I've always thought that Baseball was at its best when you were 15 years old. You were old enough to like what was great about it and too young to understand what was wrong with it. Doesn't matter the year.
We're all human. Baseball players aren't the smartest, but to be fair, they've always had the reputation of being idiotic ruffians originating in the late 1800's. (A lot of parents were actually ashamed) Now they're just idiotic ruffians who make a lot of money. š
Youāre not wrong. But you could probably write a similar article about every era of the game, just changing names and some of the transgressions. Ultimately I think itās a testament to the game that its allure is still great enough to make us fall in love with it all over again each season.
Totally agree about the different eraās. It would not take a lot of research to find an article written in the 1900s about how the game was better in the 1890s. And to do that for every decade since then. Change is disruptive confusing, and just weird. And yet we still love the game. I love it more, the older I get.
I often think about Jon Hodgmanās bit about nostalgia being a toxic impulse. I actually just wrote something about nostalgia in Star Wars last week. A franchise selling nostalgia. Baseball is more steeped in its history than the other pro sports. I donāt know. Whatever imprints in us when weāre 13 is the gold standard the rest of our lives and the older we get, the more weāre able to ignore any of the bad parts.
Truest of truisms.
I've always thought that Baseball was at its best when you were 15 years old. You were old enough to like what was great about it and too young to understand what was wrong with it. Doesn't matter the year.
Agree 100% although Iād probably say 12 years old.
We're all human. Baseball players aren't the smartest, but to be fair, they've always had the reputation of being idiotic ruffians originating in the late 1800's. (A lot of parents were actually ashamed) Now they're just idiotic ruffians who make a lot of money. š
Youāre not wrong. But you could probably write a similar article about every era of the game, just changing names and some of the transgressions. Ultimately I think itās a testament to the game that its allure is still great enough to make us fall in love with it all over again each season.
Agree, I always go back to my childhood, my Golden Era of when baseball was the world to me.
Kinda reminds me of this excellent quote from āStand By Meā
Totally agree about the different eraās. It would not take a lot of research to find an article written in the 1900s about how the game was better in the 1890s. And to do that for every decade since then. Change is disruptive confusing, and just weird. And yet we still love the game. I love it more, the older I get.
I often think about Jon Hodgmanās bit about nostalgia being a toxic impulse. I actually just wrote something about nostalgia in Star Wars last week. A franchise selling nostalgia. Baseball is more steeped in its history than the other pro sports. I donāt know. Whatever imprints in us when weāre 13 is the gold standard the rest of our lives and the older we get, the more weāre able to ignore any of the bad parts.