"It measures just nine inches in circumference, weighs only about five ounces, and it's made of cork wound with woolen yarn, covered with two layers of cowhide, and stiched by hand precisely 216 times.
It travels 60 feet 6 inches from the pitcher's mound to home--and it can cover that distance at nearly 100 miles an hour. Along the way it can be made to twist, spin, curve, wobble, rise, or fall away.
The bat is made of turned ash, less than 42 inches long, not more than 2-3/4 inches in diameter. The batter has only a few thousandths of a second to decide to hit the ball. And yet the men who fail seven times out of ten are considered the game's greatest heroes.
It is played everywhere. In parks and playgrounds and prison yards. In back alleys and farmers' fields. By small children and by old men. By raw amateurs and millionare professionals. It is a leisurely game that demands blinding speed. The only game where the defense has the ball. It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn.
Americans have played baseball for more than 200 years, while they conquered a continent, warred with one another and with enemies abroad, struggled over labor and civil rights and the meaning of freedom.
At the games's heart lie mythic contradictions: a pastoral game, born in crowded cities; an exhilarating democratic sport that tolerates cheating and has excluded as many as it has included; a profoundly conservative game that sometimes manages to be years ahead of its time.
It is an American odyssey that links sons and daughters to fathers and grandfathers. And it reflects a host of age-old American tensions: between workers and owners, scandal and reform, the individual and the collective.
It is a haunted game, where each player is measured by the ghosts of those who have gone before. Most of all, it is about time and timelessness, speed and grace, failure and loss, imperishable hope, and coming home."
"Baseball"
Written By: Ken Burns and Geoffry C. Ward
Spoken by Narrator: John Chancellor
Cologne Rolls Over Hamburg
Posted July 19, 2017
With three games left in the regular season, last night's game against Hamburg was a must win. The Hollanders took the momentum from Sunday's 17-inning marathon and brought it to Hamburg by beating the Hawks. Once again Casey Clemensen started on the mound and shut down the Hawks offense. Th...
Action Packed Weekend is a Split
Posted July 17, 2017
All visitors to Fritz Field this weekend were treated to some fun baseball. The Hollanders played host to the Spring Hill Chargers, who by the looks of it were able to fit the entire city's population on their bus. The sweltering July sun didn't bother the atmosphere during the friendly exhi...
Game vs Big Lake Canceled
Posted July 12, 2017
Due to scheduling conflicts and other issues, tonight's game (Wednesday July 12th) against Big Lake has been canceled....
