In these turbulent times of political division, it is fantastic to see that there is still a tried and true thing that can reduce the gap between the streets in New York. And wouldn’t you know it? What brings us together is what divides us for the most years, uniting party lines where the franchise scatters loyalty.
Baseball.
Ah, baseball.
“It breaks your heart,” Bart Giamati once famously wrote. “It is designed to break your heart.”
“A constant through the year, Ray,” Terence Mann called Ray Kinsella “in the realm of dreams”, the first moment the tap opens on your tear ducts, baseball is. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It was erased, rebuilt and re-erased like a blackboard. But baseball has marked the time.”
And now, add this:
“Baseball has always been as American as apple pie. It’s a sport that many people love and watch, and this law is a tool to honor all that this iconic sport has played in New York. Originated in Cooperstown in 1839 for the people. “
This is from State Assembly Bill A05156, sponsored on February 11 this year by Michael Benedetto, who serves in the 82nd Assembly District, with his local office based on East Tremont Avenue in The Bronx. Tuesday, Peter Obrecker, who represents District 51 in the state Senate (an area that includes Cooperstown), sponsored Bill S05363, of which Mission A05156 is:
“Designates Baseball as the Official Game of the State of New York.”
Benedetto is a nine-term Democrat assemblyman.
Obreker is a new Republican senator.
Do you think of another famous observation, you know?
“You just can’t predict baseball, Suzanne.”
Now, look: Yes, we understand that politicians create difficulties for themselves when they start spending time on these issues. We get it: There is a list of problems and items and concerns as long as Dewey Thruway needs to be addressed. Serious people call serious people.
Understood.
Before you start your letter-writing campaign, can we mention that it all began in the collective imagination of a group of fourth-graders in Ann Rees’s class at Cooperstown Elementary in 2006? Those children are all new to high school now. Subsequently, he took over his then senator, James L. Wrote Seward, and suggested what the first crack in the idea, S28288, is.
“While studying New York State government and state symbols, students realized that we lack state sports,” said Rees. “He immediately decided that baseball would be perfect to fill the void.”
As the current form of the bill states, “Chapter 6 of New York’s state law contains various provisions designating” state officials “such as trees, freshwater fish, shell, pests, and even muffins. “
(For the record that will be in order: sugar maple, brook trout, bay scallop, spotted lady beetle and apple).
So why not an official game?
Why not baseball?
Well, here and there, we have always been partly in basketball as our founding game; We call it the “game of the city”, after all. There will be people who argue for hockey, especially when you cruise north of the city. In Western New York, no matter what the legislature is, the permanent official state game – and state religion – is “Buffalo Bills”, so just move on. Soccer fans will definitely pipe in with participation numbers. And don’t ignore lacrosse if you head to Long Island or you might find a defenseman’s long stick across your back.
Nevertheless, as A05156 dutifully states: The birthplace of the game (according to legend, anyway) is in Cooperstown. Is the Hall of Fame and “entices tourists from around the world, honoring the greatest teams and players in the game (56 players from 5 New York teams alone).” The Yankees, Giants, Dodgers and Mets have won 35 of the 116 World Series.
Even as a famous New York philosopher named GH Ruth, it was once said:
“The only real game, I think, in the world, is baseball.”
And who are we to argue with Babe?
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