On Sunday, October 26th, game five of the 2014 World Series took place in San Francisco, with the hometown Giants winning 5-0 behind a stellar pitching performance by ace Madison Bumgarner, taking a 3-2 series lead. Bumgarner’s complete game shutout has rightly deserved much attention, but what happened immediately before the game is also worth mentioning.
Just like any other of the thousands of baseball games that take place in our country every year, Game Five was preceded by a live rendition of our national anthem. Aaron Lewis, of the grunge band Staind, was on hand for the song. It was an odd choice of singers, considering Lewis is from New England and his outspoken conservatism would not seem to mesh well in the liberal San Francisco, but that’s only part of the story.
Only a few lines into the song, Lewis botched the lyrics, preemptively singing “were so gallantly streaming” instead of the correct line, “at the twilight’s last gleaming.”
Lewis’s mistake is certainly not the first of it’s kind, and I am not out to criticize him for getting nervous on national television. The problem isn’t Lewis, but rather the insistence and expectation that every baseball game begin with the national anthem.
Day after day, from the first game in spring training to the last game of the World Series, baseball players and fans are subjected to the playing of the national anthem, whether it be a live performance or a recording. With few exceptions, most everyone in the stadium seems thoroughly uninterested with the song. This is hardly shocking, as it’s daily repetition causes it to lose any significance.
Instead of playing the song before every game, why not limit it to just several significant dates during the season? Opening Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, the All-Star Game, and game one of all postseason series’ would still keep a sense of patriotism within our national pastime without it being overkill, as is the case now.
Furthermore, by making the national anthem performance a less frequent, and in turn more significant, occurrence, teams would be more likely to find bigger names than, say, Aaron Lewis, for games on national TV.
This isn’t to say that there is anything inherently wrong with singing the national anthem before sporting events. Just last week at an Ottawa Senators hockey game, the crowd was led by retired policeman Lyndon Slewidge in an emotional unison singing “O Canada,” days after a soldier was shot and killed outside Parliament in the capital city. The moment was meaningful for all involved, not just because the national anthem was sung, but because it was in the context of a grieving nation. What happened in Ottawa is one of many examples that show that singing the anthem can be much more than a formality, but it’s important to remember that for every memorable moment like that one, there are probably hundreds of forgettable anthems sung that only end up diminishing it’s significance.
While it may seem outrageous to change a tradition almost as deeply a part of the game as hot dogs and the seventh inning stretch, by limiting the playing of the national anthem to only select games during the season, baseball teams would actually be increasing the significance and fan appreciation of the song and what it means. Instead of allowing the Star Spangled Banner to continue to get lost in the daily pre-game routine, save it for special occasions and give it the attention it deserves.
Shapiro is a member of the class of 2018.
