MLB: The Show and the Rediscovery of Baseball - Turbojugend's Blog

Turbojugend's Blog

MLB: The Show and the Rediscovery of Baseball

Posted on April 29, 2014 at 05:07 PM.

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The first time I felt close to baseball was growing up in Northern California and attending my very first Giants game at Candlestick Park. That was decades ago, back when the sport might still be considered "America's Pastime," although it was already getting plenty of competition from the mighty NFL. I remember that particular event being bigger in scope than anything in my life that preceded it: the size of the stadium, the roar of the crowd, the unique blended aroma of hot dogs and popcorn, the final score (Giants 4, Padres 2). It was one of those days that you hope remain in memory as long as memories remain.

Since then I've grown up; relocating to Los Angeles, starting a career, raising a family and discovering a myriad of distractions that removed me from the sport of baseball. Many of these distractions came naturally with age and increased responsibility, others came in the form of rival athletic contests; the modern warfare of football, the dazzle and sheer athleticism of basketball, the winning combination of grace and brutality that is hockey, even the high theater and drama that is the English Premier League. In comparison, MLB seemed flat, inadequate, and perhaps most important, tainted by a generation of players who shrouded the game in controversy and disgrace. Somewhere along the road, my passion for baseball had struck out swinging and was unlikely to make a ninth inning rally.

Which is why several months ago, when I came across a heavily-discounted copy of MLB '13: The Show, I was initially hesitant to pull the trigger. I'd been playing the NCAA Football and NBA 2K franchises religiously, and FIFA -- an absolute pinnacle of sports gaming if ever there was one -- had been my favorite game series for five years running. By contrast, the last baseball video game I'd played with any degree of regularity was SNK's Baseball Stars on the NES. Where was a modern baseball game going to fit in? Would it be any fun? Would I even find time to play? In any case, the reviews seemed mostly positive and the price was definitely right, so I figured "Why not?" and clicked the Purchase button. And hey, if I hated it, at least it would make a decent trade-in toward another game.

The first thing about MLB '13: The Show that jumped out to me was the stadiums. I'd stopped going to Dodgers games years ago, but my first Show game in Dodger Stadium almost made me homesick. The attention to detail was stunning... even passionate. The more I played, the more I wanted to play and visit each stadium. It was a reintroduction to the green cathedrals of yesteryear and a lesson on just how far stadium design has come since that time.

The memories came flooding back with every crack of the bat, every called strike three on the outside corner. This MLB video game, The Show -- which just a short time before I couldn't have cared less about -- began to conjure distant visions of being dead broke and riding a dirty bus to Dodger Stadium to buy cheap bleacher seats, of picking up nosebleeds at the Padres' old Jack Murphy Stadium on a whim and getting stuffed on $1 hot dogs, of being warned to bring blankets to Candlestick Park, ignoring that warning, then paying the price of not being able to feel my earlobes.

Sure enough, the fuse had been lit. Nostalgia kicked in as cold disillusionment began to fade. From there, I decided to make an earnest attempt to revisit the game I once loved as a kid. I watched Ken Burns' amazing documentary Baseball from start to finish. Not only did I learn plenty about the sport in those 20 hours, I also earned a thing or two about our nation's history, both good and bad. I delved into numerous books, podcasts and wiki articles, hungry for knowledge. I took the family on a road trip where we visited all five California MLB stadiums in a month. I've supported our local Class-A team -- the Lancaster JetHawks -- by attending as many games as possible. I picked up a subscription to MLB At Bat. And to top it all off, last Sunday was my first visit to Dodger Stadium in years.

And guess what? The game still feels fresh and vibrant, just like it did all those years ago. The concessions are a bit more expensive these days (okay, a lot more expensive), but I guess you can't have it all. The fact is, rediscovering and connecting with baseball has done more for the soul than I could have ever imagined. At its core, the game still represents a crystallization of everything that is right with our country.

I own a PS4, and MLB '14: The Show is a big reason for that. It's the first baseball game I've pre-ordered, presumably the first of many. Every new release of information brings a new level of excitement and anticipation for the video game and respect for the sport. As of this writing, The Show will be here in less than a week, and believe me, I'm just as excited as many of you.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack. I don't care if I never get back�