Have Shows of Baseball Patriotism Gone Too Far?

After the mishap with a trained eagle flying away in a July 4th display, has baseball patriotism gone too far in their displays?

On the 4th, a trained eagle took off as “Oh Beautiful” blared over the stadium loudspeakers in Dodger Stadium. Moments later, the eagle soared past its trainer, down a corridor and out of the stadium. It was the latest in a series of blunders as teams “force” patriotism.

In 2003, the country was two years removed from 9/11 and deep in the heart of the Iraq War. It was also the 15th anniversary of Bull Durham, one of the most iconic and well-known baseball movies ever produced. The Hall of Fame put together a display on the movie and had a weekend devoted to the movie. However, notably missing were two of the three most prominent actors in the movie, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, due to their outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. Instead of having the opportunity to celebrate one of the most entertaining and fun movies in baseball history, the focus became about the politics of the country.

On Monday, every team was donned in uniforms doting camouflage and/or stars and stripes. The latter is where the concern is to me as if baseball were truly trying to be patriotic and actually following the letter of the law of the United States Flag Code, which state:

The Flag Code addresses the impropriety of using the flag as an article of personal adornment, a design of items of temporary use, and item of clothing. The evident purpose of these suggested restraints is to limit the commercial or common usage of the flag, and, thus, maintain its dignity.

To put it bluntly, the flag should not be worn as an article of clothing. That we choose to go against that and make T-shirts and other clothing with images of the flag imprinted on them for daily wear is one thing, but when Major League Baseball attempts to show its love of the country by creating scores of uniforms with flag imagery on them, that’s doing the exact reverse of what it says it wants to do.

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Recently some discussion has happened over the use of “God Bless America”, which is sung in some ballparks during the 7th inning stretch of every single game. Some ballparks use it just on Sunday, some use Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” instead.

One of the most disturbing studies that’s come out in the last few years is the report that Slate.com released last November discussing how those wonderful, heart-warming, patriotic reunions that we all enjoy watching between a soldier and his/her unexpecting family were actually paid-for advertisements by the military, and that many major league baseball teams took thousands of dollars in taxpayer money from the military in order to set up those moments.

Look, I’m not some guy who is anti-United States. In fact, I have sung the national anthem at events ranging in size from dozens of people to tens of thousands of people. I find a lot of honor in representing my country, and one of the most humbling moments of my life was having the honor of singing the anthem for the first University of Minnesota volleyball game after 9/11. I finished singing the anthem, which I do pretty straight, nearly exact to the original music. When I completed the song, I was greeted by one of the volunteer security staff at the arena, an elderly retiree who after hugging me with tears in his eyes explained that he had served tours in WWII and Korea and that he felt honored to hear someone sing the anthem with such power and strength.

Baseball has taken many missteps recently trying to force a connection as baseball’s game. Yet, baseball is recognized as the national pastime, even as football has risen in national popularity. Trying to force these connections does nothing for baseball but make the game look desperate for “cheap” patriotic feelings and sales. C’mon MLB, you’re better than this…

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If you’d like to see the eagle in flight, here it is:

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