    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [October 21, 1995]
    [Pages 1647-1648]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    October 21, 1995

        Good morning. I want to talk to you today about American renewal.
    Not economic renewal, though our economy is certainly on the move. Not
    the renewal of peace, though the United States is leading hopeful
    efforts toward peace from the Middle East to Northern Ireland to Bosnia.
    Not even the renewal of the American spirit, though there is a tide of
    optimism rising over our country as we harness technology and other
    changes to increase opportunities for all our people and strengthen our
    families and communities. No, the American renewal I want to talk to you
    about today is the renewal of our national pastime, the renewal of
    baseball.
        A year ago, for the first time in 90 years, we found ourselves
    without a World Series, and boy, did we miss it. We missed those nail-
    biting extra-inning nights. We missed a game that for so many of us is
    so much more than a game. Well, tonight, with the start of the World
    Series, baseball is back. And we couldn't be happier.
        Baseball is a part of our common heritage. Its simple virtues--
    teamwork, playing by the rules, dedication, and optimism--demonstrate
    basic American values. We can look out at the green grass of the
    outfield or feel the worn leather of an old glove or watch a Latino
    shortstop scoop the ball to a black second baseman, who then throws it
    to a white first baseman in a perfect double play, and say, yes, this
    sure is America. This is who we are.
        At its best, baseball is more than just a field of dreams. Every
    season brings our children and many adults face to face with heroes to
    look up to and goals to work toward. This year was no different. Greg
    Maddux's 1.63 ERA; Albert Belle's 50 home runs and 50 doubles; and of
    course, most important, Cal Ripken's 2,131st consecutive game: All these
    inspire countless young people to play the game and those of us who are
    older to make the most of the talents God has given us, no matter what
    kind of work we do.
        While baseball provides role models, it also helps us recognize
    these American values in everyday life. Just before Cal Ripken broke Lou
    Gehrig's record, I saw a story about other dedicated workers, featuring
    a bus driver who hadn't missed a day's work in 18 years. This man said
    he didn't see anything unusual about himself; after all, his father had
    told him we're all supposed to work hard and show up every day. But had
    it not been for Cal Ripken, we would never have had the opportunity to
    meet this wonderful man or to appreciate the hard work that he and
    millions and millions of other Americans do every day just by showing up
    for work like Cal Ripken did.
        Baseball does something more. It helps to hold us together; it helps
    us to come together. I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of our
    great country. Just about everywhere I've ever been I've come across a
    baseball diamond. No matter where you go in America, sooner or later
    there will be a patch of green, a path of dirt, and a homeplate.
        When I was growing up in Arkansas, baseball connected me to the rest
    of America. My team was the St. Louis Cardinals, the closest team to my
    home State. They were the ones we got on the radio. And I spent a lot of
    hot summer nights listening to the heroics of Stan Musial come over my
    transistor, like thousands of other young kids all over America.
        Baseball also teaches us tolerance. It teaches us to play as hard as
    we can and still be friends

    [[Page 1648]]

    when the game's over, to respect our differences, and to be able to lose
    with dignity as well as win with joy--but real tolerance for
    differences. I mean, after all, my wife was raised in Chicago as a Cubs
    fan, and she married me even though I'd grown up rooting for the
    Cardinals. And everybody in the Midwest knows that when Cubs fans and
    Cardinal fans can sit down together, that's real tolerance.
        If you watch one of the 178,000 Little League teams in this country,
    you also will see real community in America. Two and a half million of
    our children get together to play this sport, boys and girls. And that's
    not counting everyone who supports the teams and shows up for the games
    and practices and bake sales. Communities large and small grow up around
    baseball: kids playing a pick-up game until it's too dark to see, folks
    getting together for softball after work, families walking together to
    see a home game at their local ball park.
        This has been a wonderful baseball season. When it's over and the
    owners and players sit down to resolve their labor dispute, I hope
    they'll remember the spirit of the season, the spirit we all feel right
    now, and use it to come together to build a lasting agreement. America
    doesn't need to lose baseball in a squabble. America needs to keep
    baseball.
        During World War II, there was a debate about whether baseball
    should continue while so many of our young Americans were fighting for
    freedom around the world. President Roosevelt knew we should play ball.
    He wrote, ``It would be best for the country to keep baseball going.
    Everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before, and that
    means they ought to have a chance for taking their minds off their work
    even more than before.''
        Well, we still need baseball. We know we have many important
    challenges facing us as a nation as we prepare for the 21st century. We
    know that we're having important debates in Washington and real
    differences. But tonight, I just hope Americans will be able to take
    their minds off all that and their own work for a moment. I hope they'll
    be able to wonder instead at the arc of a home run, a catch at the wall,
    the snap of the ball in the back of a mitt. Soon these sights and sounds
    will become a new part of our shared national memory of baseball.
        Tonight fans of the Cleveland Indians and the Atlanta Braves will
    watch with special interest. But all of us Americans have reason to
    smile, for baseball is back.
        Thanks for listening, and play ball.

    Note: The address was recorded at 10:20 a.m. on October 20 in the
    Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, IA, for broadcast at 10:06
    a.m. on October 21.