Baseball, Culture and Credit Unions

by Gene Blishen

A few weeks ago a friend and I took a whirlwind tour of seven different Major League baseball games in seven different baseball parks. Our sojourn included Los Angeles, Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Denver. Great baseball and wonderful weather made the trip amazing. Then I got home and started to reflect on what I had seen.

“How could a common product—baseball—be experienced in such different fashions?”

We got to each park 90 minutes before the game and were also able to get the ballpark tour in St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Each of these parks were very different even though they had a very similar product. The size, the feel, the history with the overall culture was unique to each. How could a common product—baseball—be experienced in such different fashions?

All the teams were rooted in some historical context, either in the recent past or long ago. There was a story about each team that was presented in a variety of ways. The dugouts, the retiring jersey numbers, the statues, the color of the seating, the seventh-inning stretch and what was sung, and the list goes on with all that one could participate in seeing around the park. Even the specialty food seemed to be specific to the park.

The history seems to drip through the bricks like St. Louis with the number of World Series trophies displayed. Pittsburgh had items from players over the century that showed a richness I had never realized. Kansas City had their Hall of Fame and an unbelievable nine-minute movie about their history and the 1985 World Series. They all had taken some aspect of who they were and defined it in the terms that were already part of that team. Their identities were unique.

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