THIS IS AMERICA - Baseball and American Culture

THIS IS AMERICA - Baseball and American Culture
By Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: Monday, August 09, 2004

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Gwen Outen. This week on our program -- baseball and American culture.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

 
Graphic² Image
The game is traditionally known as America's national pastime³. The men who play it professionally are "the boys of summer." Baseball is considered part of the American spirit. Books, songs, movies, plays, poems and lots of baseball terms have become part of the American experience.

An exhibit called "Baseball as America" is currently⁴ on show at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. It contains more than five-hundred historical items. Most come from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Many people believe that baseball first started in this small town in eighteen-thirty-nine.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen-oh-five, a committee was appointed to study the history of baseball. It was called the Mills Commission⁵. Three years later, the Mills Commission reported its findings. The report declared that a Civil War hero named Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown.

Evidence collected by the commission showed that Doubleday modernized⁶ what started as a game of catch with as many as fifty players. The evidence showed that he reduced the number of players, added bases and created a playing area in the shape of a diamond.

No one knows for sure exactly how baseball began. But a copy of the commission report can be seen in the exhibit at the Natural History Museum. So can one of the first baseballs used by Abner Doubleday. The ball was found in a farmhouse⁷ near Cooperstown in nineteen-thirty-four.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Organized professional baseball started with the National League. Teams formed this league in eighteen-seventy-six.

Baseball was supposed to stand for American beliefs like equality and the chance to succeed. But the sport was representative of society at the time. The National League was for white players only.

By eighteen-eighty-eight, more than sixty black players were on minor⁸ league teams. Barred from the National League, black players joined what were called the Negro Leagues. Teams began to appear in black communities throughout the country.

VOICE TWO:

The unofficial ban against black players in the National League lasted seventy years.

 
Jackie Robinson's Dodgers¹⁰' Jersey¹¹
World War Two and the civil rights movement in the United States helped end the racial divisions in professional baseball. Jackie Robinson became the first black player to break the color barrier. The Brooklyn Dodgers accepted him to their team in nineteen forty-seven. Soon, other black players began to join major league teams.

The "Baseball as America" exhibit includes a shirt, hat and glove that Jackie Robinson wore as a Brooklyn Dodger⁹. Also included is an example of the hundreds of death threats and hate letters that he received.

Blacks were not the only group excluded. Hispanic and Japanese players were also among those rejected.

Yet white Americans were not the only ones who enjoyed baseball. The museum exhibit includes baseball equipment used by Japanese-Americans held at an interment camp during World War Two.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-ten President William Howard Taft started a custom. President Taft threw out the first pitch on opening day of the baseball season that year. Almost every president since then has continued the tradition of the opening day pitch.

Signed baseballs thrown by Presidents Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower as part of the exhibit. So are baseballs thrown by Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and the first President George Bush.

VOICE TWO:

On December seventh, nineteen-forty-one, Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the American Navy base at Pearl¹² Harbor, Hawaii. As a result, the United States entered World War Two.

The baseball season was suspended after the attack. Five weeks later, the head of Major League baseball asked President Franklin Delano Roosevelt if the season should continue. The president said yes. He wrote the baseball commissioner¹³ that the game was a way to raise American spirits.

That letter from President Roosevelt is part of the "Baseball as America" exhibit. Other items from World War Two include objects from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. This league was formed to help keep American spirits high during the war. At that time, some of baseball's most famous male players were away as pilots and soldiers.

The war ended in nineteen-forty-five. The women's league ended in nineteen-fifty-four after it lost popularity¹⁴.

VOICE ONE:

Major League baseball postponed¹⁵ games for one week after the terrorist¹⁶ attacks of September eleventh, two-thousand-one. Several weeks later, a New York City firefighter discovered a baseball in the ruins of the World Trade Center. That ball is also in the "Baseball as America" exhibit at the Natural History Museum in Washington.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Baseball and a similar game, softball, are among the first sports that American children learn to play. Many children compete on teams through Little League programs.

 
A Little League batter¹⁷ gets ready for the pitch
Boys and girls can play together on Little League teams. Little League Baseball began to accept girls in nineteen-seventy-four as a result of court action. That year, Little League also established a softball program. Girls and boys can play either baseball or softball, but most girls choose softball.

There are more than seven thousand Little League programs in more than one hundred countries around the world.

VOICE ONE:

Children between the ages of five and eight often play a game called T-ball. T-ball is similar to baseball. However, the ball is not thrown to the hitter. Instead, the ball sits on a stick called a tee.

The "Baseball as America" exhibit includes pictures of T-ball games on the grounds of the White House. Games take place there each month during the baseball season, which runs from April to October.

President Bush started this tradition three years ago. Before he entered politics, he owned part of the Texas Rangers¹⁸ baseball team.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Ten years ago, Major League baseball players went on strike over pay and other issues. Part of the nineteen-ninety-four season and all the championship games that year were cancelled. The start of the nineteen-ninety-five season was delayed.

When play finally began, many people had lost interest. They thought players earned too much and cared too little about the fans. Public support for baseball was at an all-time low.

VOICE ONE:

The national pastime worked hard to save itself from becoming a game past its time. In nineteen-ninety-eight a homerun race between two players helped renew interest in baseball. That year Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa each broke the record for the most homeruns in one season.

In nineteen-twenty-seven Babe Ruth set a record with sixty homeruns. That record stood for more than thirty years, until Roger Maris hit sixty-one.

Sammy Sosa finished the nineteen-ninety-eight season with sixty-six homeruns. Mark McGwire had seventy. Now, their bats and the bats of Babe Ruth and Roger Maris are all part of "Baseball as America."

VOICE TWO:

The exhibit closes October third at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington. But it will travel to other American cities through two-thousand-six. Internet users can find out more on the Web at baseballasamerica.org.

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jill Moss and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁹. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Gwen Outen. Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.

(MUSIC)

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

3 pastime   

n.消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Playing chess is his favourite pastime.下棋是他最喜爱的消遣。
• Baseball is the national pastime.棒球是全民性的休闲运动。

4 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

5 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

6 modernized   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的过去式和过去分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• By 1985 the entire railway network will have been modernized. 等到1985年整个铁路网就实现现代化了。
• He set about rebuilding France, and made it into a brilliant-looking modernized imperialism. 他试图重建法国，使它成为一项表面华丽的现代化帝业。

7 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

8 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

9 dodger   

n.躲避者；躲闪者；广告单

参考例句：

• They are tax dodgers who hide their interest earnings.他们是隐瞒利息收入的逃税者。
• Make sure she pays her share she's a bit of a dodger.她自己的一份一定要她付清--她可是有点能赖就赖。

10 dodgers   

n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a crackdown on fare dodgers on trains 对火车逃票者的严厉打击
• But Twain, Howells, and James were jeeringly described by Mencken as "draft-dodgers". 不过吐温、豪威尔斯和詹姆斯都是被门肯讥诮地叫做“逃避兵役的人。” 来自辞典例句

11 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

12 pearl   

n.珍珠，珍珠母

参考例句：

• He bought his girlfriend a pearl necklace.他给他女朋友买了一条珍珠项链。
• The crane and the mother-of-pearl fight to death.鹬蚌相争。

13 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

14 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

15 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

16 terrorist   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子

参考例句：

• Without the gun,I'm a sitting duck for any terrorist.没有这支枪，我就成了恐怖分子下手的目标了。
• The district was put on red alert during a terrorist's bomb scare.这个地区在得到恐怖分子炸弹恐吓后作了应急准备。

17 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

18 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

19 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。