Find out why baseball is the philosopher’s sport

[Michie]

Baseball season has arrived again, and with it the perennial hope that this is the year that my team will win it all. Of course, fans of all major sports look forward to the start of a new season. But the beginning of a baseball season differs from the commencement of new seasons in other sports. Through the dark, cold days of February and March baseball fans — huddled around the proverbial hot stove — anticipate the new season not merely for the game itself, but as an indication of renewal and refreshment.

Always coinciding with the onset of spring, and often (as it did this year) with Easter, baseball is the sport that uniquely contributes to a sense of rejuvenation and optimistic expectation. The days are getting longer and warmer, grass is turning green, flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing. For baseball fans, the crack of the bat and the pop of ball in glove are just as sure signs of hope as these other natural indications of Spring.

Reflecting the journey to God​

Continued below.

Find out why baseball is the philosopher's sport

The laconic pace of a baseball game, along with the length of the 162-game season, more acutely capture the importance of leisure than any other major spectator sport. It shows us our need for transcendence.

www.oursundayvisitor.com

 

[Bob Crowley]

It seems the Austrian born philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein enjoyed following cricket during his sojourn in England.

Ludwig Wittgenstein: Cricket connections of the great philosopher - Cricket Country

Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the greatest analytical philosophers and one of the most fascinating personas of the 20th century. He was also a keen cricket fan.

www.cricketcountry.com

I think Cricket would actually be the philosopher's sport.

I've plagiarised the last paragraph of the above article, putting in cricket instead of baseball.

The laconic pace of a cricket game, along with the length of the 6 month season and all day games, more acutely capture the refreshing importance of leisure than any other major spectator sport. In cricket, one has the time to reflect, debate, predict, and analyze even pitch-by-pitch. The leisurely pace of cricket is most consistent with philosophical abstraction. And, of course, a bad day at the cricket oval is better than a good day at work.

Just ask the workers who take a sickie when there's a test match on.