Baseball: a combination of chess and ballet
For those of you who think watching baseball is boring, here is an excerpt from W.P. Kinsella's The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (1986), a great book, which might change your mind.
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I remember my father saying to me, "Gideon, there's a lot more to watching a baseball game than keeping your eye on the ball." My father taught me the joys of watching a game when there were no base runners, when, to the untrained eye, nothing was happening. He taught me to follow that esoteric game of catch between pitcher and catcher, a game interrupted only by a lone and lonely batter attempting the seemingly impossible feat of striking a round ball with a cylindrical stick.
"You don't need base runners to enjoy the game," my father would say. "Notice how the infielders rise on their toes as the ball is delivered, ready to float in whatever direction the ball is hit. Keep an eye on the outfielders too, for if the signs have been flashed properly, they'll not only know what kind of pitch is coming, but whether it will be on the inside or outside part of the plate.
"But the real movement doesn't start until the ball is in play. After the ball is hit, after it has cleared the infield, especially if it is going for extra bases, you've got to train yourself to look back at the infield. While the outfielder is running down the ball, watch who is coving which base, watch to see who is backing up third and home. You'll be amazed at the amount of movement. Ah, Gideon, when everyone is in motion, it's like watching those delicate, long-legged insects skim over calm water.
"The bunt is a ballet production all its own," he would go on. "As the batter squares around to drop the ball in front of the plate, watch the first and third basemen come huffing toward home, kicking up dust; watch the second baseman streaking towards first to take the throw while the shortstop covers second and the outfielders charge in to back up the bases in the event of an overthrow.
"You've got to watch the pitcher, Gideon. Watch the pitcher and you'll appreciate why baseball is a combination of chess and ballet. Watch him back up the bases, watch him get across to first on a grounder to the right side, see how the first baseman leads him, tossing to an empty sack, trusting him to be there.
"When it looks like nothing is going on, choose a player and watch him react to every pitch, rising like water, receding like water. Watch a different player each inning. It takes a lot of years of watching baseball to learn not to follow the ball every second. The true beauty of the game is the ebb and flow of the fielders, the kaleidoscopic arrangements and rearrangements of the players in response to a foul ball, an extra-base hit, or an attempted stolen base."
