Johnson: SABR member Seelochan Beharry explores baseball’s religious overtones
From Pat Johnson at the Vancouver Courier on November 16, 2016, with mention of SABR member Seelochan Beharry:
Fans of the Chicago Cubs may have thought something divine intervened to end a 108-year World Series drought. Of course, baseball fans are known for an almost religious devotion to their team, as well as a host of superstitions.
A new book by a Vancouver writer contends that there is, indeed, something inherent in baseball that hearkens back to our most primal religious, ritualistic and existential impulses.
In The Prehistories of Baseball, Dr. Seelochan Beharry finds Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and other religious influences in what has come to be known as baseball. Even more fundamentally, he argues, the three basic actions in baseball are central to humanity’s very existence.
“The fundamental skills in this game of throwing, hitting and running are the same ones that facilitated human survival on our rise to the top of the food chain and dominance on the planet,” he writes.
Read the full article here: http://www.vancourier.com/community/vancouver-author-explores-baseball-s-religious-overtones-1.2822984
Originally published: November 22, 2016. Last Updated: November 22, 2016.