Watching Baseball, Seeing Philosophy

Download or read book Watching Baseball, Seeing Philosophy written by Raymond Angelo Belliotti and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are uncanny connections between nine baseball greats and the great thinkers of the West. This book offers a very practical application of Western philosophy by examining these icons of American sport and culture. The intensity and single-mindedness of Ted Williams breathes life into Camus’ Sisyphus; Billy Martin’s maniacal competitiveness recalls Niccolò Machiavelli’s take on politics, which he characterized as a zero-sum game; the homespun philosophy of Satchel Paige echoes the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius; and the many facets of Joe DiMaggio’s personality cry out for the resolution that Nietzsche’s doctrine of perspectivism might have given. Also covered are the connections between Joe Torre and Aristotle; Jackie Robinson and Antonio Gramsci; Mickey Mantle and St. Thomas Aquinas; John Franco and William James; and Jose Canseco and Immanuel Kant.