The last slow dance

I love listening to baseball on the radio. Very comforting. Brings back memories of youth, I suppose.

In today's world, baseball almost seems unAmerican, it is so slow, that's how much the country has changed.

An early piece on baseball: The Last Slow Dance.

The therapeutic value of baseball is that it is slow.  SLOW!  This is significant.  Why, baseball may be the last slow dance left in America!  Consider the pitcher's deliver: for three or four seconds the pitcher contemplates the signal from the catcher, for a few more seconds his arms slowly begin the windup, then one leg lifts, the upper body leans back for leverage and comes forward again, the pitching arm whipping the ball to the plate, a sequence which takes another several seconds to complete.  It takes the pitcher some ten seconds to throw the ball, which more often than not is taken by the batter for a ball or strike.  This, baseball fans, is the most action you'll see in the net half-minute or more.

Which is baseball's advantage!  Where else can one daydream for minutes on end and very likely miss none of the action?  The answer, of course, is when watching television, which has become baseball's greatest rival.  But the television set is at home, garrison also of the telephone.  And telephones ring!  Baseball, in contrast, provides unique relief from speedy technologyland.  Baseball is a vacation close to home, a trout stream in the city, an inexpensive psychotherapy.