As the new baseball season begins, columnist George Will explains in a new video from Prager University that baseball is emblematic of the uniqueness of America.
One of the reasons for America’s exceptionalism, Will argues, is that the country’s free society champions regular, everyday people.
“Of course baseball players have extraordinary talents, but most players resemble ordinary people,” he says. “As a wise baseball man once said, ‘To play baseball you do not need to be seven feet tall or seven feet wide.'”
The umpires in baseball represent America’s judiciary, as they are the independent arbiters to ensure that everyone is playing by the rules. Will argues that umpires may in fact be better than the America judiciary, because even the most talented, telegenic athletes can’t be helped by powerful lobbyists and attorneys if an umpire calls strike three.
Baseball was ahead of the federal government on issues of race, as the league allowed any person of color to enter the league the year before the armed services were racially integrated. Currently, approximately 20 percent of baseball players in the league are from countries outside of North America.
“In baseball, the only race that matters is the race to the base,” says Will.
Additionally, baseball is a sport that thrives on personal accountability. Every day, fans, sports executives and ball players alike can check the box scores to determine how well certain players performed in the previous game. Whether a player struck out three times or went 5-for-5 with a pair of home runs, the information is easy to access and provides people with the numbers necessary to formulate their own assessments about a particular player or team.
“Imagine if everyday America’s lawyers and teachers and business people and journalists had to read in the morning’s paper a box score measuring the caliber of their previous day’s work,” he notes.
America’s free market provides an atmosphere where people are free to succeed or fail based on their merits. In a similar vein, baseball’s 162-game season over a span of 185 days makes it “the sport where luck matters least.”
“From the beginning of April to the end of October, the bad bounces and lucky hits even out, which means baseball is what America aspires to be: a real meritocracy,” he states.
Baseball also rewards individualism and cooperation: the battle between the pitcher and batter is watched intently, but each team needs to rely on cooperation with the base-runners and those playing defense to win, just as America celebrates individual liberty and voluntary cooperation and exchange.
“Take yourself out to a ballgame and savor all the ways the national pastime illustrates the nation’s values,” Will concludes. “And while you’re there, have a hot dog. That’s American culture too.”