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Wednesday, 25 June, 2008 12:42 PM
The New Way
to View Life Through The Old Ball Game
Graphic
courtesy of www.magnetamerica.com
San
Francisco, CA – More than two million kids from around
the world will play on seven thousand baseball Little League teams
this year. These children, ages 13 and younger, are taking part
in a tradition that spans nearly 70 years. Parents across the world
enroll their children in Little League not just to learn the sport,
but to learn the ethics and team spirit associated with the great
American pastime.
“What is on the field is an imitation of human life,”
says Dan Liberthson, PhD and author of the new book “The Pitch
is on the Way: Poems about Baseball and Life.” Liberthson
says taking part in baseball games and watching the professionals
on the field are fantastic ways to teach your children the basic
morals and guidelines of life. “For 130 years we’ve
been cheering for players to battle each other and challenge themselves
on the ball field. No other sport is quite as American or inspirational.”
Parents want to give their children the tools for a successful and
enjoyable life. Little League, Pony League, college, and professional
baseball are great ways to build the foundational skills kids need
to become adults. In praise of Liberthson’s book, Baseball
Commissioner Bud Selig agrees: The great American pastime isn’t
just a sport – it’s a chance to learn skills that guide
Americans through all the pitfalls the world can throw at us.
Liberthson’s poems point out four life lessons both adults
and children can get from baseball if they know where to look:
1) Failure, Injury, and Defeat Are as Much a Part of the Game as
Success. As Liberthson points out in his poem “The Mound,”
about a pitcher yanked from the game, we can all blow it, but we
need to pick ourselves up and try again.
2) Don’t Relegate Yourself to the Dugout. A player might miss
one opportunity and lose his focus for the rest of the game. He
becomes obsessed with that one early mistake and can’t recover.
It is the same with life: if you dwell on your past mis-step, you’ll
never get a foothold on future success.
3) Don’t Let the Hecklers Get You Down. In many games, some
fan is shouting above the crowd for the batter to miss, or the pitcher
to throw badly, or deriding the umpire’s calls. Taking such
spiteful criticism to heart will only ruin the player’s pleasure
in the game and his chance of winning. “Everywhere in life
you run into people rooting for you to fail,” says Liberthson.
“Look at these professional athletes on the field and think
about how the rival team is hoping they’ll fall flat on their
faces. Still, these men often manage to succeed. It’s a good
lesson for life: ignore unhelpful criticism if you are giving the
game your best. You won’t have a chance to win if you don’t
stop beating yourself and letting the hecklers beat you.”
4) You Can’t Win By Yourself. Baseball is a team sport. Sure,
some teams have high-paid ‘hot shots,’ but without 9
players on each team and many support staff there is no game. The
same is true of life: you can be the best at what you do, but if
you’re not surrounded by good, supportive people whom you
treat well, your chances of enjoying the experience are zero.
Liberthson continues his baseball metaphor to point out poignantly
that “Life is hard, but at its core life is a game –
a serious game. Maybe who wins or loses the game isn’t as
important as how a player feels about the job he’s done as
he walks off the field.”
About Dan Liberthson
Dan Liberthson was born in Rochester, NY and graduated with a BA
in history from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He
earned a PhD in English (with a dissertation in contemporary poetry)
from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dan then taught
college English composition and literature at Kent State and Akron
Universities and for the U.S. Navy. Since 1978, he’s lived
in the San Francisco Bay Area, working as a technical and medical
writer. Liberthson has published poems in many venues, including
the baseball magazines Elysian Fields Quarterly and Spitball: The
Literary Baseball Magazine. Though he hasn’t played since
Little League, Liberthson is an avid fan of the art of the game.
His latest book, “The Pitch is on the Way: Poems about Baseball
and Life” is his tribute to the sport that has given him hope,
respite, warmth and laughter. www.liberthson.com
or www.PitchPoems.com.
Source:
News and Experts
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