baseball Has a Religion Too
By Joe Williams
There is saying at the race track that you can't "rule a man off for trying." I believe in this approach to life on this earth. I believe in God. I believe in my country. I believe in basic human decency. I believe there is a right and a wrong way to do things. If I were asked to define Americanism - what made our country what it is to date - I would say it was the American's willingness and ambition to stand on his own two feet. I keep a box score on every baseball game I cover. There is a credit column in which hits are recorded and there is a debit column in which errors are listed. These are often deceptive. They will give hits to a batter who has been lucky and they will charge errors against a fielder who has been unlucky. This is a small mirror of life itself. These things over a long run even up just as they do in life.
I've seen shortstops make errors on plays another shortstop would not even try to make. He had his record in mind. The shortstop who made the errors had the team's success in mind. He was willing to sacrifice his personal record in the greater interest of the team's success. There is a kind of religion in that attitude.
I've often wondered how it would be, how it would affect the lives of our people if we all kept a daily box score on ourselves. As a matter of fact, I believe in sports as a way of life. It was Wellington who said battles are won on the playing fields of Eton. I believe it can be stated with equal truth that the principles of decent citizenship are born on the sand lots of Bass River, Massachusetts, Peoria, Illinois, and Southgate, California.
That's where our youngsters first see the religion of sports, if I may be permitted the term, in actual use. They learn about fair play, sportsmanship and working together in a common cause. And because they frequently learn by ugly contrast, their instincts and the early teachings they got from their parents are sharpened against unfair practices, bully-ragging and swell-headedness.
Not too long ago I had what was apparently a narrow escape from death. I was the last passenger out of a burning plane, the crash of which had instantly killed the pilot. I believe I am a physical coward, but singularly I felt not fear when I came to and began to seek a way to safety. Maybe I was still stunned, but I was completely composed. I did not pray, though I believe in prayer. I did not think of my family, though I am devoted to my family. I was neither sure I would escape nor that I would perish. I was, I suppose, completely resigned to whatever fate awaited me.
They have another saying around the race tracks - "The red board is up." This means the race is over, the result is final, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. It has gone into the records.
I believe that somehow much of the philosophy of the people I live with his rubbed off me. I don't know whether this is good or bad. All I know is that is how it is with me and I've lived a happy life and I hope a reasonably decent one according to my lights.
参考译文
棒球运动中也有信仰
乔·威廉斯
赛场上有一种说法，“选手有尝试的机会”。我相信生活中也应采取这种态度。我还相信上帝，相信我的祖国，相信人性本善，相信处事原则有对有错。如果让我来界定什么是美国精神，也就是我们的国家得以有今日之成就的这种精神，我认为它指的就是美国人民自强自立的意愿和志向。我保留着自己报导过的每场棒球比赛的成绩一览表。表上正分那一栏记录的是击出安打的次数，负分那一栏则记录着失误的次数。这样的记录常常不准确，因为有时会把安打球记在某位走运的击球员身上，而有时又会把失误记在某位倒霉的守场员身上，但久而久之总的数据还是会基本扯平——生命中的许多事情又何尝不是如此。
我见过有些游击手在比赛中故意出现失误，这些失误其他游击手压根儿不会考虑，因为他们脑子里想的是自己的个人表现记录。选择故意失误的游击手想的是球队的胜利，为了顾全球队的大局，他们宁可牺牲自己的个人成绩。我想这种态度就是一种信仰的体现。
我常想，如果我们每人每天都能填写一份自己的成绩与不足一览表，那我们的生活将会怎样变化！其实我一直都认为体育运动也是一种生活方式。威灵顿公爵曾经说过，人生的胜负是在伊顿公学的操场上决定的。我想这句话对棒球场也同样适用。马萨诸塞州的巴斯河，伊利诺伊州的皮奥里亚，加利福尼亚州的绍斯盖特——在这些棒球训练场上，公民的优良品质得以形成、得以体现。
在棒球运动中，我们的年轻人第一次发现体育运动中实际上也有信仰，如果能允许我使用“信仰”这个词。他们明白了什么叫公平竞争，什么是运动精神，学会了通过团结合作去实现共同的目标。他们也经常在体育比赛中看到不公平竞争、威胁恐吓或是骄傲自大等丑陋现象。正是这种丑恶与美德形成的强烈反差让他们源自于天性以及早年家庭教育的那些优良品质得以发扬光大。
不久以前我有过一次死里逃生的惊险经历。我乘坐的飞机着了火，我刚一逃出机舱飞机就坠毁了，驾驶员当场丧生。我是个畏惧自然法则的人，但奇怪的是，当我回过神来逃生时，我一点也不害怕。也许我受了惊吓，但我非常镇静。在那一刻，我没有祷告，尽管我相信祷告的力量：我也没有想到家人，尽管我深爱着他们。我既不知道自己能否死里逃生，也不知道自己是否必死无疑。我想我当时是将自己完全交给了命运去安排。
赛场上还有一种说法，叫做“竖起红板”，指的是比赛已然结束，胜负已见分晓，一切都已载入记录，谁也改变不了。
我身边许多人的人生哲学都对我产生了影响。我不知这是好是坏。我只知道这就是我的生活态度，而我也过着快乐的生活，希望这是一种在我看来正派的生活。
附注：
乔·威廉斯：是《纽约世界电讯太阳报》的体育栏目责任编辑，还是斯克里普斯－霍华德报系的体育专栏作家。
