Two things I love about baseball:

When a baseball player hits a home run, he actually has to run the bases. Isn't that great? The whole thing is entirely ceremonial. The ball has disappeared and there's nothing anyone can do about it -- there's no reason the batter couldn't just walk back to the dugout while the runs are placed on the scoreboard. But instead the guy gets to run around the bases, uncontested, while everyone else stands around and waits for him to finish. I can't think of anything else like it in sports. The guy could moonwalk around the bases if he wanted to, or do cartwheels or backflips. Nobody wants a 5-ounce chunk of leather and yarn buried in his ear canal the next time he comes to the plate, of course, so no player ever messes around like that. But he could.

I also love that when a pitcher wants to intentionally walk a batter, he actually has to throw the four balls. If baseball was more like football, the manager would signal his intention to issue an intentional walk to the umpire, probably by throwing a purple flag or something, and the batter would just go to first base. But this is baseball, and so the catcher must stand up and stick his glove out to the side while the batter puts his bat on his shoulder and suppresses the urge to pick his nose. The umpire must watch to make sure that the pitch is, indeed, several feet off the plate, and he must note the balls carefully on his little counter. The ritual must be executed four times, and only then may the batter take his base. It's a perfectly pointless and priceless little ceremony.

And I love it.

+posted by Lawrence @ 9/12/2003 07:34:00 PM