Why I Love Reading: How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball

For those of you that don't know, I am a die hard New York Mets fan. I love baseball and following my team throughout the year. It's not my favorite sport to play but there's something indescribably great about watching it, especially at the park. So for Emlyn Chan's Books That Made You Love Reading Challenge, in honor of baseball coming back, I re-read possibly my favorite picture book from when I was younger, How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball by David Shannon.

It hasn't been too long since I've read this one, it's the only picture book that has stayed with me throughout college and afterwards and there's a reason. The story is great, if short. It starts with the tale of Boss Swaggert, a ballplayer who gets booed off the field and turns to finance. Bitter, he works and gets baseball outlawed arguing that ballplayers make too much money while people starve. But when he does, spring never comes back. No baseball, no spring. It's a sad time. Then Georgie is born and the only thing he can say is old illegal baseball terms. "Batter up!" instead of "I'm ready." "No hitter!" instead of "look out!" This all leads to Georgie eventually having a three pitch showdown with Swaggert to get baseball back or go to prison forever!

Boss Swaggert

As a kid, the story is just fun. The big evil man outlaws baseball and the kid saves the day! As an adult though, it's amazing to see the political themes at work in this story I first read when I was six. The communist overtones are fairly obvious, Boss Swaggert even looks Russian. They've taken the money from the rich (ballplayers) and distributed it to the people except that everyone is miserable now. From the 'Factory Police' to the Radbourns standing in lines, it's easy to pick out the Soviet comparison.

What's interesting though, is how these themes are very true and yet take on a whole new meaning 18 years after the book. In the times of Occupy Wall Street and the 99%, it seems even more plausible than it would have in the '90s for something like this to happen. All it would really take is one frighteningly persuasive person.

In the book Boss Swaggert buys up lots of newspaper, radio, and TV stations where he talks about destroying baseball and during one speech has a line "Let's tear down the ballparks and build factories instead. Then everyone will have jobs!" Completely different ideology aside, I couldn't help but think of Rush Limbaugh as I read this part. All it really would take is one properly placed, well spoken extremist to do something like outlaw games if it meant more jobs for people.

If you haven't read Georgie Radbourn, I can't recommend it enough. Pair with Field of Dreams, a hot dog and a beer for true baseball excitement. That line started as a joke but it actually sounds like an amazing day... I'm gonna go to the grocery store.