I love this time of year. The whole of America is innocent with new beginning; we’re born again. It is trite to quote John Fogerty’s “Centerfield,” but there really is “new grass on the field.” Another season of baseball has begun, and with it, America’s heart beats.

Baseball is America’s game. It is a microcosm of the American experience. Just like our country, baseball is a game of individuals. Nine come together for a common cause: to win. These nine people are as diverse in character, stature, ability and motivation as is the populace of our nation, but they, like our nation, ban together to contest for victory. No one person is greater than the whole. There may be stars on a baseball team but it’s the utility player, the role player who makes the team and our nation winners. It’s the common guy who is willing to sacrifice for the good of the team.

If you fail today, again like life in America, baseball allows you to get up and swing for the fence tomorrow. Ted Williams is the last player to hit over .400. He hit .406 in 1941; a remarkable achievement. If you break it down, that average means that for every 10 times Ted Williams went to bat, he failed six of them. The Major League batting champion for 2009, Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins, hit .365. That means that he failed 63.5 percent of the time. Our country is the same way. We may stumble and fall, but in the end, we’re winners. We don’t quit even if we are knocked down six times. We’ll get up and win the next four and the game.

As in America, there is symmetry in baseball. Our country is all about being square, and just. There are 90 feet between the bases. If there were 91, no one would ever be safe, and if there were 89 feet, no one would ever be out. That is not American. In America, we all have a chance to succeed equally. It is based on our dedication, skill, willingness to improve, and level of sacrifice, just like baseball.

Baseball is the only game where the offense faces the entire defense of the other team one person at a time, just like Americans; we are never afraid of the odds. “It will take all nine of you to beat me; bring me your best.” That’s the American spirit. It is what makes us unconquerable. You cannot beat one of us much less nine of us. The only way America can be defeated, like a baseball team, is from within.

Dissension and complacency will bring us down. We all have to do our part or the team fails. No one is asked to do it all, but we are all asked to do our part. With new grass on the field, we have an opportunity to revel in what makes us great: each other. Let’s not let each other down.

David Wilson Atwood is a local freelance writer whose human interest columns offer a unique perspective. He may be contacted at: david@starchasers.us.