It says, I think, that at root that we're children, or we'd like to be. And the best of us each keep as much of that childhood with us as we grow into adulthood, as we can muster... And even after we're past the point of being able to play the game with any skill, if we love it, then it's like Peter Pan - we remain boys forever, we don't die.
John ThornMore fundamentally, it is a dream that does not die with the onset of manhood: the dream is to play endlessly, past the time when you are called home for dinner, past the time of doing chores, past the time when your body betrays you past time itself.
John ThornIn response to the challenge of strangers, sport arose as a sublimated representation of a community's armed might as well as its pride of place and clan.
John ThornThe caliber of play suffered and attendance declined year by year. Interest in college football was exploding, and there was this new game called basketball.
John ThornAnd then came the nineties, when management, suddenly frightened that they had ceded control to the players, sought to restore baseball's profitability by 'running the game like a business.'
John ThornFinally, for all of us but a lucky few, the dream of playing big-time baseball is relinquished so we can get on with grown-up things.
John ThornIt says, I think, that at root that we're children, or we'd like to be. And the best of us each keep as much of that childhood with us as we grow into adulthood, as we can muster... And even after we're past the point of being able to play the game with any skill, if we love it, then it's like Peter Pan - we remain boys forever, we don't die.
John Thorn