many
years because I was born the wrong
sex...
ג€Baseball reflects my life, I guess... It was probably one of the best things
in my life [when I was growing up].
Baseball was the most wonderful
thing I had: a source of power,
even if it was second-hand, and
the greatest source of pleasure.
Baseball was happiness.ג€
Barry Chazan, of Jerusalem: ג€Baseball isn't drama as some people claim. It's
more real than drama. It's what
drama aspires to be...
ג€Baseball is the essence, the purified essence of real life... The religious
experience, the struggle of the
will to overcome weakness and limitation
and become better - that was the
Dodgers, and that's real life at
its purest. That's what drama can
only hope to capture.ג€
With still 155 games left in this season, Bill accepts that he's going to miss
the unfolding drama - the 30th season
he's missed by choosing to live
in Israel.
ג€Truth is, I'm no longer the rabid fan I once was. I can now imagine reasons
to go on living even if the Yankees
blow a crucial game or lose a World
Series. When I was 12 or 14 that
would have made no sense.
ג€Now, while I still root for the Yankees, mainly I am a passionate and romantic
admirer of the game itself, a Romeo
to the Juliet of baseball.ג€
