Image by Andreas Volz from Pixabay

I’ve been revisiting Ken Burns’ series on the history of baseball, and it sparked some interesting comparisons to a subject that headlines the news daily.

Baseball values sportsmanship, fairness, and integrity. Politics far too often involves the polar opposite. While character has once been evident in the halls of Congress (I haven’t figured out which halls, yet), it now seems to be confined to the monuments of inspiration that surround the Capitol.

While winning is the goal in baseball, the stakes are lower. It’s a game. In politics, the consequences of success or failure can affect people’s lives on a much larger scale, including policies that shape our society.

Political loyalty is confined to parties. Baseball teams are embedded in the bones of their fans’ identities. Over the course of a 162-game season, players and fans ride the highs of victories and the lows of defeats.

Baseball season runs from April to September, a time when players take the field, fans fill the stands, and every team dreams of making it to the World Series. Politics is year-round, where one side celebrates, the other side criticizes, and the stakes are always high.

Baseball is fun to watch—the home runs, the pitching—plays that make the impossible possible. Politics is often endured rather than embraced, and its history is marked by scandals that have had a lasting impact: Iran-Contra, Watergate, the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Baseball, too has faced its share of scandals: the 1919 Chicago Black Sox, the steroid era, the Pete Rose betting scandal, sign-stealing. Nonetheless, justice ultimately prevails—Rose and Black Sox players were banned from the game, and baseball has always found its way back home, rediscovering its heart and moving forward with strength.

Politics and baseball have been marked by a blend of the highest ideals and the lowest conduct. Ty Cobb—widely regarded as one of the best in the game—said that baseball “is something like a war.” An apt perspective from an angry, combative man who had a reputation for racism and was often disliked by his teammates. He was tolerated for his exceptional skills on the field.

Politics is a war that grinds down even the most dedicated individuals striving to bring order and foster compromise for the good of all Americans. However, there have been bright moments. In the midst of the depression, Franklin Roosevelt succeeded in lifting up the country when he threw out the first pitch on baseball’s Opening Day. “I have no expectation of getting a hit when I come to bat,” Franklin said. “What I seek is the highest possible batting average—not only for myself, but for my team.”

In a world often weighed down by bad news and pain, we need something that reminds us of life’s joys. We turn to sports, concerts, operas, and other shared experiences because they give us moments of connection. As historian and die-hard Red Sox fan Doris Kearns Goodwin puts it, “There’s magic to baseball.” You can feel it in the crack of the bat, the strategy of the managers, the gutsy plays, and the roar of the fans as they attempt to will their teams to win. It’s a unifying force, a reminder of our shared humanity, more so when you sit by others in the park.

Ultimately, baseball is a game of faith. It teaches us that with faith, players like Joe DiMaggio–son of a fisherman–can achieve greatness through hard work and extraordinary skill, while Jackie Robinson—a Black man with unmatched talent and resolve—can overcome relentless racist attacks to become a legendary figure and role model on the field and in life. The inscription on Robinson’s headstone reads: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on others.”

Baseball isn’t just a game; it motivates us to show up and live up to the best of our abilities and have some fun along the way.