May 30: Room for Empathy
in baseball than in most other sports.
There’s enough time to imagine things
from the players’ point of view.
As each batter steps to the plate,
you put yourself in their shoes
and think about what it must be like
to see a 99-mile-an-hour fastball
coming out of the pitcher’s hand,
heading toward the center of the plate
and then breaking in toward your hands
just as you swing the bat and make contact,
and the ball sails over the third baseman’s
outstretched glove into left field and rolls
down the chalk line toward the wall.
And you can feel what it’s like to be
the left fielder grabbing the ball
barehanded and throwing it with all
your strength toward second base,
where the shortstop catches it
on one bounce and tags the sliding
runner just before your foot reaches
the bag. And the crowd groans and cheers
and gets ready for the next play.