Two outs. Ninth inning. The fans’ eyes are spinning.

Up steps the great Babe Ruth. Now is the moment of truth.

It’s the field of dreams. Baseball marks the time.

Koufax. Mantle, Mays, Cobb are memorable names.

Seaver, Gibson, Maddux take the sign.

Diamond heroes of the greatest game.

History of heroes ...

Baseball is the best and most challenging game of them all. Nothing else comes close. The only team sport played on a diamond, not a rectangle. The only team sport with no play clock. The only sport where only one defensive player, the catcher, faces the field. Unlike in every other sport where you can have the team’s best players decide the outcome, in baseball, the spot in the lineup decides who gets the chance to get the walk-off base hit or make the final out.

You want a few more reasons why it’s proven to be the greatest game? Names like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays are known by people who don’t watch any sports. Everyone’s heard of Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and even the most casual fan knows the names of Tom Seaver, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams and Shohei Ohtani.

This field, this game, is a part of our past. Fixed inside us, the memories last.

It’s dad playing catch with his son. It’s batter up and time to have fun.

Fail 70% and get to the HOF ...

Pro baseball players began their love for the game playing catch in the backyard with their dads. Once drafted, unlike in any other sport, they had to navigate through multiple minor league levels before they might get to the “show” and perform inside stadiums filled with 40,000 fans.

No other team sport can equal the magnificence of a pitcher throwing a perfect game. No other sport pays its players millions of dollars for a 30% success rate. Get three base hits and make seven outs in 10 at bats and do it every year, you’re likely to get selected to the Hall of Fame. An NFL quarterback completes three out of every 10 passes, and he gets released by his team.

No other sport asks its players to react in less than half a second to perform an athletic action. A 100 mph fastball crosses home plate in under 400 milliseconds, and yet, somehow a batter can barrel up that pitch and hit it 400 feet over the wall with an exit velocity of 90 miles per hour.

Spotlight of shame ...

There are penalties and mistakes in all sports, but none so shaming as in baseball. An offensive lineman in the NFL gets called for a holding penalty, but nobody sees it. An NBA player gets called for a foul, but nobody sees it. The game of baseball humbles its players. In rapid reaction sports, players get right back into the motion of the game after they commit fouls. In baseball, a fielder drops a ball. A batter strikes out. They stand alone before all the fans to see. No where to run, nowhere to hide.

Chess match ...

Football coaches call plays from playbooks. Basketball coaches draw up plays on clipboards. Baseball managers write lineups, and to the undiscerning eye, they just sit back and watch the game. A manager plays a chess game inside his head. The opponent makes a move, he counters with his strategic move. As his team bats in the fourth, he’s thinking of the last three innings of the game. How long do I stay with my starting pitcher? Depending on the score, who do I bring in relief? Should I put better defensive players in to protect a one-run lead? What player on my bench do I want to pinch hit in the ninth with the game on the line?

A fielder must anticipate. With runners on base and the ball comes to him, which cut-off man gets his relay throw? When nothing seems to be happening on the field, everything is happening between the ears of the coaches and the players. When the game stands still, their minds run through all the scenarios.

Magic memories ...

In the movie Field of Dreams, James Earl Jones makes one of the most iconic speeches of all time about the game of baseball. “... and they’ll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in short-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game, and it’ll be as if they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.”

The Major League. The Little League, it’s all the same

Diamond heroes of the greatest game.

Note: Italized song lyrics written by Rich Strack for, “The Greatest Game.” Vocals and music by Songer recording studio. The song is free and available upon request.