“There Used To Be A Ballpark” - Why The Return Of Sports Matters

What is it about sports that encapsulates Americans? What makes their presence in our society so important? This question is one of many that has popped up over the past four months as we sit and linger in the living conundrum of the corona-virus, where everything that we once knew as second nature feels so distant and far away. When the world is rampant with global pandemic, and the economy and morality of society seem to be sitting at a standstill, even the simplest notion of when the MLB will be returning, or how the NBA is going to work within “the bubble” seems like they should be the last things on people’s minds. I disagree. I think it is important.  

Frank Sinatra recorded the song “How There Used to Be a Ballpark” in 1973. The song is an ode to the destruction of Ebbets Field in 1957, after the Brooklyn Dodgers ownership decided to leave the borough and move the franchise to Los Angeles, deserting their loyal fans and leaving a pile of debris on a city block in Brooklyn that was once home to one of the “most fascinating sporting arenas of the 20th century”.

“Oh there used to be a ballpark, where the field was warm and green, where the people played their crazy game, with a joy we’d never seen”

The people of Brooklyn were devastated. With their team being ripped from them, they were heartbroken.  No longer did they have their Dodgers to root for every spring and summer afternoon. No longer did they have a home away from home to go to - a green, lush oasis in a concrete jungle, where they could escape their apartments and gather for common cause.

CBP, The Linc, Wells Fargo, and The Vet before us – these are the Philadelphian’s homes away from home. Concrete buildings that are a testament to the senses. Beacons of hope full of sights, sounds, and smells that lighten up our world. When we are there we are worried about nothing. We worry about the home team winning obviously, but we are happy nonetheless to be a in a place that lets the imagination run, where we can witness our heroes accomplish amazing things while playing games that we have come to cherish since childhood.

Although the Brookyln fan’s pain was much deeper, because they knew their beloved Dodgers would never return, our longing for our teams during the pandemic lives in those same needs. A place to escape to, and a common cause to hang our hats on.

There are other heroes in other areas of our lives right now that deserve far more credit than the basketball player willing to quarantine himself in Orlando. There are real life heroes stepping up to the plate in ways that should be admired far more than one of our Phillies stepping into the box. No one is arguing this.

But, at the end of the day, I think it can be agreed upon that sports and our love for our teams are just a real life metaphor for the human experience. In this lonely society, we seem to be missing that feeling of a common bond, and the memories of these shared passions have seemed so unreachable these past few months that they might as well have never been real at all. They were real however, and although we will continue to  be separated, and without the possibility of gathering at our sporting churches, the return of sports means we will once again get to experience those special moments - together. That is why they matter.