Play Ball! These two famous words kick off the Spring, which extends through Summer and into Fall. You know: the crack of the bat, the smell of peanuts and hot dogs combined with a cold beverage and the warmth of the sun. Taking a break from the daily grind. High-fiving your new best friends in your section as you share a common interest. Good old competition is healthy. It brings out the best. If the home team doesn’t win, it’s a shame, but you have the chance to get ’em next time. It’s a mindset. It’s a way of life.

Baseball is our national pastime. Well, it used to be. American passion for the game has evaporated over the years. It’s now considered “slow-moving and boring.” A common belief is “there’s not enough action.” But a sunny day at the ballpark is an experience well beyond the diamond.

I still wonder if baseball’s decline in popularity has more to do with the short attention spans and lack of understanding in our society. There’s so much more to the game than throwing the ball, hitting the ball, and catching the ball, though the simplicity is brilliant in and of itself.

Today’s game makes it harder for pitchers to own the inside part of the plate. There’s no clock, but they’re trying to speed up the flow of the game. It still helps to choke up with two strikes. Good base runners can always distract infielders and pitchers. And it’s still a no-no to make the first or last out at third or home. Inside baseball strategies are where games and titles are generally won.

Remember the film The Graduate. The Oscar winner from 1967 was an instant classic. Six decades ago, plastic was the innovative breakthrough. It changed the world. Plastic launched new and more cost-effective products, packaging, and storage. It’s in everything. Plastic played a huge role in America’s economic expansion in the 20th century. That fact probably rocks the core of the sub-30-year-olds in your lives. Plastic and the environment clearly have a contentious relationship. Within decades, plastic morphed from an engineering triumph into what’s become a sort of global plague today.

That year, 1967, was significant in America and around the world. There was a great deal of friction and soul searching. War fatigue was setting in. Protests against Vietnam grew. Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title for refusing to serve. Race riots spread across the country. Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court, making history as the first Black justice to serve the nation’s highest court. NASA’s mission to the moon suffered a setback with the Apollo I tragedy. 1967 also brought the Summer of Love, where a new generation expressed itself. America was evolving. That’s nothing new.

Carl Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown for the Boston Red Sox in 1967. It’s the rare achievement of leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. Yastrzemski joined names like Gehrig, Mantle, Robinson, and Williams. There’s only been one other Triple Crown winner since. Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Joe DiMaggio was an All-American boy, born in Martinez and raised in San Francisco. He played his entire career with the New York Yankees, earning the nicknames the Yankee Clipper and Joltin’ Joe. He is best known for his 56-game hitting streak in 1941. Imagine getting a base hit in 56 straight games in the big leagues. After the streak ended, he hit safely in the next 16. DiMaggio wasn’t flashy. But he was a model of consistency and greatness at the highest level.

Innovation is a constant. It’s as American as baseball and apple pie. New ways and new ideas drive growth and forward movement. Even today, technology continues to reshape the game and how we experience it.

Inflation is nothing new to baseball either. One dollar in 1967 is equivalent to nearly ten dollars today. Ticket prices have been climbing for decades. What once cost two dollars now costs over fifty. Inflation has lived at the ballpark for years.

But the purity of the freshly cut green grass, the sound of the crowd, and the start of a new season where every team has a chance will never cease to inspire. It’s that sense of optimism and positive energy that’s infectious. It fuels greatness. It creates opportunities. New heroes are born.

I’ll leave you with some of the best words about the game, spoken by James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams:

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball… It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.”