Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box (Popular Culture and Philosophy Book 6)

Baseball and Philosophy brings together two high-powered pastimes: the sport of baseball and the academic discipline of philosophy. Eric Bronson asked eighteen young professors to provide their profound analysis of some aspect of baseball. The result offers surprisingly deep insights into this most American of games. The contributors include many of the leading voices in the burgeoning new field of philosophy of sport, plus a few other talented philosophers with a personal interest in baseball. A few of the contributors are also drawn from academic areas outside philosophy: statistics, law, and history. This volume gives the thoughtful baseball fan substancial material to think more deeply about. What moral issues are raised by the Intentional Walk? Do teams sometimes benefit from the self-interested behavior of their individual members? How can Zen be applied to hitting? Is it ethical to employ deception in sports? Can a game be defined by its written rules or are there also other constraints? What can the U.S. Supreme Court learn from umpiring? Why should baseball be the only industry exempt from antitrust laws? What part does luck play in any game of skill? Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Pre-Game Warm-up: Who’s on First? First Inning: Hometown Heroes 1 “There’s No Place Like Home!” 2 Minnesota’s “Homer Hanky Jurisprudence”: Contraction, Ethics, and the Twins Second Inning: You Gotta Believe! 3 Should Cubs Fans Be Committed? What Bleacher Bums Have to Teach Us about the Nature of Faith 4 Taking One for the Team: Baseball and Sacrifice Third Inning: The Umpire’s NewClothes 5 There Are No Ties at First Base 6 Taking Umpiring Seriously: How Philosophy Can Help Umpires Make the Right Calls Fourth Inning: Fair or Foul? 7 Baseball, Cheating, and Tradition: Would Kant Cork His Bat? 8 There’s No Lying In Baseball (Wink, Wink) Fifth Inning: Baseball and America 9 Democracy and Dissent: Why America Needs Reggie Jackson 10 Baseball and the Search for an American Moral Identity Sixth Inning: Where Have You Gone, Jackie Robinson? 11 The Negro Leagues and the Contradictions of Social Darwinism 12 We’re American Too: The Negro Leagues and the Philosophy of Resistance Seventh Inning: The Japanese National Pastime? 13 The Zen of Hitting 14 Japanese Baseball and Its Warrior Ways? Eighth Inning: Behind in the Count 15 The Numbers Game: What Fans Should Know about the Stats They Love 16 Women Playing Hardball Ninth Inning: Under Pressure 17 Walking Barry Bonds: The Ethics of the Intentional Walk 18 Socrates at the Ballpark Post-Game Press Conference 19 Baseball and Ethics 19a Should Pete Rose Be in the Hall of Fame? YES 19b Should Pete Rose Be in the Hall of Fame? NO 20 Baseball and Political Philosophy 20a Does A-Rod Deserve So Much Money? YES 20b Does A-Rod Deserve So Much Money? NO 21 Baseball and Metaphysics 21a Does Superstition Help Performance? YES 21b Does Superstition Help Performance? NO 22 Baseball and Legal Philosophy 22a Should Steroids Be Banned? YES 22b Should Steroids Be Banned? NO 23 Baseball and Aesthetics 23a What’s the Best Baseball Movie? The Natural (1984) 23b What’s the Best Baseball Movie? It Happens Every Spring (1949) 24 Baseball and Education 24a Were Baseball Players Better Role Models Then or Now? THEN 24b Were Baseball Players Better Role Models Then or Now? NOW The Team Index Annotation William Irwin has taken philosophy out of the academy and put it on the bestseller list. The series has been featured in The New York Times and People, and on NPR's All Things Considered. Now philosophy finds its real home in the dugout. In Baseball and Philosophy, 18 professors some from the new field devoted to the philosophy of sport, others unapologetic baseball fans explore the sport's deeper aspects. How can Zen be applied to hitting? Do you play to win or play by the rules? Is it ethical to employ deception in sports? Can a game be defined by its written rules or are there also other constraints? What can the U.S. Supreme Court learn from umpiring? Why should baseball be the only industry exempt from antitrust laws? These are some of the questions addressed in this witty, provocative blend of two major American pastimes: watching baseball and thinking about it Baseball and Philosophy presents thirty-one talented professional thinkers who have found wisdom in and through baseball. They explore some of the game's deeper questions and expound baseball's lessons for truth, justice, American identity, and human fulfillment.

--Is the intentional walk unethical?
--Can superstition help you play better?
--Do Cubs fans teach us about religious faith?
--Does chance decide who wins the World Series? Baseball and Philosophy presents thirty-one talented professional thinkers who have found wisdom in and through baseball. They explore some of the game's deeper questions and expound baseball's lessons for truth, justice, American identity, and human fulfillment. --Is the intentional walk unethical?. --Can superstition help you play better?. --Do Cubs fans teach us about religious faith?. --Does chance decide who wins the World Series?