Transcript for the 29:54 version version of Baseball Is...

I'm not a really big fan of baseball. It's a fun sport to play with friends, but most of my memories of baseball growing up involve hearing "good eye!" repeated at every pitch I didn't swing at in Little League. Basketball's more my sport.
My grandfather, on the other hand, loved baseball. The only reason I know how to pitch or catch is thanks to that man and his love for the sport -- particularly the Philadelphia Phillies, his home town team.
My grandfather was the second youngest of 13 kids, his dad died when he was nine, his mom a few years later. For a good point of reference on how life went for them, they referred to the great depression as "Tuesday." He was a fantastic grandfather, but he didn't often talk about his childhood -- still, the one story I heard over and over again would be about how he and his brothers would walk down to Baker's Field for a game. The thing was -- they didn't have tickets. They couldn't think to afford tickets. But they'd still go down and listen outside the stadium.
And that's where my one bit of love for baseball comes in -- I come from people to whom a good story is more important than a good time. And I love that story -- and yeah, it's not the most dynamic image -- a couple kids hanging outside a baseball stadium, trying to hear what's going on from the outside. But I'd imagine my grandfather could always tell you where he was during some of the biggest moments for the Phillies -- outside trying to hear them.
I love going to ballparks. I could tell you about every trip I've taken to one. I remember sitting in Yankee Stadium in one of its last nights with my dad. I remember hoping no one at Camp Fuller noticed I'd wet my pants at the minor league stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. And yeah, I remember going to the Vet with my grandfather and watching the Phillies play the Detroit Tigers. It’s the first game I remember going to.
And even though I wasn't there, I can even remember four kids from North Philly hanging outside Baker’s Field, listening to the roar of the crowd. I can remember all of these days, no problem. But I don't remember because of the games that were played or the final score, I remember because of the senses I still remember -- the smells, the tastes, the sights. I remember them because they're moments. The real moments I'll never let go.
I'm Tom Brennan, and that's what baseball is: it's a game of inches, a game of stories, a game of moments, and sometimes even a game of scandal. Love it or hate it, it's part of American History and American Culture, passed from generation to generation.

[Richard Wolbert] (0:49) I was introduced by my father, many, many, many years ago.
[Bill] (2:36) It was my father.
[Brian French] (1:41) Yeah, probably between him and my older brother.
[Justin Tavano] (1:40) ...I had 4 older brothers, everybody played baseball. Grew up in a small neighborhood where we were always out back playing wiffle ball or out in the street playing baseball with an aluminum bat and a tennis ball. So I got introduced to the game probably before I could speak. Been following it ever since.
[Steve McAllister] (1:25) With my dad. He was a state policeman in IL, but he coached my little league teams, so that was my introduction to baseball, was through him.

These are the stories of fans – young and old – and their relationship with the game.

[Jerry Sullivan] (1:01) I came out of the womb a Yankees fan. My dad, uh, my dad brought me up watching games, ever since I was 2 or 3, I can remember watching Yankee games with my dad

Jerry Sullivan is a pitcher for Oral Roberts University. He spent the summer of 2008 pitching in the Cape Cod Baseball League, one of the premiere college summer leagues. At any given moment, there are around 200 active Major League Baseball players who spent at least a summer on the Cape.

[Jerry Sullivan] (1:16)...probably seen a hundred games at Yankee Stadium. It’s good stuff
[Jerry Sullivan] (0:34) First time I ever pitched, my first pitch, I hit the batter in the head, and uh, second pitch I ever threw, I also hit (chuckles) the second batter in the head. So it was a good start to my, uh, career in baseball.
[Bob Mayo] (5:10) ...When I was growing up in Orleans, my father owned a farm,

Bob Mayo is the president of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, one of the Cape League teams.

[Mayo 5:10 cont] …and he was a big baseball fan, and every night he'd come up to the local town team games. Jeez, I can remember going to ball games, I was probably 7, 8 years old. And again, the old Cape league was all town players, and they just had great rivalries. I remember going to watch Orleans and Harwich, Orleans and Chatham, Orleans and Yarmouth, and back then, the two divisions didn't play each other until the end of the year.
[Bob May o] (1:25) I played in the Cape league way back many years ago in 1962. I played for Orleans.

Going from playing to running a team, he's gotten a chance to see how people watch the game.

[Bob Mayo] (8:56) ...They're not just watching a baseball game, they're talking to other people.

That conversation is part of the baseball experience.

[Jack Murphy] (1:43) I talk baseball a lot.

Jack is a Cape Cod resident and a life-long Red Sox fan.

[Jack Murphy] (1:51) Sitting on the beach. Just my wife and I and three younger guys there and one of them had on – I can't remember what hat he had on. I think it was a Cardinals hat. And somebody said something about: “you're a long ways from home for a Cardinals fan” and he said: “Doesn't matter where I am, I'm still a Cardinals fan.” And we got to talking about baseball. Yeah; that's how it starts.
[Rick Moyer] (18:10) And you throw out a little question there and depending on the answer is depending on how much you wanna talk.

Those born into something usually never leave it. No matter where you go, your loyalties follows you.

[Steve McAllister] (0:43) I've been a Cub fan the majority of my life.
[Brian French] (1:28) I grew in CT... My dad used to be an usher in Yankee Stadium, so it's kind of ingrained in the family. (1:17) Always a Yankee fan.

Unless, of course…

[Dave Mitchell] (0:58) I grew up with the Giants, but they went west and I didn't.

Dave Mitchell grew up watching the New York Giants. Just like so many of us, Dave remembers his first game clearly.

[Dave Mitchell] (4:22) It was in the late 40s. My dad took my brother and I to the Polo Grounds. I can remember…You used to park on the Polo Grounds right on Riverside Drive. The lights were on and it was dark out, but I can remember the smoke. Probably 70% of the world smoked in those days, but the smoke that was coming out from the Polo Grounds was rising up was so heavy, I looked up at my dad: “Is there gonna be a game or is the place burning down?” The Giants played Pittsburgh
[Mitchell 4:22 cont] …and a guy by the name of Wally Westlake hit a home run down the right field line in the Polo Grounds. It was high enough to go over the upper deck and into the dark, and I can remember asking my dad if that was the longest home run ever hit because it looked like such a huge blast to me. Well it was 257 feet down the right field line in the Polo Grounds, so it was a pop-up, essentially.
[Rick Moyer] (3:50) ...we got on the train in Utica, NY, took the train to NYC, went to the Polo Grounds, and it was, ...Willie Mays' rookie season. He played Center Field, Monty Irving, Al Dark, the great, great NY Giants teams. And they played St. Louis that particular day....I'll never forget. And then to go to the Polo Grounds – I'd seen it in the newspaper a couple times, so to go to that game and have it Willie Mays’ rookie season, it’s just etched in my memory forever.
[Rick Moyer] (5:00) I'll never forget walking in, the smell of the ball park and…
[Richard Wolbert] (0:58) It was the Cleveland Indians against the Philadelphia Athletics. (1:15) It was just…enjoyed it. Thrilled to watch it. Had a good time.
[Steve McAllister] (1:38) It was with the SF Giants and Willie Mays was playing center and Willie McCovey was playing first…The Cub players,I was a Cubs fan, but I remember those two guys being out there. At Wrigley.
[John Garner] (4:06) 1964. Went with dad. Sat right behind the Yankees dugout at Fenway Park, and Dick Stewart hit 2 homeruns and Mickey Mantle hit one and nothing my dad could tell me could convince me that Mickey Mantle was a better player than Dick Stewart, because what I saw with my eyes that Dick Stewart had hit two homeruns so I thought he was the best player…that’s not the case. I was only 7 or 8 years old, so...it was very memorable, though...I think Dick Rattits pitched that game. That's when the Red Sox weren't very good and that was the Yankees last pennant winner of their storied run there.
[Bill] (2:07) I do remember my first time going to Fenway. I saw Frank Howard, who used to play for the old Washington Senators...he check-swung at a baseball and he hit it over the left-field fence and I was amazed at the power he had with just a check swing.
[Brian French] (1:52) Oh, gosh. I remember the game but I couldn’t tell you when it was. I think I was 8 when he took me to Yankee Stadium. (2:05) It was massive. The grass was greener than I'd ever seen, and it was before the renovation so there was all the lattice work. The typical Yankee stadium arches went all the way around the stadium, it was magnificent.
[Jay Lawler] (1:51) ...I do remember the first professional game I went to; It was on a Sunday and that was the day that Ted Williams used to take off. It was probably 1958 or 59 and I remember him pinch-hitting and striking out. It's the only time I saw him play.

The only feeling comparable to your first time is the feeling of bringing someone else to see their first time.

[Dave Mitchell] (6:47) That feeling that you get when you're the little guy and you're coming out from below where you've got your popcorn or what-have-you and you first look at the field with the lights on and the beautiful green that you hear all us old geezers talk about,

Dave Mitchell

[Mitchell, 6:47 cont] … you love to bring another youngster to the game. So I've brought 5 of my grandchildren to their first game so I could watch their face and see the same surprise and love of the game in their eyes.

The strong connection between generations is what keeps baseball healthy.

[Richard Wolbert] (1:25) Oh, yeah. My son played. I played, my son played, my grandchildren play.
[Jay Lawler] (1:20) I have two sons that have a lot of interest in baseball and I played some baseball in college and so-forth and we always used to enjoy coming to the Cape and actually having them practice at the fields and things like that when they were young kids and all that, so it's really kind of a tradition for us.
[Zack Hample] (41:10) …there are some things that you always remember: Your first kiss, your first baseball game.

Baseball author and collector Zack Hample has traveled the country watching the game. In addition to his ball-snagging habit, he feeds his baseball hunger with a service called “Watch with Zack,” in which he takes clients to games and gives them a baseball experience like they’ve never had before.

[Zack Hample] (40:12) I did take a 6-year-old kid to his first game ever. He was with his grandfather and father, and it was great. It was like a multi-generational experience. They drove up from Washington, DC just to go to that game with me. It was a Nationals game at Shea Stadium. Kid's name was Cooper, he was adorable
[Zack Hample] (41:10) It was a real honor and a rush to get to be the one who was helping shape this kid's baseball experience.

Zack has been to every major league ballpark – and has at least one ball from each of them. While baseball is the same game everywhere you go, Zack will be the first to tell you that the experience is never the same twice.

[Zack Hample] (11:27) Yeah; I find that, baseball and baseball fans tend to be more intense on the coasts. Of course not every team on the coast is good. I mean, California's on a coast, and San Diego's in California, but it's been a pretty sad scene at PETCO Park the last few years.
[Zack Hample] (12:12) New York is a pretty crazy place. I find that fans here are certainly not the most knowledgeable or sensible fans, but they're certainly about as passionate as any other place.
[Zack Hample] (12:12)…I think probably Boston leads the pack right now as far as people just being ravenous and nutty. 'Cause there's only one team in Boston. Y’know, in New York, probably like 80 Yankees and 20 Mets if you really wanna give a percentage of how much people are into their teams.
[Zack Hample] (19:34) ...I know a lot of people here in New York City that don't give a damn about baseball. I mean, I know people all over who don't care about it. I think if I could have my way with them all, I could show them the light and turn them all into baseball fans.
[Brian French] (3:50) ...I'll tell you this: I don't think Florida will ever be a baseball state.

Brian lives in Florida but grew up in Connecticut, and has been a life-long Yankees fan.

[Brian French, 3:50, cont] The south isn’t into baseball, they’re into football. And I think I’ve never seen stronger baseball than up in the northeast...I think the major metropolitan cities with the older teams, the more established teams, there’s always that fan-base, but for sure, regionally,...Tampa for example, okay the Rays are playing good this year, but you go to a Rays game and if the Yankees are playing or the Red Sox are playing, there’s more Red Sox fans there. If the Cubs are there for interleague play, I don’t think there’s any loyalty from the fans.
[Rick Moyer] (17:07) ... And out in the Midwest, I used to go to these national coaches conferences in the summer, and I'd go to St. Louis and Cincinnati in particular and stay in these big hotels for the conference…

Rick Moyer was the Athletic Director at Wayland High School in Massachusetts before he retired.

[Rick Moyer, 17:07 cont] … families would show up. This was their 4-game home-series for the whole year. This was the highlight of their family for the whole year. Every person was dressed in Cards Red. Every person was dressed in Cincinnati Red. And they would come in and the whole family and they were so excited and they'd have banners and they'd get to the ballpark 2 hours early and they'd all hold hands and off they’d go to the game and it was just a religion out there…

A Red Sox fan, he’s celebrated his retirement by going to Florida every year for Spring Training.

[Rick Moyer] (5:26)... It was great. And prior to 2004, you could get up close to the players, you could get their autographs, you could talk to them and everything else. And it changed dramatically, became the biggest mob scene I've ever seen in life after they won the World Series.
[Rick Moyer] (13:48)... I have a lot of favorite stories about Spring Training, but one was…I'm sitting in the 2nd row...between the left field door where they go out, the catchers and the pitchers go out, that door, but between the dugout – and I'm right there. And Varitek was a rookie and nobody knew who he was, and he had this haircut that was about 1/8-inch long on top, buzzed on the side, and this guy sitting behind me – he walks by and the guy says, “Nice haircut, rookie.”
[Rick Moyer] (14:59) ...And I felt bad for Varitek, he did look pretty stupid…

Until recently, the following outside this country fell far behind the northeast fervor.

[Zack Hample] (15:28) Yeah; and I remember when I was in Montreal, there were a couple situations during the game where a batter hit a foul ball that landed in the seats and people didn't even stand up out of their seat to try to pick it up. The ball was rattling around the mostly empty seats, trickling down the steps, and one guy didn’t even bother to lean out of his chair on the end of his row to pick up the ball as it trickled down the steps right next to him...I have never seen behavior like that.

Zack Hample

[Zack Hample] (12:12)…I remember being in Toronto in the 90s.
[Zack Hample] (13:28) I was at SkyDome and I remember, this was back in the days when it had just opened, and they were packing it every game they had 50,000 fans. They were drawing 4-million a season. There was not an empty seat in the place. We were sitting in the upper deck in left field, I think the 500 level they call it. It was so quiet; there were 4 fans sitting next to each other all the way across the stadium on the field level and the 4 of them in unison were doing some cheer and clapping, and I could hear them. All the way across the stadium. And I just thought: wow, this is lame.

[Alex Vasquez] (1:00) I was born' in the Dominican Republic…I came to the states when I was 9, so I really didn’t get to see any baseball ... I started following baseball here in New York.

Alex Vasquez grew up not knowing baseball. But he learned it fast and fell for it hard.

[Alex Vasquez 1:00 cont]...the first game that I saw was the 1987 World Series between the St. Louis and the Twins. I was rooting for St. Louis just because the catcher was Tony Pena, Dominican baseball player. So I started following the series.I was rooting for the Cardinals, who unfortunately lost in 7 games. And then the following season, I started watching TV and I saw the Yankees, so ever since then I was a big Yankee fan.
[Alex Vasquez] (3:30) I was in Junior High School, Memorial Day weekend, it was the Yankees against Boston.
[Vasquez, 3:30] And people were just screaming, yelling...But even before the game, just walking into Yankee Stadium and seeing the grass. That was just…I’ve never seen such a well-maintained grass ever in my life. Just seeing that for the first time and then going to the game and getting up for the 7th inning stretch, buying hot dogs. That whole experience is just great.
[Vasquez, 3:30]…and the Yankees were trailing 3-to-2, I believe, and bottom of the 9th, we got someone on, and Boston called on the closer at the time, Jeff Reirdon I think was the closer for boston at the time... And Mel Hall hits a homerun to end the game...
[Vasquez] (4:32)...That was just a great game. Great game. I’ll never forget it. 1, because it was my first game, and 2 because it was so dramatic.

The drama was instantly addictive.

[Alex Vasquez] (3:00) ...I guess the confrontation between the hitter and the pitcher. I don’t think you see that in any other sport; just 2 people facing each other and all the tension, the timing of it; there’s a pause before the pitcher throws the pitch, the crowd, the anticipation of what’s gonna happen, so just the confrontation between pitcher and hitter...that’s just fascinating.

That pause slows down the game. The average Major League Baseball game lasts just under three hours.

[Justin Tavano] (5:02) ...To some people it's boring, but to some people it brings as much peace as anything in the world.
[Dick] (2:53) ...there’s a lot of strategy to it, a lot of strategy to it. Some people complain it’s too slow, but if you know the game you appreciate what’s happening out there.
[Zack Hample] (24:22) There's just a lot of interesting, wacky stuff that takes place in baseball. And you can enjoy it on so many different levels.

Zack Hample

[Zack Hample] (21:05) I love that baseball's untimed. I love that every stadium is different and not just the seats … but the actual playing surface and dimensions are different in every stadium. … every tennis court is the same size, and every basketball court and hockey rink, those are all the same. But every baseball field is different. And even on a field, there's so many different things that cause chaos, I mean.
[Zack Hample] (22:30)... There’s so many ways to get hurt and there's so many funny ways that a ball can bounce. Even a chalk line, which is maybe like a quarter-of-an-inch thick can make the difference between a fair and foul ball, how the grounds keepers lay that down. The thickness of the infield grass can allow a ground ball to sneak through or to slow down for the infielders. Outfield walls with different coverings, whether it's ivy or padding or brick or whatever it is, different heights of the walls, and different warning tracks. Some are rubberized, some are gravelly…just little angles and corners. and there's actually a slope on the field in Houston with the flagpole that's in play. It's just so wacky.

Idiosyncrasies aside, there’s a simple joy to sitting back, relaxing, and just watching the action slowly unfold.

[Neil] (2:35) ...Baseball, it's just the whole timing of it, it's very relaxing. You watch all the aspects of the game. I played a lot of softball in my time, so I just enjoy watching it. Sitting outside.
[Bill] (1:28) ...Well, the great American pastime, and it's the summertime, it's nice to come out here and at a leisurely pace just watch the game during the summer.
[Jack Murphy] (5:35) ...There's always a definite rhythm to baseball that I always loved. Even the little tiny league, the farm league, there's still that kind of – it's like an ebb and flow of the game. Doesn't really matter what the score is, it's what goes on in the middle of it that matters so much to me.

But there’s more to baseball than just watching.

[Zack Hample] (19:59) ...of the four major sports...it's the one that is most accessible.

Zack Hample

[Zack Hample, 19:59 cont] …Maybe not the easiest to play when you're little, because if you just have one friend and a basketball, you can go play basketball, but as far as having real aspirations, you know, it’s like you sort of know that if you're gonna be a basketball player you have to be 7 feet all, and if you want to play football, you have to be that wide, and if you want to play hockey you have to be from Canada or have a last name that looks like a bad scrabble rack, and it's just like I could dream about being a baseball player when I was little.

It gives us all something to aspire to,

[Rick Moyer] (0:34)...I was a short, chubby, non-athletic, cream-puff,

…even if we aren’t the most athletically built.

[Rick Moyer 0:34 cont] … so I tried out, and 10 kids tried out for the team. They had 9 uniforms, so the day of the first game, they hand out the 9 uniforms to the other nine kids....and we're playing St. Pat's school. ...I'd never played a game in my life, and never been around an organized game in my life, and when they said, “gee, Washington Ave has 10 players, St. Pat's has 8 players, why don't we give them one of our players.” And everyone screamed out “Give 'Em Moyer, Give 'em Moyer” so I went over to St. Pats....And then they said: “Okay, St. Pats is in the field,” The other 8 players ran to positions and I stood there and Bob Lower said, “Ok, you're the catcher” because I was the only one left that wasn’t in a position.
[Rick Moyer] (2:35) And he put the equipment on me and said: “Okay, Moyer, you're the catcher.” For St. Pat's, a kid named Bill Boehlert, a lefthander, who ended up, pitched for the California Angels of the Major Leagues, so when you're good, you're good, doesn't matter what age you are. I am this kid's catcher. He's the best pitcher in the history of Central New York, and I'm catching him my first game. Never caught a ball – it either hit me off the chest protector or went to the backstop. I'd go pick it up and lob it back to the pitcher. He threw a no-hitter and I never caught a ball. That was my first game.
[Rick Moyer] (3:15) ...I caught Billy all through police league, all through high school, all through semi-pro, caught probably 15 no-hitters from Bill Boehlert.
[Dick] (2:01) I remember the first time in high school that I pitched. The coach suddenly called me, and I hadn’t pitched in a game before, and the first batter up hit a line drive right at me and knocked me right over. And the coach is yelling “Where’s…get the ball, get the ball!” I’ll never forget that. First pitch and the guy knocked me over.

Baseball has never been completely clean from scandal. From the mundane – corking the bat to make your swing faster, intentionally scuffing the ball so the pitcher gets a better grip – to the major – the 1919 Chicago White Sox throwing the World Series.

[Jay Lawler] (0:55)...I'm a little bit disenchanted with professional baseball…
[Zack Hample] (58:20) Well the whole steroid thing really bothers me.
[Alex Vasquez] (8:16) ...It’s unfortunate, but I think the game has to go on and hopefully we can get out of this…

Alex Vasquez

[Alex Vasquez 8:16 cont] … people will trust the game again. Right now it’s hard, because you don’t know who did it or who’s doing it, but I think as time moves on…I don’t think people will ever forget, but people will start focusing on the game and not who’s doing what and why they did it.

[Zack Hample] (1:02:24) It really makes me sad, but I almost see it as a necessity in different ways.

Zack Hample

[Zack Hample] (59:24) Then again, I look at it and it's like, well, if you're living in Central America in absolute poverty and you don't even have running water and baseball is your ticket to a better life, you'll do whatever it takes, including steroids, to make it to become rich. And baseball itself is just grueling as far as the schedule
[Zack Hample] (1:00:36) It's kind of physically impossible, I think, for players to get through the season without taking some kind of stimulant, even amphetamines or whatever, because if you're playing a day game..that starts at 1 o'clock and then a couple days later you're going to be on the west coast and you're going to be playing a game until what feels to you like it's 1 in the morning, I mean, that's a 12-hour range in which you have to be at your peak....And then day after day and the minor aches and pain, a strained hamstring, or a foul ball hits a pebble and it skips up and it hits your wrist and you have a bruise. There's so many ways to get hurt and just to have minor aches and pains and yet you're expected to be out there every day, or at least 150 games, 155.
[Zack Hample] (1:04:43) It doesn't matter how many strikes there are, how many steroids are ingested, what kind of competitive imbalance there is, if the balls are juiced -- baseball will survive. It's just, it’s that beautiful and awesome and there are that many people that are into it that it will find a way. It will be there.

And it will survive, if for no other reason than:

[Jay Lawler] (4:06) Baseball is America.
[Alex Vasquez] (11:06) .,.. It will always be America’s pastime. Unlike any other sport; football, hockey, basketball, It’s just, it’s a game that you can just go and watch the game with your family, brother, your friend, – it will always be America’s pastime.
[Steve McAllister] (4:37) Baseball is my life so far,
[Bill] (3:58) The greatest game on earth.
[Richard Wolbert] (3:05) It’s a great sport...I think it brings out the best in young men, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.
[Brian French] (5:44) A timeless sport that hasn't yet succumbed to the media hype… and all the modern technology that will make the game an exact science, which it's not. There's no clock in baseball -- you play until somebody wins
[Dick] (5:19) It’s an outing for the whole family.
[Bob Mayo] (7:44)... walking around this ballpark, I get goosebumps, like I'll come over here early on the weekends and you have batting practice, you talk to the players,

Bob Mayo

[Bob Mayo, 7:44 cont] …and you feel like you're the owner of the team
[Bob Mayo] (13:40) Baseball is just a wonderful sport to be around. It's a big part of my life. When I got to heaven, I want my ashes scattered around the ballpark and I want everyone to sing at my Memorial Service “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and I just love this game.

“Baseball Is” was reported, written, and edited by Alexander Yellen.
Special thanks to John Garner of The Cape Cod Baseball League, as well as the Cape League teams and their fans.
Zack Hample’s second book, Watching Baseball Smarter is available in paperback from Random House.
This is Tom Brennan, and I’ll see you in the bleachers.

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