⭐⭐⭐⭐
Probably more like a 3.75, but I rounded up, because baseball is
magical. If you're a baseball fan like I am, you will read The Magical Game: The Spirit and History of Baseball's Superstitions, Rituals, and Curses and
think "Relatable" over and over ("Being a fan of any sport is stressful
at best and terrifying at worst. Before my miraculous conversion via
Syndergaard-ian fastball, I would've laughed at that sentiment, but now I
say it with total seriousness. It's scary to want, to root, to hope, to
put your faith in strangers, to surrender control--and that is what is
asked of us as fans" [loc. 1109]).
Author Addy Baird manages to balance
scholarship with the mysticism of baseball and its fandom pretty well.
The book starts very strong, but ends a bit weakly. She delves into
players' rituals, jinxes, fans and how fans are convinced that they are
somehow affecting the game, curses (focusing, naturally, on the Cubs'
Curse of the Billy Goat and the Red Sox's Curse of the Bambino), and
luck. The last two chapters are...more vague and feel unnecessary,
honestly, though they did involve a description of watching a Mets game
from the broadcast truck, which is neat.
If you're a baseball fan, you'll enjoy this. Baird delves into the histories of a lot of words like myth and magic,
but she also understands the passion and irrationality and fears and
hopes of fans. She tries to find the truth behind the story of baseball
itself and Babe Ruth's called shot. She describes the curses, but
acknowledges that the teams' real curses were those of bad ownership and
bad play ("[Historian Glenn] Stout calls the idea a 'fantasy' that he
feels has given Red Sox fans a reason to excuse generations of bad
baseball, bad management, and bad history . . . You don't need curses or
hexes or ghosts or gods to smite down a team when your owner will do it
for free (or for, you know, $100,000 and a mortgage on the park" [loc.
1450]).
She talks about how just thinking you're cursed can be enough for players to act like they are
cursed, and how those little player (and fan) rituals reinforce
themselves: "The daily nature of the game, the quick reinforcement of
any superstitious ritual, and the long and storied history of the
sport's magical culture all seem to come together in a way that appeals
to our innate, evolutionary desire to control and understand our
environment" (loc. 1230). Baird goes into the different attitudes of
Japanese and American players; Japanese players believe their
superstitious rituals help the whole team, not necessarily their own
personal stats.
I enjoyed the perspective of the players, the
acknowledgment of luck in the game: "This can be maddening for a
pitcher--to perform well and produce a poor outcome is a recipe to drive
a person crazy" (loc. 424). You can make the perfect pitch and it still
turns into a bases-clearing double. What to do? Blame your new socks.
In 1948, Al Demaree wrote "Often, there's a difference of no more than
half an inch between a three-bagger and a foul ball--with the game,
perhaps the pennant, perhaps even the World Series depending on it"
(loc. 1766). Ballplayers need something to cling to.
As do
fans. Fans' beliefs in their ability to affect the game from afar,
whether by watching or not watching or having to maintain their own
streaks along with the teams sounds nuts. And it is. But that's part of
the magic of the game. (I also learned that early baseball fans were
called "cranks," which is just completely bizarre! But also, given the
comments on the Orioles site I frequent, sounds completely accurate.)
One
notable absence from the book is that of Latin American players, who
I'm sure have their own cultures of myth and curses and superstition.
Baird ties baseball to America quite a few times, but she still manages
to give us some stories from Japan. I'd rather have the Latin American
perspective than the more squishy last couple chapters, where Baird
starts getting more metaphysical about the game.
Still, a very fun read for baseball fans.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
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