Just a Boys' Game?

Harvey must be in his mid 70s now.

He used to come to the bar I tended almost every day and we would talk baseball from spring training right up to the 'World Series' finals in the falls.

I love the Yankees and Harvey hates them with a passion.

Harvey grew up in Brooklyn and as a kid he used to collect ticker tapes from the radio stations. On those ticker tapes were codes to the words the radio announcers would read out verbatim.

Those were the early days of 'live' sports coverage.

And Harvey collects tickers of all the Brooklyn Dodgers games.

Harvey was never married, his 2 passion in life are Israel, and baseball.

I once asked him what his happiest and saddest days in his life were.

The happiest: 1955 when Dodgers won their 1st World Series.

The saddest: 1957 when Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles.

You might not believe it, but when Harvey talked about those 2 ancient occasions, he cried. That's how important baseball (and specifically the Brooklyn Dodgers) is to his life.

It is often said that 2000 yrs from now, when archeologists wish to understand American history, they only need to study the American constitution, jazz, and baseball.

It is indeed hard for non-Americans to understand the greatness of baseball in the American history.

Yes, I love the Yankees, but win or lose, I'll never cry for them.

I never truly understood Baseball with a capital B.

But by 4 o'clock this morning when I finally finished watching Ken Burns' very, very long documentary on American baseball, I finally know why Harvey cried.