Take Me Out to Church

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Take Me Out to Church

• The National Pastime and the Transmission of
  American Civil Religion (An Update)

Christopher Born The Catholic University of
America Washington, DC
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Outline

• (1) Outline civil religion as a phenomenon and
  parse out what is meant by the term.
• (2) Examine the potential for professional
  baseball functioning as a civil religion itself
  or as a carrier of values consonant with civil
  religion.
• (3) Determine whether professional baseball has
  functioned in the aforementioned capacity in the
  past and then discuss whether or not professional
  baseball lost its efficacy in transporting civil
  religious values.
• (4) Update out look in response to the events of
  the last two years.

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Ball signed by Pete Rose December 2005
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Sports is, somehow, a religion. Michael Novak
Jim Borgman, The Cincinnati Enquirer, March 30,
2008
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Civil Religion What is it?
Sports can be understood as crucial social
structures for the transmission and maintenance
of Americas civil religion (Philip E. Hammond).

• Folk religion
• Transcendent universal religion of the nation
• Religious nationalism
• Democratic faith
• Protestant civic piety

Richey, Russell E. and Donald G. Jones. The
Civil Religion Debate. American Civil Religion.
Edited by Russell E. Richey and Donald G. Jones.
New York Harper Forum Books, 1974. Gehrig, Gail.
American Civil Religion An Assessment. Storrs,
CN Society for the Scientific Study of Religion,
1979.
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Baseball as folk religion civil religion
Reprinted with permission. Jim Borgman, The
Cincinnati Enquirer (31 March 2003).
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Baseball as folk religion civil religion

• Three prime examples of baseball as folk religion
  civil religion (as defined by Warner)
• Continuation of baseball during WWII
• Yearly Opening Day ceremonies
• Baseball after 9/11

Robin Williams (quoted in Mathisen) Every
functioning society has to an important degree a
common religion. The profession of a set of
ideas, rituals, and symbols that can supply an
overarching sense of unity in a society riddled
with conflicts.
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Baseball as folk religion civil religion

• Continuation of baseball during WWII
• President Franklin Roosevelt I honestly feel it
  would be best for the country to keep baseball
  going.
• Lieutenant General Brehon Somervell I want to
  tell you how important a factor baseball is in
  the winning of the war. It has been said that the
  successes of the British army can be traced to
  the cricket fields of Eton, and I say the
  sandlots and big-league ballparks of America have
  contributed their share to our military success
• National Anthem was played before every game to
  honor the troops

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Baseball as folk religion civil religion

• Yearly Opening Day ceremonies

Reprinted with permission. Jim Borgman, Jim
Borgmans Cincinnati (1992)
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Baseball as folk religion civil religion

• Baseball after 9/11
• Commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig I believe
  that in the spirit of national recovery and
  return to normalcy, Major League Baseball, as a
  social institution, can best be helpful by
  resuming play at the most appropriate time.
• Distribution of 400,000 American flags
• Changes in uniforms (hats and jerseys)
• Addition of God Bless America to 7th Inning
  Stretch

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Baseball as Protestant civic piety civil religion

• Richey and Jones Protestant civic piety consists
  of a Protestant moralism, individualism,
  activism (deeds not creeds), hard work,
  religious liberty, democratic equality, and the
  quest for simplicity.
• Christy Christian Gentleman Mathewson
• Cal Iron Man Ripken, Jr.
• Pete Charlie Hustle Rose
• Catherine Bell, Ritual Perspectives and
  Dimensions
• Sports and games can strengthen basic cultural
  values and desirable forms of social behavior,
  such as the importance ofteamwork and the
  efficacy of aggressive competition (153-4).

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Baseball as Protestant civic piety civil religion

• Peter Edward Rose Charlie Hustle
• All-time hit leader (4,256)
• National League Rookie of the Year (1963)
• 3-time National League Batting Title (1968, 1969,
  1973)
• National League MVP (1973)
• World Series MVP (1975)
• Gold Glove Award (1969, 1970)
• Hutch Award (1968)
• Lou Gehrig Award (1969)
• Roberto Clemente Award (1976)

Reprinted with permission. Jim Borgman, The
Cincinnati Enquirer (31 March 2002).
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Baseball as Protestant civic piety civil religion

• Peter Edward Rose Charlie Hustler?
• On the field versus off the field
• Which matters more?
• Role model versus hero (Costas as noted in
  Price)

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Compromising the purity of the game

• Sacred versus Profane defiling the sacred
• Rose, Black Sox Scandals
• Desacralization of the game
• Does the idyllic vision of baseballs past
  overlook the racial and economic underbelly of
  professional baseball?
• Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in response to
  the findings of the Dowd Report on Pete Roses
  gambling activities
• One of the game's greatest players has engaged
  in a variety of acts which have stained the game,
  and he must now live with the consequences of
  those acts.
• Various work stoppages
• 1994-1995 was the most damaging by far

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The worst of times?
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Saviors of the National Pastime?
Associated Press, 1998
John Biever, 1998
Walter Iooss, Jr., 1998
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The Steroids Era
Did the wave of cheating undermined the
integrity of the game? If so, could professional
baseball still function in a civil religious
capacity?

• Richard Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping
  Agency, commented on the steroid problem in
  baseball
• How would you like to take your son to a
  baseball game and say, My boy, someday, if you
  fill yourself with enough shit and can lie
  convincingly, you can play in your countrys
  national game.
• At the start of the 2001 season, Selig was able
  to institute a comprehensive performance-enhancing
  drug policy in the minor leagues.
• 11 of baseballs nearly 2,000 players tested
  positive for anabolic steroids
• Where do these players end up?
• Rick Reilly (Sports Illustrated) this is the
  cartoon era of baseball

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Could this be worse?
Gerald Herbert, The New York Times, 2005
Getty Images, 2005
Mark Wilson, Getty Images, 2005
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Was baseball losing its effectiveness as moral
transmitter?

• Fall-out of the Steroids Era?
• Barry Bonds and the asterisks
• 73 (2001)
• 762 (and counting?)
• Mark McGwire received only 24 of the vote for
  the Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007
  and 2008
• Jose Cansecos insiders confession, Juiced
• Raphael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Ken Caminiti
• What does this mean for the new records?
• Not all people are playing by the rulesdoes this
  undermine the ritual-like activity of baseball
  (Bell)?

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Was baseball losing its effectiveness as moral
transmitter?

• Baseballs Steroids Era and civil religion
• Price Baseball reached its height of public
  acclamation in the Progressive Era
• Price cites Evans and Herzog Baseball became a
  symbol of postmillennial liberal Protestant zeal
  that contributed to the personal and social
  uplifting of all Americans.
• While it performed this effective function during
  the Progressive Era, does it still function this
  way?
• Can the purity of the national pastime be
  restored?
• Trickle-down effect of steroid use in MLB?

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Was baseball losing its effectiveness as moral
transmitter?

• Which league has the biggest problem with
  cheating in all its various forms?
• 65.6 Major League Baseball (MLB)
• 25.6 National Football League (NFL)
• 7.8 National Basketball Association (NBA)
• 1.0 National Hockey League (NHL)
• Do you have faith that professional sports
  leagues will be able to rid their games of
  cheating in the near future?
• 79.5 No
• 20.5 Yes
• Total online votes 85,352

Source Vote What Does Cheating Mean to You?,
ESPN.com (10 August 2007).
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Was baseball losing its effectiveness as moral
transmitter?

• Can professional baseball still function as folk
  religion?
• Can professional baseball still function as
  Protestant civic piety?

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Was baseball losing its effectiveness as moral
transmitter?

• Answer
• Professional Baseball as Americas national
  pastime may have served, at some time in the
  past, as a civil religion or as an effective
  carrier of civil religious values however, the
  work-stoppage in 1994 (viewed as a feud between
  millionaires and billionaires over the fans
  hard-earned money) and the leak of steroids and
  other performance enhancing drugs into the game
  has undermined its ability to be a beacon of
  virtue, hard work, and integrity.
• In short, the problems of performance enhancers
  in baseball desacralized a game that had been
  sacred for generations to the point that it lost
  its effectiveness as a moral transmitter in
  modern society.

Have the past two years changed anything?
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Was baseball losing its effectiveness as moral
transmitter?
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Can baseball recapture its glory?
(1) Offensive Output

• 2008 saw a significant decrease in offensive
  output over the previous seasons

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Can baseball recapture its glory?
(2) Home and Away Records

• 2008 saw a significant decrease in the number of
  wins on the road. This may have been impacted by
  the ban of greenies or amphetamines in the
  game.
• In the past, they were openly used to fight
  fatigue
• In 162 game seasons, fatigue will come up
• Travel, late games, extra innings, bruises, etc.

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Can baseball recapture its glory?

• 2008 maintained an increase in attendance,
  despite the ailing economy cuts on extravagances

(3) Attendance
Clean comeback?
HR Chase
Steroid hangover
Strike Years
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Can baseball recapture its glory?

• Have we moved beyond the moniker Chicks dig the
  long ball?
• Could it be that fans of the game are actually
  interested in maintaining the integrity and
  purity of the game?
• A new slogan Clean it up, and they will come!
• Notable absence of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and
  Roger Clemens
• 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, LA Angels
• Cliff Lee, 22-2 record
• AL MVP Candidate 2B Dustin Pedroia
• .324 AVG, 17 HRs, 80 RBIs, 116 Runs

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• Finally
• What do you think?
• Have we seen a significant enough paradigm shift
  in baseball that may allow it to retake its stand
  as a carrier of the American civil religious
  values?