The Denver Jewish news., 1920-09-22
Is BASEBALL AMERICAS CON-
TRIBl'TION TO RELIGION.
Hv PROF, NORRIS II COHEN.


story and uncelebrated in the fine arts
of printing. sculpture and music Now.
as RuSkin has pointed out. people gem
orally do NOT see beauty or mnjcSry en-
cept when it has been first revealed
to them in pictures or other works of
art. This is peculiarly true of the
/ pcoplc who call themselves educated.
No one who prides himself on being
familiar with Greek and Roman archi-
lecture and the classic masters of
painting would for moment admit
that there could he any beauty in II
modern sky-scraper. Yet there can he
no doubt that when tM" thousand
years hence some Antarctic scholar
comes to describe Our civilization. he
will mention as our distinctive ""ntri.
button to art our beautiful office build.
ings. and perhaps offer In support OF
his thesis colorcd plates of some Of
the ruins of those temples of cOul-
mercc. And when he comes 10 speak
of America'S contribution to religion.
will he not mention baseball? Do not
be shocked. gentle or learned reader.
\ | know full we'll that baseball is n
boys game. and professional sport
and that a properly cultured. serious
pcrsoa always feels like apdlogizinc
| for attending baseball game instead
| of II Strauss concert. or n lrctur" on
the customs of the Fiji Islanders. But
4 I INF I, tI,nt Inv all rho
| Of our modern hooks on comparative
religion. baseball is II religion. and the
Only one that is not Scctnrian hut ma
tional The essence of religious OK.
\ pcricnce, we are told, is the 'rcdcmp-
| ton from the limitations of our petty
/ individual lives and the mystic unity
| with n larger life of which we are 4
part" And is not this precisely what
I the baseball dcvOtee or fnnntic. if Won
please experiences when he watches
the team representing his city hattl!'lc
with another. l. there any other "H-
periencr in modern life III which null
titud,S of men so completely and in
| tcuscly lose their individual selves in
/
! city? Careful students of Greek civil
zatiol do not hesitate to speak of I'll"
religious value of the Greek drama.
When the auditor identifies himself
. with the action on the Stage-AriS-
tGtle tells us-his feelings of fear and
pity undergo kind of purification
lcatharsis.) But in baseball the iden-
| tification has even more of the relis-
ious quality since we are absorbed not
only in the action of the visible actors
but more deeply in the fate of the
mystic lmities which we call the con
tending cities. To he sure. there may
I've people who go To a bas ehall game
to see some particular star. just as
| there are people who go to church
to hear a particular minister preach :;
but these are phenomenal in the cir
conference of the religious life. There
are also blnse persons who do not
care who wins so long Us athey can zee
what they call II good game-just ns
there are people who go TO mass be-
cause they admire the vestmelts or
intOnations OF the pricSt-but this only
/ illustrates the pathology of the reiis-
ious life. The truly religious devotec
has his soul directed 10 the final out
come: and every one of the cNtraordi'
narily rich multiplicity of movements
Of the baseball game acquires its sig
! hi. .nce becluSr Of its bearing on
! . Of N
U,ly fear and pity. baseball exercises
and purifics all of our emotions. cul-
tivating hope and courage when W" are
! behind resignation when we are beat
TN. fairness for the other team when
we are ahead. charity foI the umpire,
and above all the ZcSt for combat and
conquest.
When my revered friend and teach
or. William James. wrote an essay on
the Moral Equivalent of War. | Sug-
ecsted to him that baseball already
/ CmbCdiCd all the moral value of war.
so far as war had any moral value.
He listened sympathctirally and was
! amused. hut he did not take me So
riously enough. All great men nave
| their limitations. and William James
were due to the fact that he lived in
/ Cambridge. city which. in spite of
| the fact that it has population OF
100000 souls (includHg the profess
sors). is not represented in any base
ball league that can hc detected with
out a microscope.
! Imagine what will happen to the
martial spirit in Germany if baseball
| is introduced there if any Social
! Democrat can ask any Herr Won Some
body whats the Score?' Suppose
| that in an exciting ninth-inninS rally.
| uhnn tho homo tnnu ties the ScOrn