10-18-2010

Second, baseball supports a sense of uniformity, a sense of belonging to a vast, extended American family that attends the same church. As journalist Thomas Boswall reports in his detailed discussion of the church of baseball, his mother was devoted to baseball because "it made her feel like she was in church." Like her church...baseball provided his mother with "a place where she could--by sharing a fabric of beliefs, symbols, and mutual agreements with those around her--feel calm and whole."

Chidester, David. "Authentic Fakes." Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.

In this passage, Chidester is discussing baseball's religious like qualities, and in particular to this passage, baseball acting as a community. In particular, it seems like Boswall--quoted here--is channelling Durkheim, as for him the "sharing a fabric of beliefs" is central to baseball as a religion. Thus, one's baseball team, colors, mascot, etc. becomes the "totem," uniting a stadium full of people in one unified belief.

However, Chidester argues this totem is national, if not international--that baseball itself is the totem. Recalling my own experience with sporting events, and watching people supporting different times brawl because, well, they were one different teams, I believe that the totem of baseball is on a much smaller scale--it is to the individual team, and not the sport as a whole. Or, perhaps the religion is baseball, and the team is the denomination, so to speak.

Also, do other countries have this relationship with, say, cricket? Rugby?