This poem is about a boy growing up and always focusing on the fun and glorious parts of baseball, while his dad is trying to teach him a lesson. Bunting in baseball is often done as a sacrifice to advance other players on your team into a better position. For the boy's whole life, his father stuck to this one aspect of the game, bunting. The boy never took him seriously and always put most of his emphasis on home runs and the exciting parts of the game, but he always obeyed his father. In the last stanza of the poem, the boy is mature enough to realized what his father was doing and why it was so important, as he was, "getting a grip on the sacrifice." I believe the sacrifice that the boy was understanding was the one that his father was making for him as he dedicated time to help his son learn important things, as well as the sacrifice for his team that he would make by bunting.
I completely agree with what you wrote. I really enjoyed the double meaning behind the sacrifice. Both the father's sacrifice and the son's understanding of the sacrifice. Well done.
ReplyDeleteSo why do you think that sacrifice is an important value to the father? Is there any pay off at the end which shows how sacrifice can aid in the son's development into a man?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eric N., I liked how you described the double meaning behind the sacrifice. This was a nice touch and helped me understand the poem better.
ReplyDeleteBeing a baseball player, I completely agree with the views you put here. In baseball one of the best plays in the game is bunting or small ball. As a player you have to understand that the game is more about winning with your team and not your stats. I also find it interesting how the dad is teaching his son more about sacrifice through baseball.
ReplyDeleteTo get onto a slightly TOK perspective (sorry), do you think that it is necessary to maintain happiness in a family without sacrifice? Is sacrifice important, why do we do it? Does it vary within cultures?
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your interpretation of the poem and the photo that further elucidated the double meanings employed. However, I wish that the poem would have been included so that I could have referred to it.
ReplyDeleteWhile bunting may seem like a menial part of baseball, it is in fact very important, and a skill that most players, even pitchers, cannot succeed without. Although a player who bunts well may not receive all the glamour that a home run hitter gets, it is still a vital part of the game. It was good that you pointed out how the dad's lesson about sacrificing in baseball is a metaphor for sacrificing in life.
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