Baseball and soulcraft The Layman Online Sunday, June 10, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It's no secret that Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George F. Will is a tremendous baseball fan -- and he uses anecdotes from the National Pastime to illustrate themes as varied as politics, the soul of the country, education, welfare and others. During a program sponsored June 8 by the Presbyterian Lay Committee, Will sprinkled his speech with telling baseball anecdotes to reinforce his convictions. Here are some excerpts. While alluding to some of the apprehension some members of the audience might be experiencing on the eve of the 213th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Will said: "I know I come to you at a time when you have conflicts and arguments and a bit of stress, and some of you are anxious about the future. Let me begin by telling you that I come before you as a fan of the first-place Chicago Cubs. Together we stand while hope remains. … As you know, the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series in 1908. That's just two years before Mark Twain died. If you go to Wrigley Field, you can buy a T-shirt that says, 'Imitation of a bad century.' "I grew up midway between Chicago and St. Louis in Champaign, Ill. At an age really too young to make such life-shaking decisions, I had to choose between being a Cubs fan and a Cardinal fan. All of my friends became Cardinal fans and grew up happy and liberal. I became an embittered Conservative. "But we do learn about hope and about faith planning for the long-term future of being a Cubs fan." While speaking about the tremendous social strides made in this country during the modern age, Will warned that such progress, while good, is not good enough if it is not accompanied by similar progress in moral standards. "And so it seems that the American model of social organization prevails around the world, we have a right to feel triumphant and to think that things are going well. So far, so good. Well, let me tell you a little baseball story. True story. "In 1951, Warren Spahn, on his way to becoming the winningest left-handed pitcher in the history of baseball, was pitching for the then-Boston Braves against the then-New York Giants in the then-Polo Grounds. And the Giants sent up to the plate a rookie who was 0 for 13 at the time. It was clear this kid would never hit big league pitching. It was a kid named Willie Mays. "Spahn stood up on the pitcher's mound, 60 feet six inches away from Mays, threw the ball and Mays crushed it. First hit, first home run. "After the game, the sportswriters went up to Spahn in the clubhouse and said, 'Spahnie, what happened?' And Spahn said, 'Gentlemen, for the first 60 feet that was a heck of a pitch.' "It wasn't good enough because it didn't get to the catcher. And it's not good enough to say so far, so good in society. In fact, there are reasons for alarm about the trajectory and our kind of society." While talking about religion as the greatest, single shaper of society, Will said: "I will tell you, I promise, the final baseball story. It is the greatest baseball story ever told. And it's true. "Rogers Hornsby, the greatest right-handed hitter in the history of baseball, was at the plate and there was a rookie pitching on the mound who was understandably petrified. "And the rookie threw three pitches to Hornsby. The rookie thought they were on the edge of the plate, but the umpire said, ' Ball 1. Ball 2. Ball 3.' "Well, the rookie got flustered and he shouted at him, 'Umpire, those were strikes.' "The umpire took off his mask, looked down at the rookie and said, 'Young man. When you throw a strike, Mr. Hornsby will let you know.' "You see, Hornsby had become the standard. If he didn't swing, it wasn't a strike. And that is the life of responsibility, which is one by one, from the inside out, you can change society, get people better."

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