“good Sport”

Faces of Virtue
“Good Sport”
by Donald DeMarco
D
Donald DeMarco is professor emeritus of philosophy at St. Jerome’s
University in Waterloo, Ontario.
He also teaches at Holy Apostles
College and Seminary in Cromwell,
Connecticut, and continues to work
as a corresponding member of the
Pontifical Academy for Life.
His newest book, Architects of
the Culture of Death, was released
in April of last year. He is also the
author of The Many Faces of Virtue,
which is a collection of favorite Lay
Witness columns.
To order Dr. DeMarco’s books,
call Benedictus Books toll-free (888)
316-2640. CUF members receive a
10% discount.
36
Lay Witness / www.cuf.org
oris Kearns Goodwin lives in
Concord, Massachusetts, not
far from the Old North Bridge.
It was from that “rude” construction,
in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s deathless
words, that “the embattled farmers
stood, / And fired the shot heard
round the world.” Goodwin is a noted
historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning
author whose books on the Fitzgeralds
and the Kennedys, Lyndon Johnson,
and Franklin D. Roosevelt have
brought her great acclaim.
Yet, when she takes visitors to that
historic site, she thinks not of the epic
moment that launched the American
revolution, but of Bobby Thomson’s
shot into the left-field seats at the Polo
Grounds that ended the Dodgers’
pennant hopes in 1951.
Her memoirs, Wait Till Next Year
(1997), reveal the eternal child in her,
the one whose formative years paralleled
the career of her idol, Jackie Robinson.
Baseball was her passion long before
she knew anything about the impact
that American presidents have had on
modern history.
While preparing for Confirmation,
a youthful and impressionable Doris
Kearns won a Catholic catechism contest. Her passionately sought prize was
a St. Christopher medal that had been
blessed by the pope.
She had immediate and important
plans for her newly acquired trophy. It
was to cure the Brooklyn Dodgers first
baseman, Gil Hodges, of a prolonged
batting slump. “If St. Christopher
could protect travelers,” thought the
enterprising Miss Kearns, “perhaps he
could ensure the safe passage of Gil
Hodges around the bases.”
The time was propitious. The
slumping Hodges was soon appearing
at Wolf’s Sport Shop on nearby Sunrise
Highway to sign autographs. Kearns’s
plan was to present him with her holy
icon and thereby break him out of
his hitting drought. She finagled her
mother into driving her to the scene,
and after waiting in line until she was
face-to-face with her wilting hero, she
handed him her unusual bromide along
with a carefully rehearsed monologue:
“This medal has been blessed by the
pope and I had won it in a catechism
contest when I knew the seventh
deadly sin was gluttony, and I thought
St. Christopher would watch over
[your] swing so that [you] could
return home safely each time [you]
went to bat and would make me feel
good and would make Dodger fans all
over the world feel great.”
She concluded her rambling, but
charming, disquisition amidst goodnatured laughter from those standing
around her. Hodges, however, responded with solemnity and graciousness. He confided that he, too, once
had a St. Christopher medal blessed
by the pope. But he had seen fit to
give it to his father, a coal miner in
Indiana. The senior Mr. Hodges had
broken his back, lost an eye, and severed three toes in a series of mining
accidents. The towering first baseman
said he thought that his dad needed
the medal more than he did. He was
the clouds long enough even
to sign an autograph. Gil
Hodges was a welcomed and
memorable exception.
Winning is hardly “everything,” as the saying goes.
Retaining a courteous comportment with one’s neighbor
is, on a human scale, far more
important than outscoring
him. Winning on the plane of
the emotions is nobler than
winning on the playing field.
Our culture identifies sports so
closely with life that it unthinkingly categorizes people as
either “winners” or “losers.” Yet,
both the “winners” and “losers”
remain human.
Good sportsmanship and
civic graciousness constitute a
light that shines more brightly
than stardom because they shine
from the heart. Doris Kearns
felt the warmth from that light
when she was a young girl, and
it has continued to glow in her
own heart ever since.
ZUMA Press / Newscom
thrilled, he said, to receive a
medal of his own. Then, he
reached out in a gesture of
gratitude and enveloped the
delicate hand of Miss Kearns
in a massive palm that was several times the size of her own.
Miraculously (or otherwise),
Hodges regained his batting eye
virtually overnight.
A good sport retains his
civility and humanity even in
the midst of losing—indeed,
even in the midst of an extended batting slump. He does not
take out his disappointments
on innocent bystanders. For
those who think that winning
is everything, good sportsmanship and graciousness are neither virtues nor options.
The newspapers bring to
our attention on a regular
basis how serenely indifferent the “baseball gods” can
be to their “adoring fans.”
Some will never, under any
circumstances, descend from
Gil Hodges, Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman
…so what’s
college really
about?
An intellectual awakening… engage the greatest thinkers, using original texts, in a guided
dialogue amongst friends.
A community experience… practice what you preach in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life.
A spiritual journey… encounter Christ in liturgy, sacraments, and friendship.
Beyond the books… prepare for a meaningful and rewarding life.
Magdalen College
Preparation for life
511 Kearsarge Mountain Road
Warner, New Hampshire 03278
603-456-2656 • Toll Free 877-498-1723
www.magdalen.edu
March/April 2007
37