The major-league baseball All-Star game in Arlington, Texas, will be played on Tuesday July 16. So I’m starting today’s column with this letter:

DEAR RICHARD: We were at the ball park recently when a fly ball was hit into the outfield. The scoreboard flashed “can of corn,” and my daughter asked what that meant. I told her it was an easy fly ball into the outfield. She asked me, “why?” So I’m now asking you: why is an easy fly ball into the outfield called a “can of corn”? -Gloria Reams, Otay Mesa

Grocers of bygone days used a long pole or mechanical grabber (invented by Benjamin Franklin, by the way) to tip a can on a high shelf or at the top of a pile. The can would tumble into the grocer’s waiting hands or open apron, just as a soft fly ball settles easily into a fielder’s glove.

America is a sports loving nation. Throughout their lives, Americans invest considerable money, time, and passion in playing sports and following the exploits of teams and individual athletes. Most schools and colleges are represented by a coterie of sports teams, and the morale of a major city rises and falls with the successes and stumbles of its school and professional teams.
Baseball is one of our oldest sports, originating before the Civil War as a game called rounders. Abraham Lincoln played town ball, a local variant of rounders, and may have been playing that game when, in 1860, the news reached him that he had been elected president.

More fans than in any other sport know the key statistics of baseball–most hits (Pete Rose, 4,256), most wins (Cy Young, 511), most strikeouts (Nolan Ryan, 5,714), most home runs in a season and over a career (Barry Bonds, 73, 762), most stolen bases (Ricky Henderson, 1,406), most consecutive games played (Cal Ripken, Jr., 2,632), and on and on.

In 2020, the centennial of the first Negro League, Major League Baseball agreed the racially segregated Negro Leagues were as “major” as the National and American Leagues and integrated the statistics of the four leagues. With the statistics of the players in the Negro Leagues now included in the history of baseball, thirty-seven of its stars are now enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Legendary catcher Josh Gibson is now the MLB’s leader in career batting average, .372, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367, and career slugging percentage, .718, overtaking Babe Ruth’s .690.

With more than a century and a half of American history, baseball evokes more nostalgia than any other athletic endeavor. No other sports poem is as beloved as Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat” published in 1888; and no other sports song is nearly as famous as “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” first recorded in 1908.

In the early days of the 20th century, a college professor explained, “To understand America, you must understand baseball.” Not only is baseball America’s pastime, but the source of the most pervasive athletic metaphors in the American language. Whether or not we’re fans, we speak baseballese just about every day of our lives:

Jack picked up the project folder from his desk, then joined Jill to walk down the hall.
“I can’t get to first base with this proposal I’m writing,” he said. “I’m stuck out in left field with two strikes against me.”
She smiled. “Cheer up. I’m confident you’ll be a smash hit and step up to the plate, swing for the fences, and hit a home run.”
He shook his head. “I’m not so sure. You know our boss. She runs a major-league operation, and she plays hardball.”
“Huh!” Jill said. “I think she’s a screwball, and she runs a bush-league business. What’s your biggest problem?”
“Well, right off the bat, I can’t even come up with a solid cost estimate.”
“You’re always in there pitching, Jack. Just give her a ballpark figure.”
Jack nodded and sighed. “Thanks for batting around these ideas with me.”
“Touch base with me anytime. I’m always ready to go to bat for you.”
“That’s so sweet, Jill. Hey, how about I take you out to a ballgame?”
She smiled “Thanks, but I’ll take a raincheck.”
Jack squared his shoulders, as he walked into the boss’s office
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On Thursday, July 11, starting at 10 am, I’ll be performing “A Feast of Words” at Rancho Bernardo OASIS, 17170 Bernardo Center Drive. For information, call 858 240 2880.