History

It was my fault, in retrospect.

I drove to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania yesterday to experience the site of one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in our country, and one of the most powerful speeches ever delivered in our country.

Cause and Effect

After a brief search on Yelp, I entered a building with an awning that read “Gettysburg Museum of History” expecting to see Civil War artifacts and to read stories about the individuals whose lives were touched by this intense conflict in our nation’s history. But the building didn’t say “Impressive and/or Powerful Gettysburg Museum of History” or even “Gettysburg Museum of Civil War History”.

The sign said Gettysburg Museum of History. The building was located in Gettysburg. Check. It had some old stuff in it. Check. Some of the stuff related, however loosely, to important people or events. Check. It was greedy to anticipate more than that, and I take full responsibility for my lofty expectations.* I think a list would do a better job than a narrative of capturing the awesomeness and the randomness that were side by side in what would be one of the best Hoarders episode of all time. The Gettysburg Museum of History features, in no particular order:

• Obama’s business card from when he was still just a state senator
• Lincoln’s opera glasses from the Ford Theater
• The American flag that was flying over Pearl Harbor
• Eva Braun’s lingerie
• Lee Harvey Oswald’s doorknob**
• The skull of a 3,000-year-old mummy
• Charlie Chaplin’s pajamas
• A lock of George (and Martha) Washington’s hair
• Blood-stained upholstery from JFK’s limo in Dallas
• Hitler’s pillowcase
• Marilyn Monroe’s prescription for sedatives
• A collection of random girls’ panties that had been thrown at Elvis on stage
• A shard of marble from the World Trade Center
• The signed contract for The Doors to record the Apocalypse Now soundtrack
• An alleged piece of the One True Cross

So there you have it. History. Cobbled together without much rhyme or reason, but a nonetheless fairly impressive document of events and characters that have resonated throughout time. Obviously that list was hand-picked for effect, and to tell the whole story, I must admit that they had a small-but-well-cared-for collection of Civil War-era weapons and ammunition in addition to the items I listed.

What struck me were the themes that were present. In a museum like that, if we are given no clear unifying idea that explains why these items coexist the way they do, our minds instinctively reach out to create one. The first theme I noticed was violence. From Pearl Harbor, to two assassinations, to 9/11, violence has been tremendously and tragically powerful in shaping American history (and human history in general). But that still missed a good number of items on the list. Ultimately, I arrived at “passion” as the one theme that could be applied to nearly every artifact in the museum. Passion for (or against) an idea, passion for another person. This is what ignites the actions that echo across history.

“History” can come on any scale, but passion is always the driving force behind it. There have been countless happy families built on their intense love and respect for each other, who have remained wholly anonymous to those that didn’t interact with them directly. But the moments that family remembers and recounts for years to come were moments when great passion was exhibited. When someone tells fond memories about his grandfather, he doesn’t talk about the grandfather sitting at his desk, balancing his checkbook. Or, if he does, he’s using it as an example of the passion he had for his family, and the effort he undertook to ensure that he always provided for them.

I’ve already talked about why I love baseball, and plenty of people have their own reasons for caring, but I think the link between baseball’s history and the passion people feel for it is both profound and important to the game’s success. This has gotten a decent amount of press lately, with Yasiel Puig not knowing who Luis Gonzalez was when they met last week. Gonzalez introduced himself as a fellow baseball player with Cuban ties, and Puig blew him off, and everyone flipped out about Puig’s lack of respect for the history of baseball, and how if he didn’t start showing a little more deference to his elders he was going to wash out. Then someone pointed out that while LuGo was winning the 2001 World Series with the Diamondbacks, Puig was a 10-year-old who didn’t speak English (still doesn’t), living in a foreign country under an oppressive dictator.

I have history on my mind, because I watched a little baseball history of my own the night before my visit to Gettysburg. For the first time in my life, after hundreds if not thousands of games, I was in attendance for a no-hitter! Check it out:

The mob at the mound was over by the time my camera stopped overheating and let me take more pictures

I was in Frederick, Maryland scouting Henry Owens of the Salem Red Sox. He only pitched six innings, which is typical for High-A ball, and then three relievers came on and each pitched a hitless inning of their own. Owens impressed me with his pitches, but more than anything he impressed me with his composure, working through a ton of adversity (admittedly, some of which was self-inflicted). He hit a guy in the helmet, and had to shake that off and keep going. He walked a couple guys, and watched multiple errors out of his defense. How many no-hitters involve seven baserunners? How many no-hitters involve runners on third with less than two outs in two different innings? The tall lefty responded to all of that by striking out ten batters, and inducing weak contact from everyone else, with a slow curve and pinpoint fastball that reminded me of Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. Owens was phenomenal whenever he needed to be, and his bullpen was up to the task of finishing it off. For them, this will likely be the highlight of their professional careers, and for the whole team, it was a story they will never forget. Some of the less passionate*** Frederick fans began leaving in the 8th inning with their team down by six, but most fans appreciated what they were witnessing, regardless of their personal affiliation, and applauded the achievement as the team dog-piled on the pitchers mound after the 27th out was recorded. On their scale, they created history. And it was just as cobbled-together as the Gettysburg Museum of History, but that doesn’t take away from the passion that created it, or how great it was to bear witness to it.

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*No I don’t. I blame Yelp.

**Not a euphemism

***Less historical?