Baseball and Philosophy Thinking Outside the Batter's Box
             Baseball and Philosophy is a book that brings philosophy to the center stage or the pitching mound so to speak. Baseball and Philosophy is the sixth volume in the Popular Culture and Philosophy series. Other Books in the series include Volume 1 Seinfeld and Philosophy, Volume 2 The Simpson's and Philosophy, Volume 3 The Matrix and Philosophy, Volume 4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy, and Volume 5 The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy. The editor of the book is Eric Bronson, who also contributed to this book by writing one of the essays. Bronson heads the Philosophy and History Departments at Berkeley College in New York City. He co-edited the Lord of the Rings and Philosophy and contributed chapters to The Simpson's and Philosophy and Seinfeld and Philosophy.
             Baseball and Philosophy is comprised of 32 professors who wrote 24 essays. These professors explored philosophical questions about the who, what and why of baseball which demonstrate the game's connection to larger issues of truth, justice, American identity, and human fulfillment. The topics covered in this book cover everything from How can Zen be applied to hitting to women playing baseball. Another topic which is highly controversial as well as highly publicized is is it ethical to employ deception in sports. This topic alone covers the controversy of Pete Rose being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as well as the use of steroids in the game of baseball.
             My favorite part of the book was the second essay in chapter 8 called Women Playing Hardball by Leslie Heaphy. This essay dealt with the parallels between men and women playing baseball. In this essay Heaphy argues "that masculinity and femininity are culturally defined. "Masculinity has come to mean power, strength, and muscle; femininity tends to mean weakness, passivity, and grace." Heaphy gives...