The Semiotics of Baseball

The Semiotics of Baseball–nine things that make baseball unique

Opening day of Major League Baseball was April 7, and college baseball is in full “swing.” So, in honor of America’s pastime, this post may seem like a departure from my usual content on life development and style for midlife men. Well, sort of. Read to the end for my concluding thoughts.

Even if you’re a reader who doesn’t like baseball (or don’t yet realize that you do), stay with me, as this is not your usual baseball article.

For one thing, I’m not arguing about why baseball is the “best” sport, or not the best. That is a fool’s errand. There is no “best” sport. But it is a genuinely unique sport, as far as team sports go, and I’ll reveal some of my thoughts on why. 

So, here are some Semiotics of Baseball–nine top reasons why baseball is so unique and charmingly counterintuitive.
 

1. Often, one of the criticisms of baseball is that it is slow (and yet people watch golf!), and doesn’t compare to the action of some other team sports like football, basketball, soccer/football, and hockey. This is true, to some degree, although if you ask a real baseball fan how they can like something with comparatively little or just intermittent action, they may look at you like they don’t understand the question. It depends, perhaps, on how you define “action.” In baseball, the action is in fact often intermittent, and emotional as much as physical (kind of like life). It is important to make that distinction. Baseball specializes in delayed gratification, and immediate disappointment. An inning that begins with hits and players on base, can still end up as a scoreless inning (and frequently does). The great effort and heroics may yield no result or progress. This is something some people DON’T like about baseball, but it certainly helps make it unique.

2. Ballparks are not entirely standardized, and each is unique. Hitters, and fielders, must adjust to the unfamiliarities and unknowns of each ballpark. This gives new meaning to “home field advantage” beyond just the supportive fans. Yes, some parts of a ballpark must meet regulation–in particular the distance between the pitcher’s mound and home plate, the height of the pitching rubber compared with home plate, and the distance between bases. Beyond that, there are all kinds of variables. Especially in the distances to the outfield wall or the height of the walls themselves. For example, the distance to the left field fence at Boston’s Fenway Park is a relatively modest 315 feet. To compensate, the 37 foot tall “Green Monster” left field fence has been in place since 1934. This makes it a very difficult place to get a left field home run, even with the shorter distance.
    
3. There is no clock. In a complete nine-inning game, each team is allowed 27 outs, however long this takes. This can result in the most emotional tension being built up into the final at-bats of a game. A baseball game begins leisurely, each team knowing that there is a lot of game yet to play. As the scores accumulate, and the innings run down, tension can build to almost unbearable levels. The lack of time-keeping means that a team will never be beaten by the clock. There is no “taking a knee” to run out the clock, no such thing as “garbage minutes.” That is because, at least in theory, there is always the possibility that a team that is down may rally and win the game. This can become unlikely, with the odds against them, but it is always possible. Every pitch, every at-bat matters.

4. It is the only game (that I know of) where the defense has the ball, and teams don’t use the ball or other device to score. Rather, in baseball, PEOPLE are the ones who score, not the ball. The farther away the offense is from the ball, the better their chance of scoring. Scoring does not require invading the other team’s territory and getting the ball (or puck, etc) into the zone they are defending. Instead, players start at “home” and circulate around the bases until they once again return “home.” Have you ever noticed that home plate is shaped like a little house? How cool is that?

5. Short of a home run, in most cases you need other players to help you move around the bases and return home. A return to home, and a score, requires collaboration and the support of others. Sometimes it requires the sacrifice of others. One batter’s “sacrifice” fly gives another a chance to score. Is this not sometimes like life? Even the word “sacrifice” brings religious overtones to the endeavor.

6. Players journey all around the bases only to end where they begin, at home. One could make a comparison to the biblical account of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, where the story of humankind begins. Later, at the end of the Book of Revelation, the conclusion of the story once again ends up in a garden. 

7. Only in baseball is a game where if no one gets a hit, no one gets on base by any other means, and no one scores, it is known as . . . a “perfect game.” How counterintuitive is that? From one perspective, the game would be considered full of flaws…but from another perspective, entirely perfect. 

8. Baseball curates its history like no other sport, and obsesses with statistics. In a real sense, players are not just up against one other team on a given day–they are also measuring their performance against generations that have gone before.

9. Speaking of semiotics, players and coaches on the field literally use signs and hand signals to communicate. There are no headphones on a baseball field. Typically, those with a better perspective of the whole field and situation, such as the catcher and the third base coach, will provide “signs” to those who are in the midst of the action, and whose view is more limited. 

Extra inning: Baseball is often an acquired taste. Kids enjoy playing it more than watching it. Watching a baseball game calls for patience and lack of concern with time. Don’t get involved with watching a game if you’re up against a time deadline. Who knows when it will be over? In that sense, a baseball game is like a fine restaurant meal. You’re appreciating not the quick delivery of food, but rather languishing in the experience and appreciating the attention to detail. You don’t plan fancy dinners out when you know you have to be somewhere.

As a writer on adult development, I can’t resist drawing a few comparisons from the semiotics of baseball, to our very lives. Some parallels with several of my baseball observations:

• Sometimes, in life, the “action” is slow or intermittent. Other times, the tension can build to unbearable levels. Life is not non-stop action.
• Our lives, like ballparks, are not to standardized dimensions. Some may feel like their life has a 37 foot “Green Monster” wall built into it. For others, the distance to the center field wall just seems farther than for others. It doesn’t seem fair, but it is reality.
• There is no clock on our lives. No guarantee of a certain amount of time. For some, the innings go up and out, while others seem to go into extra innings.
• Sometimes progress and success in life (i.e., scoring) isn’t entirely linear. It may involve going through cycles only to return once again to “home.” We often read the obituary of an elderly person, where it notes that they died peacefully “at home.” How appropriate is that?
• Sometimes we don’t score, but make sacrifices that allow someone else to score.
• Just as with a “perfect game” in baseball, our lives may seem full of flaws from one standpoint, and just about perfect from another. This dichotomy sums up life like few other things can.

What other parallels can you draw? I’d like to hear from you!

Related posts:

https://cliffordberger.com/thriving-in-the-seasons-of-your-life/

Major League Baseball Website: https://www.mlb.com/

Baseball Hall of Fame: https://baseballhall.org/