Day 9 - FIC: A Short History of Interstellar Baseball
I was looking through my files on my hard drive and I found this one. Hope you enjoy.
Delenn wanted David to grow up knowing human customs even though he lived in Minbar. John had done so well in adapting to the culture of Minbar, but she knew there were things he wanted his son to know about, things he missed about his homeworld. She also had to admit that many human customs confused her, but she supposed John was still confused by some of her Minbari ones. He was forever making jokes about the many rituals.
There was one thing that really confused her about human customs more than anything else: sports.
Humans loved games, especially games that involved some sort of physical prowess and a ball. She had tried to understand these sports, but they mostly seemed to be some kind of simulated war game. Perhaps they were no different than some of the training exercises of the Warrior Caste.
She began to think about David learning a sport. That presented a problem. Who would he play with? Minbari children didn’t know anything about human sports.
“John, I have been thinking,” she said to her husband as they talked after dinner one evening.
John smiled tenderly as he always did. “Oh?”
“David needs to learn earth customs.”
John raised an eyebrow. “He learns many of them from me. I try to tell him and show him as much about Earth as I can and we’re going there next summer to visit his aunt.”
“What about sports? Humans love sports and David has never even seen a - what do you call them?”
“A game?”
“Yes! That’s it, a game. Did you play sports?” She knew the answer, but she asked anyway. John loved to talk of his days in school and the sports he played.
“I played baseball and football in high school.”
“Well, he should learn a sport, too. Maybe the one with the stick. Baseball? I do not like the one where men knock each other down. There is time for him to learn hand to hand combat when he trains for the Anla’Shok,” Delenn told him, warming up to her subject.
“How do you propose he do that? I’m not sure there is even a baseball in all of Minbar.”
“I was thinking that we spend part of the year on earth. Isn’t baseball played in the summer?”
“It is, yes. How can we do that? We have obligations here.”
“Maybe we visit your sister for a month in the summer, isn’t that the time baseball is played? If he is interested, then we send him to spend the summers with your sister and her family so he can learn human customs like baseball. She still lives in an area that isn’t under a dome. He could see the blue skies of his father’s homeworld every day.”
“Have you asked David if he wants to play baseball?”
“Well, no, but if you talked to him, I’m sure he’d want to learn.” David usually wanted to do all the things his father did. Some days, John took him with him to the office so he could actually see what his father did all day.
“I’ll talk to him then,” John agreed.
“Or we could teach baseball to Minbari children as part of their cultural studies,” Delenn suggested with a smile.
The next day, John asked his son about sports.
“Do I have to, Dad?”
John was surprised. He had thought young David would jump at the chance to play an earth sport. “Well, no, we certainly won’t make you, but why don’t you want to play?”
“The others say I am not Minbari, that I’m a fake Minbari. I don’t want to make it worse.”
“How about we watch some games from earth and maybe practice in secret? Your mother thinks it’s important you learn as much about Earth as you know about Minbar.”
David nodded. Like his father, he wanted to make Delenn happy.
They began watching baseball. Of the three of them, Delenn seemed to like it the best. Before long, she was yelling at the video screen for her favorite teams to win. John and David enjoyed watching her more than they did the game itself.
They visited Earth and John’s sister. The whole family went out to a baseball game. Delenn was thrilled to meet the players and get an autographed ball. David got to throw a few balls with the players.
When they got back to Minbar, Delenn decided that the young people of Minbar could benefit from learning sports in order to learn teamwork. She convinced the schools to add baseball as a sport and as a cultural study as well.
David, who had been practicing with John and had a fair amount of natural ability, was in demand to teach his peers baseball. He found that he enjoyed the game almost as much as his mother. After a time, the other children forgot that he was part Minbari and only remembered that he was the best baseball player on Minbar. Every home in Minbar had a ball and bat somewhere inside it
Within a few years, the Interstellar Baseball League came into existence and the game did more to engender peace than anything else had since Babylon 5 went online. Historians gave the credit to Sheridan, but it was Delenn and her love for her son that brought baseball to the galaxy.
Delenn wanted David to grow up knowing human customs even though he lived in Minbar. John had done so well in adapting to the culture of Minbar, but she knew there were things he wanted his son to know about, things he missed about his homeworld. She also had to admit that many human customs confused her, but she supposed John was still confused by some of her Minbari ones. He was forever making jokes about the many rituals.
There was one thing that really confused her about human customs more than anything else: sports.
Humans loved games, especially games that involved some sort of physical prowess and a ball. She had tried to understand these sports, but they mostly seemed to be some kind of simulated war game. Perhaps they were no different than some of the training exercises of the Warrior Caste.
She began to think about David learning a sport. That presented a problem. Who would he play with? Minbari children didn’t know anything about human sports.
“John, I have been thinking,” she said to her husband as they talked after dinner one evening.
John smiled tenderly as he always did. “Oh?”
“David needs to learn earth customs.”
John raised an eyebrow. “He learns many of them from me. I try to tell him and show him as much about Earth as I can and we’re going there next summer to visit his aunt.”
“What about sports? Humans love sports and David has never even seen a - what do you call them?”
“A game?”
“Yes! That’s it, a game. Did you play sports?” She knew the answer, but she asked anyway. John loved to talk of his days in school and the sports he played.
“I played baseball and football in high school.”
“Well, he should learn a sport, too. Maybe the one with the stick. Baseball? I do not like the one where men knock each other down. There is time for him to learn hand to hand combat when he trains for the Anla’Shok,” Delenn told him, warming up to her subject.
“How do you propose he do that? I’m not sure there is even a baseball in all of Minbar.”
“I was thinking that we spend part of the year on earth. Isn’t baseball played in the summer?”
“It is, yes. How can we do that? We have obligations here.”
“Maybe we visit your sister for a month in the summer, isn’t that the time baseball is played? If he is interested, then we send him to spend the summers with your sister and her family so he can learn human customs like baseball. She still lives in an area that isn’t under a dome. He could see the blue skies of his father’s homeworld every day.”
“Have you asked David if he wants to play baseball?”
“Well, no, but if you talked to him, I’m sure he’d want to learn.” David usually wanted to do all the things his father did. Some days, John took him with him to the office so he could actually see what his father did all day.
“I’ll talk to him then,” John agreed.
“Or we could teach baseball to Minbari children as part of their cultural studies,” Delenn suggested with a smile.
The next day, John asked his son about sports.
“Do I have to, Dad?”
John was surprised. He had thought young David would jump at the chance to play an earth sport. “Well, no, we certainly won’t make you, but why don’t you want to play?”
“The others say I am not Minbari, that I’m a fake Minbari. I don’t want to make it worse.”
“How about we watch some games from earth and maybe practice in secret? Your mother thinks it’s important you learn as much about Earth as you know about Minbar.”
David nodded. Like his father, he wanted to make Delenn happy.
They began watching baseball. Of the three of them, Delenn seemed to like it the best. Before long, she was yelling at the video screen for her favorite teams to win. John and David enjoyed watching her more than they did the game itself.
They visited Earth and John’s sister. The whole family went out to a baseball game. Delenn was thrilled to meet the players and get an autographed ball. David got to throw a few balls with the players.
When they got back to Minbar, Delenn decided that the young people of Minbar could benefit from learning sports in order to learn teamwork. She convinced the schools to add baseball as a sport and as a cultural study as well.
David, who had been practicing with John and had a fair amount of natural ability, was in demand to teach his peers baseball. He found that he enjoyed the game almost as much as his mother. After a time, the other children forgot that he was part Minbari and only remembered that he was the best baseball player on Minbar. Every home in Minbar had a ball and bat somewhere inside it
Within a few years, the Interstellar Baseball League came into existence and the game did more to engender peace than anything else had since Babylon 5 went online. Historians gave the credit to Sheridan, but it was Delenn and her love for her son that brought baseball to the galaxy.