In the Praise of Athletic Beauty
In the Praise of Athletic Beauty: Baseball
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In the Praise of Athletic Beauty: Baseball
This paper provides a comprehensive discussion on what makes baseball really beautiful, for Gumbrecht that is. It also discusses what makes the performance of a baseball athlete worthy of praise, as well as the role that gratitude plays in watching baseball. In addition, this essay provides an account of why I believe my answers to the questions are actually correct. Substantiation for claims made in this essay are offered with quotations from the text In Praise of Athletic Beauty by Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht.
Baseball is a beautiful game and performance of a baseball athlete is worthy of praise
Baseball is essentially a ball-and-bat game that is played between 2 teams each comprising 9 players who take turns in batting and fielding, and it is a particularly beautiful game owing to its fascination. According to Gumbrecht (151), fascination is understood as the eye as indeed paralyzed by, attracted to, the appeal of something perceived, which in this case is athletic performance. It also encompasses the added dimension contributed by those watching the game. The various dispositions on the side of the watcher contribute to the shaping of dissimilar fascinations (Gumbrecht 151). If a novice spectator and a seasoned baseball coach watch a baseball game, both of them can enjoy what they watch. However, their fascination will be different since their engagement and knowledge are very different. Baseball can be seen as a beautiful game and the performance of a baseball athlete worthy of praise by taking into consideration seven different sport fascinations. These include: (i) sculpted bodies; (ii) grace; (iii) suffering in the face of death; (iv) embodied forms; (v) tools that improve the potential of the body; (vi) good timing; and (vii) plays as epiphanies (Gumbrecht 152).
Sculpted bodies: there is always continuous admiration of the beautifully sculpted bodies of baseball players. The bodies of baseball players such as those of Mark Teixeira of New York Yankees, Prince Fielder of Texas Rangers, and Ryan Howard of Philadelphia Phillies contribute to the sort of pleasure that centrally concerns people, that is, the pleasure taken by those watching the game – the spectators. Viewers of baseball also admire the movement of the athlete’s body and this really makes the sport beautiful.
Grace: “grace is a function of how distant a body and its movements actually seem to be from subjectivity, consciousness, as well as their expression” (Gumbrecht 168). Grace turns upside down all the accepted knowledge as regards the relation between human mind and human body. In baseball, grace is seen in the challenge when the player pushes faster, higher, and farther in a given sequence of body movements – throwing and running – which are performed under and shaped through detailed constraints. As the baseball athletes perform these movements continuously, they program their bodies in such a way that knowledge moves from their brains to their muscles and nerves in the arms and legs. The performance of the athlete “may undeniably improve in proportion to the distance that he gains from consciousness as well as from the realm of intentions” (Gumbrecht 170). As such, the grace displayed by baseball athletes is an important reason as to why his performance is worthy of praise and what really makes the game beautiful.
Suffering in the face of death: the devastating violence for both the spectators and athletes is another fascination according to Gumbrecht (158). In baseball, the closeness to death comes from the extreme physical exhaustion of the player. It is of note baseball entails a considerably high level of physical tiredness, and this is another important reason that makes the performance of a baseball athlete really worthy of praise. The fact that the baseball athletes suffer so much in spite of death because of too much exhaustion makes this game really beautiful. Embodied forms and plays as epiphanies: Gumbrecht (177) stated that “a beautiful game in baseball, that particular element of fascination on whose every expert fan can concur, independently of the defeat or victory of the team for which they are supporting, is essentially the epiphany of an intricate and embodied form”. As an epiphany, Gumbrecht (182) stated that “a beautiful play is usually an event because the viewers may never predict when or whether it would emerge. If it really emerges, one does not know how it would look like, and it undoes itself as it emerges.” A baseball game can be seen as epiphany in that the spectators can never predict which team will win or lose, and this aspect of baseball sports contributes to making the game beautiful. Just like other ballgames, baseball has fascinated large crowds throughout the world; baseball is highly popular in Korea, the Caribbean, Japan, and the United States.
Tools that improve the potential of the body: a tool is important to an athlete as it enhances his human abilities. Athletes also adapt their bodies to the movements, form or function of the tool (Gumbrecht 175). Success in baseball depends on an intrinsic paradox: the more rightly a player manages to adapt his body to both the movements and form of a bat and the ball, the better this athlete will control them and the more he will make the most of the effectiveness of his body. This important aspect makes the performance of a baseball athlete actually worthy of praise. A baseball player knows that to win, he must score runs by hitting the ball as hard as possible using a bat thrown at him by the pitcher and then he must run counter-clockwise encircling 4 bases: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and home plate. A run will be scored when a player moves round the bases and comes back to the home plate. Good timing: in a game of baseball, the spectators admire the good timing that is involved when a shortstop stretches for a line drive and throws to first base for a double play in a continuous pivot. In addition, they also think highly of the execution of a strategic play at home plate. In essence, a number of fascinations can, and commonly do, come together as a spectator watches a baseball game. Baseball, besides emphasizing the grace of the players of the two teams, also makes those watching the game to be ardently aware of the agony as well as exhaustion that those players suffer, and this makes the game beautiful (Gumbrecht 152).
The role of gratitude in watching baseball
Gratitude is of major importance in watching baseball. Gumbretch (231) stated that gratitude is the main source of beauty in athletics and it is in fact the impetus for praising athletes as well their achievements. According to Gumbretch (231) on gratitude, “watching sports is essentially a way of waiting for something that may rarely occur; something that is not guaranteed to take place since it is not within the pre-calculated limits of human performance.” To let occur and to see occur, infrequently, what people have no right to anticipate, this might without a doubt be the sort of experience towards which fans are open when they are watching a baseball game. Gratitude is the ultimate source of fascination in baseball. There is a sort of gratitude which ties the spectators to the presence as well as to the memory of their favorite athletes such as Robinson Cano of Seattle Mariners, Joe Mauer of Minnesota Twins, Albert Pujols of Los Angeles Angels, and Brian McCann of New York Yankees to name just a few.
The appeal of a National League Championship Series (NLCS) tournament lies exactly in the possibility of the unanticipated happening several times or sometime during the event. This occurrence could be a superior baseball team such as Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals or the New York Yankees somehow getting defeated by the underdog team, or a score being made within the last seconds of the match to seal victory. In essence, the baseball tournament every year provides moments when the fantastical, unexpected conclusion becomes a reality. In his explanation of gratitude, Gumbrecht (235) points that “for all the strategy and statistics involved in sports which are included to create a body of sports knowledge as well as rational anticipations, both for the competitors and watchers, it is the very possibility of the irrational occurrence that inexorably glues the viewer to his/her seat.” As a result, in a baseball game, the happening of what at first appeared not possible will unglue the watcher from that seat, throwing him/her into joyful gusto for having seen the feat. Thoughtful reflection will then replace this excitement when the ecstasy of the moment subsides, and the baseball fan will then become thankful for having the privilege of seeing the event – this is the gratitude of watching the baseball match.
Work Cited
Gumbrecht, Hans Ulrich. In Praise of Athletic Beauty. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press. Print. 2006.
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