Baseball and the Mythic Moment: How We Remember the National Game

While moments come and go, and popular trends are created only to be consumed and replaced, a small handful of events are able to transcend place and time to become widely shared cultural touchstones. Baseball, with its longevity, reverence for character and perseverance, and symbolism of American values, has produced a number of these modern myths–people, games and events that transcend society’s love for the ephemeral to attain collective cultural significance. The Babe’s called shot and Ripken’s 2,131st are more than significant moments in baseball. They are culturally relevant events that contribute to an American mythology. This book examines how certain baseball moments became mythic, and why some moments are culturally persistent while others are limited in importance to the confines of sport. After a discussion of baseball in myth and memory, and the effect of the media on both, chapters draw a distinction between the merely famous (or infamous) and the mythic act, whether it’s physical (Bobby Thomson) or symbolic (Jackie Robinson); matchups, whether individual (Alexander vs. Lazzeri) or team (Red Sox-Yankees 1978 playoff); clubs, both those that achieved (1927 Yankees) and that choked (1964 Phillies); and franchises, including the winners (Yankees) and the losers (Cubs).