If you listened to the players (or the fans or announcers) during the 2026
World Baseball Classic, you could hear the many facets of English, the
flow of Spanish, the art of Chinese, the suddenness of Japanese, the
musicality of Italian, the adaptability of Korean . . . a United Nations lexicon of
individual languages limiting players and such to their isolated conglomerations.
But if you listened more closely, more intently, more empathetically,
you could hear the universal language which, with love and excitement,
attended every game and totally embraced every attendee, whatever
his or her team loyalty – – – the language (words, cheers, criticisms,
pleas, adorations) of Baseball, as universal today as once was supposed to
be the hoped for universal Esperanto. No translation is needed for the swing
of a bat or the celebration of a vital hit under pressure or the catcher’s signs
to his pitcher. No spoken direction is required as the third base coach, via
hands, signals for a runner to slide into third or put on speed, round third and
glides home to score. The sentiment is clear when a hitter makes solid contact
and then flips his bat into the air as he watches the ball sail into the stands to
add to the score or a fan shoots a fist into the air or a Cracker Jack is crunched.
Even spoken words in baseball lingo transcend their limitations of dictionary
and thesaurus when they exhibit the events of the game and the emotions of
the team: dinger, can of corn, stud, clutch, speedster, swish, lazy fly, sweet
spot, overtime – – – and so many other words and phrases born of the
National Pastime. You can add to the list as Shakespeare himself found
occasion to add to English words such as assassination, courtship, critic,
frugal, generous, invulnerable, lonely, majestic, pious, premeditated, suspicious
and hundreds more – – – and in a way each of us who adds to the lexicon of
baseball becomes a Bard in his or her own right, a contributor to the growing
images, similes, metaphors and personification which is proof that the American
Game belongs to every fan who cheers his team to greater heights through a
conglomeration of hand gestures and vocalizations. And so, we recognize
that baseball is a sport for all, understood by all, via imagination, via reality,
via love of the Game! Language lives . . . as Baseball flourishes! It speaks
to all of us!!