Baseball isn’t just a game. It is history made, being made, and (most special of all) relived.
Recently, I had the thought that we are just passing through history. The days fly by, more so as we age (there is a scientific explanation for that feeling based on the ratio of total time you’ve been alive versus any given period of time). We remain semi-oblivious to the history being made around us.
Courtesy ESPN
Most of us watch the news daily, or at least swipe through some mind-numbingly annoying app. But do we REALLY process what we see and hear? If we did, more of us would realize how baseball isn’t just something that is on our televisions and radios during the warm months.
We are lucky enough to be witnessing perhaps the greatest baseball player ever to play the game in Shohei Ohtani. Now I know people will debate that for generations to come. I only know that when the Dodgers come to town to play my Pirates, I WILL be there.
Our great-grandfathers got to listen to games, read about games, and possibly even attend games to watch Babe Ruth play. That is how I feel about what we are witnessing in Ohtani. I want to take my grandson to see him play, so he can always say he saw him in person. This excites me because it is important to pass on the love of the game.
Players have done some historic things recently in baseball. Take October 25, 2025, for instance. Addison Barger of the Toronto Blue Jays hit baseball’s first-ever pinch-hit grand slam in World Series History against the Dodgers. Trey Yesavage, pitcher for the Blue Jays, played in every possible level of professional baseball this past season. He played in Single-A, High-A, Double-A, Triple-A, and MLB. IN one season. IN six months. That’s IN-freaking-credible!
A story I’ve heard told time and again is the tale about Gaylord Perry (a Giants pitcher). Here’s the story as told by Perry.
Moments like these remind us how sports can intersect with history—becoming history themselves.
An appreciation for history can make the casual baseball viewer become enthralled by its brilliance. A story I find challenging to retell without getting the proverbial lump in my throat is Ted Williams’ final public appearance at the 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Boston at Fenway Park. Williams played 1,165 games at Fenway and played his entire nineteen-year career with the Boston Red Sox.
Ted Williams is a hero of mine, least of all because of baseball. His MLB career was interrupted twice by military service during World War II and the Korean War, during which he flew 39 combat missions as a fighter pilot in a Grumman F9F Panther.
At the 1999 ASG, Pedro Martinez, Red Sox Ace, pitched a performance for the ages, striking out five batters in two innings to earn the All-Star Game MVP award (and for even MORE history. Pedro became the first player ever to strike out the side in the first inning of an MLB All-Star Game).
Pedro was called over by Ted Williams, who told him, “That was one of the best pitching performances I’ve ever seen”. Pedro said that moment meant “…so much that I cannot even describe…”. And that is because Pedro is a fan of the game’s history. The old-timers watching him perform that day were among the greatest who ever played the game. One can only imagine the weight of history on a player’s shoulders at a time such as that.
Do yourself a favor: watch the Ken Burns Baseball series on PBS.
There are so many other things you can do, too.
Go to YouTube and search for old interviews with legendary baseball players.
Watch replays of old games.
Read stories. Retell those stories. Share what you learn.
Watch games between teams that aren’t your town’s team.
I think you will start to appreciate EVERY ball game that is played. Every game is history. We may be just passing through it, but baseball IS history.
