Resurrection is a fact of baseball, just as it is of religion. But baseball is as much spirit as substance, as much culture as history. We Americans are a paradoxical and enigmatic lot, and so is baseball. We revel in anything and everything that is new, and yet we are enamored of a game that is essentially changeless. In fact, change is anathema to a true baseball aficionado.
Baseball is also a game of optimism, just as America is a nation of optimism.
The uneasy relationship between individual and community also suits our national character. This nation would not exist were it not for those independent pioneers, explorers, mountain men, cowboys. But it wouldn't exist without the communal bamraisings and quilting bees either. Baseball mirrors that uneasy relationship as well. But surely the most paradoxical feature of baseball is its pace.