#8

After explaining the court case and decision, the most interesting question of this book so far was asked: Does a team have an obligation to play baseball? This is especially interesting to me because I have always felt deep inside that sports teams mean a lot more than a bunch of guys playing a sport for money. The legal and financial part of baseball or any professional sport is nothing compared to what the team means to a town and it's fans and people mentally and emotionally. In a sport like baseball, where the roots of the sport and team are deeply engraved in the city's history, the way the baseball team goes, often so does the city. The mental and emotional needs of the city caused by a sports team are so much greater than just the value on paper, and that's what I love about sports.

#7

It turns out the MLB and Twins management lost the case; the Minnesota Supreme Court then later the Court of Appeals upheld the ruling that the Twins had an obligation to play the 2002 season in Minnesota. The judges obviously thought that the intangible connections the Twins and baseball had to the community outweighed the monetary damages that could have been repayed if the Twins left. The philosophical idea to ponder is whether the ruling was due to ethics or law. I personally believe that sometimes ethics can outweigh the law, especially in a time when there is not enough time to make a law. Even though it may not be written in the Constitution, baseball and a home team are two of the most important aspects of major cities across the United States, and that is something that cannot be replaced by money. Whether it's in baseball, or in your own community you feel that intangible damages will be worse than can be replaced by money, people can use ethics to bypass laws and do what they know is right.

#6

Baseball and Philosophy has taught me so much about different schools of thought and philosophical ideas. In order to explain the Twins fiasco, the author first starts with an explanation of Utilitarianism. In short, Utilitarianism is problem solving in which the solution will result in the happiness of the most people. This has to do with law and ethics in baseball because laws are often formed or made more serious depending on how happy or not it makes the people. An example I saw in life today was when a college student on my brother's campus stole a stop sign from an intersection. This would have been a minor offense except a car crash occurred at this intersection which caused the situation and discipline to be much worse. The fact that the happiness of the people was affected more made the offense worse. Since laws also reject Utilitarianism, the mental state of people should not weigh into a court decision. Just because thousands of fans adore the Twins does not make their case in a courtroom.

#5

The next chapter of Baseball and Philosophy is about a subject often relevant in philosophical discussions, but hard to imagine having anything to do with baseball. But, as the beginning story shows, ethics and law can have a lot to do with baseball. In 2001, the MLB, with their hand being forced by a tough economic climate, claimed that they would have to cut two teams from the league, the Montreal Expos, who had no case for staying in the league as they had very low attendance and revenue, and the Minnesota Twins. The Twins organization then had to go to trial with a most difficult case, to prove they had an obligation to play baseball. The book brings up the most interesting question, does baseball have a place in the law? Should material things and sports teams be allowed to try to prove cases in a Federal court. Who would be the plaintiff, and the defendant? How would one judge such a trial? The cases would most certainly be difficult to prove. These are just some of the many problems of what I have just begun to read into. I am intrigued to keep reading and will post again when I have found some answers.

#4

I finished up the chapter about "home" today. It sums up with a section about the true home in baseball, a team's stadium. This section really touched me because of the stories the author tells and how they relate to me. He says that anywhere you can throw food rappers on the ground and yell at umpires and players from 200 feet away without getting reprimanded definitely deserves to be called home. Every time I go to my favorite teams stadium, I feel at home, with all my family surrounding me all rooting for the same team, all connected in that same way. Also, when corporate sponsors "buy" the rights to the names of stadiums, the "family" who "lives" in that "home" is angry because, as the author says, it's like someone set-up a billboard in your living room. When the White Sox, my favorite team, changed the name of their stadium from Comiskey Park after the founder to U.S. Cellular Field after a sponsor, my family was devastated, and I as I read this, I felt now I understood why I feel such a strong connection to the "homes" of baseball.

#3

The next section of Baseball and Philosophy continues on the idea of home plate being both a fear and a place of comfort. The author delves in to why a hitter would feel at "home" at home plate when the best hitters get out 7 out of 10 ten times they go up to home plate. Mannerisms in different players suggest the comfort they feel at the plate, like when the adjust their uniforms, and puff out their chests, and chat with umpires and catchers. A Sigmund Freud idea is brought up, the uncanny, which in german, unheimlich, literally means not at home. Frued's idea of the uncanny is that a place can be both familiar and scary at the same time, and this really applies to why a batter can feel comfortable "at home" even though he knows he will probably get out.

#2

The book starts how every baseball game starts, at home. The first philosophical question posed is about why home means so much, and how that can be related to our "home" in life. Defining home is not easy; as French philosopher Bordeteaux said, it is not as easy to say what home is, as to what it isn't. Meaning your home is more easily described as something to protect you from outside dangers. In baseball, you have to leave home and test the dangers of the fielders trying to get you out before you can reach your goal of coming back and being safe at home permanently.

#1

After looking over the choices for the extended writing project, I decided making a blog would be the one most fitted to my writing talents and overall lack of creativity. Since baseball season is fast approaching, the life changing book I have chosen to read is called "Baseball and Philosophy". It's about how one can relate baseball and stuff that happens in and around the game to lief and meaning of mankind, should be interesting.