Baseball, it has been said, is part of the American story. But I suspect that it’s more. Baseball is a version of The Hero’s Journey.
Let’s back up a bit.
Baseball is all about stories. Each at bat is a little story. The pitcher, the batter, the umpire—they are characters each with their own well-known strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. The pitcher and batter test each other’s athleticism, and wit. Strike One is a different story than Ball One. A line-drive foul tells a different tale than a pitch that buckles the batter’s knees. Some stories are short, some novellas, but each pitch, each swing, each call advances the narrative at a minimum of 24 times per team per game. (Unless it rains, of course. But that’s another story.)
But the big story of baseball is that it’s an American take on the eternal story, The Hero’s Journey.
That story begins at home. The hero is called to venture beyond comfort and safety into the unknown. They must summon their skills, their wit, their courage, to confront a gathering threat. They are sure to face trials and the possibility of their own annihilation. Perhaps, with some luck and some help along the way, they navigate the unknown, vanquish an evil and return home. If they do, they return transformed. And so are their communities and their worlds. Think Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Moana in our own time. And think baseball.
To stay at home—to refuse to embark upon the unknown--is to accept certain defeat— for Shohei Ohtani no less than Luke Skywalker, Frodo or Moana. There may be small pockets of safety along the way—a rebel base perhaps, a Rivendell, but these too will be left behind. Pockets of safety do not remain safe for long when quests remain unfinished. The hero will have to face that which they fear the most—the Death Star, Mordor, Motufetu, the tag of the ball. Ideally, with some luck and some help, our hero returns home safe, but the hero is not the same. The team is not the same. The game is not the same. The world has been transformed, all for the better.
Why this story, then? Because it’s our own story. We are each tempted to remain at home, to cling to the familiar, to sit on the bench and watch the world change as we do not. And yet this means certain defeat. We are each, as individuals, called to confront the unknown, to test our mettle against the world, to leave behind who we are for who we may be. We don’t know the specific dangers we may face along the way. But we do know the pattern of this story. There will be pockets of safety. There will almost always be unexpected friends to aid us. Much of what happens is luck and beyond our control. Somewhere along the way, we will likely need to confront that which we fear the most. But if we do, we return home transformed, and our friends, our family, our world is the better for our journey.
Baseball is not just an American story. It is my story. It is your story. Get off the bench and take a swing.