This is an extensively researched, sharply observed, well written anthropological account of the lifecycle of US professional baseball players in the 1990s. It begins with descriptions of the dreams and aspirations of boys, before examining the few well-worn avenues teenagers and young men take to become salaried players. Succeeding chapters explore the process of acculturation to exclusively male groups devoted entirely to the full-time pursuit of sport, the psychological demands of a game in which the ball is in play only 15 minutes for every three-hour match, the role of superstition, players’ relationships with wives and groupies, and the difficult adjustment to retirement.
Inside Pitch is based on interviews with 107 players, managers, coaches, and scouts conducted by former-minor-leaguer-turned-academic Dr George Gmelch, a professor of Anthropology at the University of San Francisco, author of a book-length account of behind-the-scenes baseball workers (In the Ballpark), and editor of a collection on global expressions of the game (Baseball without Borders). Gmelch has most recently published an account of the US minor league experience of the 1960s based on journals written while a member in the Detroit Tigers farm system (Playing with Tigers).
Baseball fans familiar with that system and the struggles of players therein may not find the opening chapters of this book particularly revelatory. Stories of life in the minors have been the subject of popular films such as Bull Durham, Pastime, or Sugar, as well as scores of written accounts. Perhaps more interesting, and less well know, is what happens to players who leave baseball, as all inevitably must. One common stereotype of the former player is the down-and-out superstar living rough, or perhaps engaged in low-paid service work in order simply to survive. Gmelch provides data from two sources that suggests such denouements are uncommon.
One comes from the Pittsburgh Pirates Alumni Association, which tracked 370 former major league players from the 1940s to 1980s. This data set revealed 40 percent of ex-players working at professional jobs, such as teachers, coaches, stock brokers and financial analysts. (Gmelch observes that as more players are now drafted out of college, or attend college part-time while in baseball, the number of retired players in professional positions today is surely higher.) Gmelch’s second data set was collected from interviews with four managers, coaches and scouts about the lives of ninety-five former minor leaguers with whom the former had personal contact. Members of this group appeared to be more blue collar and included a number of policemen, firemen, realtors, and insurance agents. Gmelch believes this disparity may not be due to differences in education, but to the prestige -- or lack thereof -- of being a major leaguer and the benefits this infers to employment seekers.
Another interesting facet of the post-baseball experience is the loss of social network. Gmelch notes that most of his interview subjects mentioned camaraderie as one of the defining aspects of their baseball experience and the absence of the same as defining their retirement. Before starting research for this book, Gmelch admits he hadn’t seen his former teammates in close to thirty years, and his interviews indicate his experience is not atypical among professional baseball players. What does this say about American male-male relationships? Is such camaraderie superficial? Are American men unskilled in ways of nurturing and preserving personal relationships outside of the work environment?
Gmelch also divulges something of himself and his own rather ignominious departure from baseball, a story that may be covered in more detail in his newest book about his minor league experience. In the context of his discussion of life after baseball, he reveals that he was dismissed from a road trip after being threatened with a libel suit by the Chief of Police in the North Carolina town in which he played. Sidelining as a journalist, he had written an article accusing the Chief of membership in the Klu Klux Klan. Gmelch was sent back to North Carolina, reactivated a week later but moved far down the roster, and shortly thereafter “released”.
Should none of the above seem worthy of attention, you may find Gmelch’s chapter on ritual and superstition an amusing diversion. I broke a laugh more than once while reading his descriptions of the outlandish routines in which some ball players engage to protect or engender juju, including Mike Hargrove, who went through so many pre-batting rituals that he became known as “the human rain delay."
A 2006 reissue of Inside Pitch includes an additional chapter outlining some of the major trends in professional baseball in the 40 years between the author’s minor league tenure and his return to baseball as an anthropologist. Unfortunately, I have been unable to read any more than a few pages of the chapter, a sample provided on the publisher's website, as no electronic version of Inside Pitch is available for purchase (and I no longer buy paper books).
At just over 200 pages and written in easy-to-read prose, Inside Pitch is a quick, informative and entertaining overview of the life of US professional baseball players, suitable for new and old fans alike.
#
No comments:
Post a Comment