Tag: World Series

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fall classic

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One was originally known as the Grand Rapids Rustlers — the other as the White Stockings. And tonight, the former Rustlers and Stockings — now affectionately known as the Indians and Cubs — will face off against each other in the 112th edition of Major League Baseball’s, best-of-seven World Series.

While a single Series, Super Bowl, or other professional championship does not necessarily merit an entire blog post, this one feels different. It’s not because it’s a grueling, head-to-head competition (… consistent with another intense, more electoral classic, also going on this time of year). It’s instead because of the unique, combined history of these two teams — and what that means for the rest of us.

The Cleveland Indians were established in 1894. They have appeared in the World Series six times in those 122 years. They were last in the World Series in 1997, but haven’t won the title since 1948.

The Chicago Cubs were founded 18 years earlier, in 1876. They have appeared in the World Series eleven times, but not since 1945. The Cubs last won the championship in 1908.

Let’s pause here for a moment. The Indians haven’t won since…

  • 1948… The first tape recorder was sold… the first U.S. figure skating championships were held, and NASCAR was incorporated. ABC began broadcasting on television. The World Health Organization was formed; and subway fares in New York City jumped from five cents to an outrageous ten. The Honda Motor Company was founded. Baseball’s Negro National League disbanded; and Allen Funt’s “Candid Camera” debuted on TV as did “Kukla, Fran, & Ollie.” It’s the year Prince Charles, Al Gore, and Olivia Newton-John were born — and Mahatma Gandhi and Babe Ruth passed away.

The Cubs last won 40 years earlier, in…

  • 1908… It was the first time the ball was ever dropped at Times Square on New Year’s Eve… U.S. stamps first started being sold in rolls; and the Model T was invented (costing a whopping $825). The first tunnel under the Hudson River opened. Star #46 was added to the flag for Oklahoma; and Mr. & Mrs. Jacob Murdock became the first ever to travel across the U.S. by car. The first Mothers’ Day was observed. The first Gideon Bible was placed in a hotel room, and the first numbers were used on an American football uniform (at the University of Pittsburgh). It’s the year Bette Davis, Mel Blanc, and Ethel Merman were born — and when Grover Cleveland and Butch Cassidy passed away.

This year’s World Series matchup features two teams which have gone a combined 176 years without a championship. Wow.

(With all due respect to the Astros, Brewers, Mariners, Nationals/Expos, Padres, Rangers, Rays, and Rockies, who have never won MLB’s top prize) We live in sports era that sees teams dominate. From Alabama atop college football’s annual polls… Duke, Kentucky, and a handful of others in NCAA basketball… even the Patriots and Steelers in the NFL… Said teams always seem good.

But the challenge for the team that’s always good is that they sometimes miss the depth of the sweetness of victory; they sometimes take winning for granted. They at times get puffed up, missing the humble gratitude for such a blessing.

Did you notice Cleveland’s enthralled fans the other night? Did you notice the joy in the streets of Chicago?

While there will always be a few puffed up persons who threaten to pierce the beauty of the moment, the reality is that these two teams — and their loyal legions of fans — don’t take winning for granted. They can’t; no Indians’ fan under the age of 68 has ever seen their team win the title — no Cubs’ fan under the age of 108. To them, this is beautiful, joyful, and sweet.

The gift to the rest of us, is we get to watch… cheering both of them on.

Respectfully…
AR

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a game?

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It’s just a game…

Or so we say.

Sometimes my sense is we’ve got the games and the non-games all mixed up. We discern some activities as a form of play or sport — and other activities as serious and life altering — when maybe they belong in the other so-called category. Once again, we have made something more important than perhaps it should be.

I look at the reactions of last weekend — a typical fall weekend featuring a full slate of college and pro football, the start of hockey and the NBA, and including baseball’s annual World Series. Then I look at the downcast reactions of those who lost the game…

From NY Mets manager Terry Collins and pitcher Matt Harvey, both disparagingly blaming themselves for allowing the Kansas City Royals to tie in the 9th inning and eventually win the Fall Classic… to Steelers QB “Big Ben” Roethlisberger after a tough loss, saying he “let this team down” and “this one is on me”… to all the anger and frustration in the Duke/Miami college football match up, in which an 8-lateral, loose, last-second play with all sorts of errors and inefficiencies (absent a meddling marching band) led to a suspension of the officials.

I get it. I mean no criticism of any of the above; I would be equally frustrated, as we are a competitive people. And as one who also enjoys winning, I understand the deep disappointment. I simply wonder if that disappointment has gone too far in us — and we’ve made games into something more than they actually are. We see it in adults. We see it in our kids. We see it in ourselves.

Let me not act, however, as if a game has no value…

Sports are of great value because they are a venue in which God can work on us to teach humility, hard work, and determination. They are a place where we can learn teamwork and selflessness; we learn to support one another. Also, when we fail, we can turn around and try again. We learn, too — hopefully — to turn around and congratulate the person next to us, knowing no one wins forever — and some will never win; not everyone gets a trophy. Sports are a venue in which we can see the manifest reality that life is not “all about me.” The value is actually in the humility and hard work — not in the winning.

That’s hard, I think, for most of us to handle — especially when we see the economic impact of sports and the big business it’s become. Note how “fantasy football,” for example, has even crept into our presidential debates. Millions of dollars are now exchanging hands there; hence, you know that some will declare a need to regulate or be involved (and, uh, get a piece of that). My point is that our games have become far more than games. No, it’s not just a game.

I think of Kansas City Royals pitcher, Edinson Volquez. Volquez started two games en route to the Royals championship last weekend. Yet nine days ago, hours before his first World Series start, Volquez’s father, Daniel, passed away in the Dominican Republic after struggling with heart disease. His family made the decision not to tell Edinson until after he was pulled from game one. Edinson then flew home to the funeral before returning to start Sunday’s final game.

Upon his return, Volquez was greeted overwhelmingly compassionately by his teammates… “Wow… I’ve got a lot of people that really care about what happened to me.”

Said teammate Eric Hosmer, “I know he’s going to be thinking about his dad and we’re all going to be thinking about it. We’re all going to try to do it for everyone on this team — everyone that’s lost a family member on this team. We’re all in this together.”

Teamwork… selflessness…

The Royals were determined to play hard and make people proud — utilizing the humility and hard work that helped them reach this moment. While no doubt winning was their desire, something tells me, too, the Royals realized what was a game — and what was not.

Respectfully…
AR