A Day in the Baseball Field

In the true account of her first American baseball game, Lesley Hazelton expresses how "the game" served as her code to understanding the American culture. She uses "American" products and icons to support the unfolding of her understanding. She found "that combination of faith and morality, sincerity and naivete, was everything" her "Old-World preconceptions had" led her to expect (9). She also takes time to compare her American experience to Israeli equivalents that she was used to. I agree with the impression of America that Hazelton illustrates as well as the experience that she offers through her description. I am able to easily relate to Hazelton with a similar experience that I had on one particular Fourth of July when I was eight years old. It is through her vivid delineation of "the game," the diamond, the foods, the location, and the people present that Hazelton is able to incorporate her past Israeli experiences in understanding and assimilating to American culture and cause readers, including myself, the ability to agree with her perspective.

In describing her first baseball game experience, Hazelton prefaces her description with an explanation as to how she arrived at Yankee Stadium on her second day in the states. Upon finding out that she had never been to a baseball game nor seen a baseball diamond, Hazelton's friends took her to her first American culture event. Upon her first sight of the baseball field, she commented "so this was a diamond" (9). Diamonds are precious and beautiful stones that are cherished and well-appreciated so it is extremely suitable that the layout of the most American symbol, baseball, is a diamond. This is what the reader is able to interpret out of Hazelton's description of the field. Hazelton was instantaneously intrigued and engaged by the crowd that had turned out for Old Catfish's retirement. Immediately upon her arrival, Hazelton was surrounded by what she "expected form America" (9). From a " brass band, heavy on the epaulets and the drums" To "high-stepping marching girls in white rubber bootees and pompons, throwing silver plywood rifles twist-ing into the air," Hazelton witnessed what she classified as "American."

Certainly nothing is more American than the foods that are available at a baseball game. Hazelton enjoyed "three hot dogs, two bags of peanuts, and three glasses of beer." The image that pops into the readers mind is that of a vendor screaming "Peanuts, Fresh hot peanuts!" at the top of his lungs. Food is definitely one huge factor of culture. Therefore, peanuts and hot dogs embrace the ideals of a Sunday afternoon baseball game. The only screams that are louder than those vendors are the cheers of the devout fans. Hazelton stated that by the end of Catfish's speech she too was up on her "feet and cheering" (9). It was upon cheering that she felt that she had become a part of the crowd and likewise a part of America. It is through Hazelton's feeling of belonging that I am able to agree with her interpretations of "the game."

Growing up in a Persian-American home, I have often been able to experience the duality of culture that Hazelton writes about. Hazelton, an Israeli, is able to draw interpretations from two cultures, her ethnic Israeli background as well as her new American home. Although I, unlike Hazelton, was born and raised in the United States, I have come from a very strong and influential heritage. Comparing Fourth of July to the Persian New Year just as Hazelton compares and contrasts American baseball to a simpler form of English ball game called rounders, I am able to draw more out of my cultural experiences. Similarly, Hazelton gathers more out of her American baseball game because of her Israeli background. Hazelton's impression is similar to an experience that I and on the Fourth of July when I was eight years old. It was the summer of 1991 that I had on the Fourth of July at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. One of the weekends that we were visiting happened to fall on the Fourth of July. It was at a special fireworks show at the Grand Floridian resort that I was found in a daze staring at the bright and gleaming sky while waving a small American flag. At that moment I was able to look around and feel a connection with the people that I was surrounded by. It was at that moment that stating that I was American had changed from being a description to an indication about my identity. I feel that in the same way Hazelton was able to identify herself as an American at the baseball game. It was when she began cheering with the rest of the crowd that she finally felt that she had her " first glimpse of a mythical place called America" (9).

From peanuts to hot dogs and beer, Hazelton not only captures the perfect Sunday afternoon baseball game but also American culture. The reader is capable of picturing the scene and vicariously living her first American cultural event. Hazelton's pictorial account perfectly delineates the mood, weather, and happiness that is felt at "the game." She states that her experience was the "perfect American day, the perfect American place, the perfect American sentence" (9). Indeed it is through her well- detailed descriptions of the diamond, the foods, the location, the people present, and "the game" that the reader is able to experience this perfect American day.