Monday, April 04, 2005

Play Ball

After an awful spring here in the Northeast (wet, cold, gray), what a sense of hope it give me to welcome the new baseball season at last. Let's go, Mets.

I am of course no fan of George Will, but today's column in honor of opening day is pleasant and amusing. Reminds me of a favorite story that Jimmy Carter likes to tell. As you may know, Will violated the unwritten canon of journalistic impartiality (as well as, arguably, some election laws) when he helped candidate Ronald Reagan prepare for the 1980 presidential debates against Carter using a briefing book stolen from the Carter campaign.

Carter was understandably PO'd and nursed a grudge against Will for years afterward. However, this gnawed at Carter's conscience (he truly believes in Christian forgiveness and all that), so when Will published his book on baseball, Men at Work, in 1990, Carter, a baseball fan, decided that this was an opportunity for reconciliation. He got a copy of the book, read it, liked it, and sent it to Will with a nice note of appreciation and a request for an autograph. Will responded graciously, and the two men were at least on speaking terms thereafter.

However, the best part of the story is this detail: Carter made a point of buying a used copy of Men at Work, so that author Will wouldn't earn any royalties from the sale. Only someone like Carter, who has published many books and follows their sales figures closely, would think of that.

One other point about opening day: What a relief to have actual ball games to watch and talk about, which will perhaps reduce the amount of time we have to spend hearing about the overblown steroids controversy. (Of course, as a Mets fan I take a certain amount of pride in the fact that my team has not become embroiled in the steroids scandal. For years now it has been obvious that no one on the Mets is using anything to enhance their performance . . .)
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