Watching Baseball, Seeing Philosophy: The Great Thinkers at Play on the Diamond

by Raymond A. Belliotti

There are uncanny connections between nine baseball greats and the great thinkers of the West. This book offers a very practical application of Western philosophy by examining these icons of American sport and culture. The intensity and single-mindedness of Ted Williams breathes life into Camus' Sisyphus; Billy Martin's maniacal competitiveness recalls Niccolo Machiavelli's take on politics, which he characterized as a zero-sum game; the homespun philosophy of Satchel Paige echoes the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius; and the many facets of Joe DiMaggio's personality cry out for the resolution that Nietzsche's doctrine of perspectivism might have given. Also covered are the connections between Joe Torre and Aristotle; Jackie Robinson and Antonio Gramsci; Mickey Mantle and St. Thomas Aquinas; John Franco and William James; and Jose Canseco and Immanuel Kant.

Genres: Baseball

198 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2008

Reviews

[Ron Kaplan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It may seem bizarre to put Ted Williams in the same sentence with Albert Camus, or Mickey Mantle with St. Thomas Aquinas, but Raymond Angelo Belliotti, author of Watching Baseball, Seeing Philosophy: The Great Thinkers at Play on the Diamond (McFarland), makes some compelling connections. He matches nine players with a philosopher-teammate and explains why the two are compatible. These may seem a stretch at first, as he discusses each athlete in terms of the great thinkers teachings, but the patient reader will be rewarded. The most intriguing chapter links Jose Canseco with Immanuel Kant in a fascinating dialogue between those who advocate the use of steroids and those who see them as providing a detriment to fair play and sportsmanship.