One of my favorite old-time movies is 1942’s “The Pride of the Yankees,” starring Gary Cooper. Filled with sweetness, humor, and the good ol’ American values of determination and a solid work ethic, the movie tells the story of baseball great Lou Gehrig from his boyhood to his final days battling the disease that now bears his name.
There are many scenes worth pondering in this classic film, but the opening comes to mind today—largely because of the novelty it presents to our current culture. The scene shows a group of boys playing a game of baseball. Played in an empty lot surrounded by New York tenements and shops with makeshift bases, the game isn’t the well-organized, adult-supervised Little League ventures we see today. Instead, it’s a pick-up game, and the only adults who make an appearance are the shopkeeper and policeman who run after young Gehrig for breaking a window.
