The Big Field

Baseball symbolizes life because both produce countless possibilities. In Shel Silverstein’s poem, “Listen to Mustn’ts” (1993), the speaker tells the young reader, “Anything can happen, child, Anything can be” (Line 4). Mike Lupica’s presentation of baseball supports the claim of the famous children’s author. After Hutch commits the game-one error, Cody says, “What do you always tell me when I ask you why some game ended in some weird way?” Hutch answers, “I tell you that it’s baseball.” Cody concludes, “Baseball happened tonight” (183). In baseball, as in life, the unexpected occurs. Hutch can’t let his surprise error faze him, and people can’t let mistakes and unpredictable events stop them. Since “[a]nything can happen,” something amazing can follow something adverse. In game two, Hutch makes a Jeter-esque “flip” play. In baseball and life, the good and bad mix together; people can neither let the negative bring them down, nor let the positive inflate them. Thus, Hutch doesn’t heed the media attention about the error or the “flip” play: He stays level.

Hutch makes the symbolism explicit when he says, “In a lot of ways, it was like baseball, if you really thought about it. You took what they gave you” (51). Hutch refers to his dad coming to the game against the Yankees and seeing him hit the game-winning home run. At the time, Hutch doesn’t apply the lesson to life. By the end of the story, he accepts what his dad gives him. In life and baseball, adaptation is key. A player can’t subject baseball to their will and a person can’t control life. In each area, the individual must make the most of what is there.