Baseball And Religion In Ray Kinsella's Shoeless Joe

Whether or not we pray or attend church every Sunday, religion has a big role in each of our life even if some of us don’t particularly believe in such things. We initially associate religion with churches or temples, but there are many more meanings to what a true religion really is. For instance, baseball is followed and considered as a religion in the book Shoeless Joe. Just as much as a Christian may believe in God, Ray Kinsella in Shoeless Joe believed in baseball. When we take a moment to look at how sports, especially baseball, have deeper meaning, we can recognize several elements of it that are similar to the ideas about religion.

Throughout the reading of Shoeless Joe, we can see a comparison of baseball and religion. Few characters in the book shows us the cause of parallel between both sides. This sport gives him love for the game, shows him guidance throughout hard time, gives him orders to follow his dream and offers him a firm lifestyle. Often when people are a member of a religion, they usually remain committed to it forever. They are a part of one religion and not many. Similarly, people often support one particular sports team, and remain committed to them whether they do well or not.

In this novel, Ray is committed to baseball and never will he lose interest in it. “Baseball is the most perfect of games, solid, true, pure and precious as diamonds.’’ Your family will, often, practice the same religion as you. The knowledge, the beliefs, the values and the morals are passed down from one generation to another. Equally, Ray, his father and even his daughter, who’s new in the world of baseball, all share the same love for baseball. For instance, every night at the same time he sits down with his family and they watch baseball. Ray grew up around baseball, his father always talked about it and he learned to love it. Same has happened with his daughter, Karin. His life revolves around baseball, he believes in it and thinks of it as his way of life. The passion for baseball has been spread throughout the family. They love watching the plays, the sound of the crowed, eating the hotdogs and everything else that has to do with baseball. As we know, Karin, Ray’s daughter, is very obedient and this is mainly because she understands that orders are there to follow. She knows that if she follows the guidelines then she will succeed and will be rewarded. She is polite and knows when the right time to talk is. All this was learnt though baseball. Ray taught her values though the game and how good it feels to do something good.

Same as in religion, you have to respect and follow the rules of the religion. To always obey and understand that the better the person you are, the better your life will be. Doc Grahmam sacrificed playing baseball again to save Karin’s life. To occasionally being able to put yourself second and taking care of other individuals is another key element learnt through religion. Baseball brings you more than just entertainment. It has so much strategy involved. If you take a closer look to baseball you can realize that it has a lot in common with Christianity. Some of the similarities between Christianity and the sport are that they both have rules and boundaries. You have rules you have to go by and if you don’t respect them nor follow them, several consequences will be applied. Also both are involved around teamwork. Even if you have an Eddie Cicotte on the field, he can’t do it all by himself. He obviously needs a catcher. Even if he pitches a perfect game, it’s not a win unless someone on his team gets a run. You need each other. Christianity is the same way. We all need each other’s participation for it to be a success.

Lastly, both cherish failure. Even the best player may experience bad games and plays but that doesn’t mean that they’re less of a good player. In Christianity, no matter how poorly we play, God forgives our faults and puts us right back in the following lineup. Baseball can teach us in religion more than we believe. If religion is considered as a type of belief, then baseball is defiantly Ray's religion. The love and passion that he expresses for baseball is unbreakable. Guidance and orders are kept very valuably with baseball. To Ray and his family, baseball is real, it is precious. There’s nothing that could ever draw Ray away from baseball, from his religion. He would never neglect baseball and his love for baseball would never fade away. What could be closer to a religion than that?