All-Star Game, The House That Ruth Built, & A $328,000 Sweat-Stained Cap

It’s All-Star week.  Josh Hamilton placed second in the Home Run Derby, but ended up becoming a hero.  And “The House That Ruth Built” is now coming to an end and is the home for the 2008 All-Star Game.  What mythic stories will be on display on such a historic night?  Will the National League get a win?  Will the American League continue their dominance?

This dramatic photograph was taken on June 13, 1948, at Yankee Stadium (the house
that Ruth built). It was the 25th anniversary of the stadium and the day the Babe’s
number was retired. Ruth, thin and frail as a result of a long illness, emerged from the
dugout into “the caldron of sound he must have known better than any other man.”
Everyone knew then, as he must have known himself, that The Babe had worn his old
uniform for the last time. He died only two months later on August 16, 1948. The
famed number 3 will never again be worn by a Yankee player. The Babe Bows Out
won a Pulitzer Prize for photographer Nat Fein. This magnificent photograph
is featured in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Smithsonian Institute.
[Historical Documents In United States History]

Either way, it’s definitely a game that I will be watching and a game that I wished I was there to see and experience.  Baseball just has that mystique for me that’s just pure Americana.  As a kid living in the Philippines, I was always in love with American culture; and baseball just represents everything about what is great and wonderful about America.  It’s solely my personal opinion, as I have elevated the sport of baseball to mythic proportions.

Unlike other sports, baseball is a slow, methodical game that could at any moment explode into a frenzy.  I have always pictured the world as a baseball game, where opposing teams/viewpoints get their chances/opinions heard.  But instead of nine innings, the “game” continues on indefinitely.  There are always winners and losers, and there are times when the losers get to bask in the glory of that perfect hit or that immaculate pitch.

You can pretty much say the same thing with any other sports.  But, to me, baseball is basically The Perfect Sport…

Speaking of the mystique and myths of baseball, a person who wished to remain anonymous, had purchased Babe Ruth’s cap for $328,000.  It’s definitely an obscene amount of money, but I can’t help but empathize as to why someone would do that.  Sure such a person could spend such money on much generous ways, but it is his/her money, and who am I to criticize him/her?  But this only shows how human beings place personal values on what otherwise is really nothing but a sweat-stained cap.  To the buyer, it means a lot more than that.  It is a piece of myth, a legendary artifact, and a moment of history from the gods.