[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

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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.