Watching Baseball, Seeing Philosophy

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 Niccolo 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.