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BS: Baseball and Masonry
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BS: Baseball and Masonry |
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Subject: BS: Baseball and Masonry? From: GUEST,DDT Date: 19 Jan 13 - 04:07 PM I was reading Parfrey's & and Heimbichner's "Ritual America" and ran across a brief section on the Masonic influence in the game of baseball. Not just what players are or were Freemasons (although quite a number of the biggies of the sport were such as "Rajah" Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Carl Hubbell, Cy Young and Tris Speaker who was a Shriner) but the very game itself. First, I want to state outright that I am NOT a Freemason and never have been. I could be if I wanted to since I have close friends who are Masons and have offered me sponsorship but I simply have no desire to join. I cast no aspersions on anyone who is or seeks to be a Mason. I just do not feel that it is for me. Now, the layout of a baseball field has a surprising resemblance to a compass and square: ballpark layout (little league) The compass is formed by the circular area around home plate and extending down each foul line. The square is formed by the 90-degree angle between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bases. The border between the outfield and the stands forms a circular area or arc described by a compass. The layout of the bases forms a perfect square. Now this may strike one as a bit whimsical but if one keeps looking at various layouts of ballparks, the encoding of compass and square starts to become rather apparent: softball field layout The compass has three points or vertices and a square as four. This can be geometrically represented as a triangle surmounting a square (the shape of home plate) or a joining of 3 and 4. In baseball, the batter gets 3 strikes and 4 balls. Three turns in Masonry quite a lot: 3 knocks, 3 ruffians, 3 wounds to Hiram Abiff, 3 pillars (wisdom, strength and beauty), 3 main officials of the lodge (Worshipful Master, Senior Warden, Junior Warden), 3 degrees (E.A., F.C. and M.M.), 3 lights at the altar, each degree has 3 parts (open, closing and initiatory), 3 rungs on the ladder of the clouded canopy, 3 directions (east, west and south), 3 immovable jewels, 3 movable jewels, the 3 Steps, etc. There are also multiples of 3 such as the 6 jewels (3 movable, 3 immovable), 9 classes or emblems. Now compare that to baseball: 3 outs per side making 6 outs per inning, 9 innings, 3 strikes per batter, 9 batters, nine fielders (6 on the infield and 3 in the outfield), 27 outs in a game per side (2+7=9), 54 outs total (5+4=9), 162 games per season (1+6+2=9) with 81 (8+1=9) each played on the road and at home. In early baseball, the umpires were dressed like Masons in their processions: Masonic Procession 19th century baseball game with umpire in black suit and top hat. An engraving of a baseball game from 1872. Note the Masonic dress of the umpire That Masonry sees existence as being essentially a game is revealed by one its emblems: the checkered floor. This is, of course, a chessboard or game board and has been for various games since ancient times. And this ancient game is the eternal battle between the forces of light and dark. The Masonic Checkered or Tessellated Floor: Tessellated Floor The Checkered Floor worked into the baseball field (New Yankee Stadium) to represent the eternal battle: New Yankee Stadium The Checkered Floor worked into the layout of Ranger Stadium in Arlington, Texas The running around the bases represents the circumambulating done in the lodges by the candidates. He passes 1st base (the 1st degree), 2nd base (the 2nd degree), 3rd base (the 3rd degree) and then, if he's fortunate, crosses home plate (becomes a citizen of the cosmos—his true home). There are numerous websites one can peruse to review of all the occult and Masonic connections in baseball. One website states: kabbalistically the game was created as a ritual to make men ever vigilent [sic] against the accuser, and to innately know when he was in danger of tyranny because of the accuser. When you point the accusing finger, three fingers point back at you. The bat, the whole image of the law, and the ball the power of death, play out on the diamond, which represents the three dimensional world of form, homeplate represents the body human which must constantly beg the law to protect him against tyranny, or man's rule over man. The bases are the paths, that are open to all to roam, when someone puts the power of death, in this case the ball out of reach of all judgement [sic]. That is the true seed of potential and why the home run hitter is the ultimate hero. He has used the law to free himself of all tyrranny [sic] and in turn anyone on the path at the time he has done it, all become free to roam the paths. http://www.remnantradio.org/Archives/articles/Baseball/baseball.htm The writer of the article above might have added that this game is played out on the checkerboard of Masonry with Masons (umpires) mediating the play—one at each base or degree to guide the candidate at each stage of the battle. [A plea for civility – For some reason, posts like this one bring out the nastiness and snarkyness in certain Mudcat regulars. This should be something fun to discuss but I've seen plenty of threads go south in a big hurry here because certain posters cannot hold their tongues. They have to parade their nasty natures in front of everyone because they think they are clever and witty for doing so. The average poster here is an adult, an older adult with children and grandchildren and I'm sure some even have great-grandchildren. So it seems strange that I have to plea for civility from such people but I know that I do. There are too many threads here to back my sentiment. I don't want this thread to become one of those threads so PLEASE don't make it one. If you find yourself typing something like: "The OP is obviously an asshole with too much time on his hands and can't think of anything better to do than to come here and waste everybody's time with this retarded shit in a idiotic bid for attention that he obviously can't get in real life." Check yourself and don't post it. If someone does post something like that and you sycophantically find yourself typing something like "Oh [moniker here]! You're SO funny. That's why I love coming to Mudcat! You make my day whenever I come here!" Don't post it. Imagine instead if one of your children or grandchildren was the OP. Would you laugh at all the insulting, snarky remarks or would you want to strangle that person until his or her eyeballs popped out? I'll bet the latter. So PLEASE don't engage in nor encourage that type of behavior yourself. There is simply NO NEED for it. Thank you.] |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: gnu Date: 19 Jan 13 - 04:13 PM Oh WOW, man! I see it too! That is the best I have read in a dog's age. BRAVO! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: Bill D Date: 19 Jan 13 - 04:48 PM Ummmmm.... men in top hats look like all sorts of things....etc. Connections can be 'discovered' in all sorts of unrelated things You obviously know that this will get a few raised eyebrows..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: gnu Date: 19 Jan 13 - 05:08 PM Raised eyebrows? I expect that was the poit. I have never seen such an elaborate and well presented "theory"! It's hilarious! A masterpiece! Again.... BRAVO!!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: GUEST,999 Date: 19 Jan 13 - 06:54 PM That is not only interesting but also observant. I have thrice been offered sponsorship to become a mason but have always refused. (Think Groucho Marx.) However, the machinations of so-called secret societies have fascinated me for years. After reading 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' back in the 1980s(?), I had a brief two-way correspondence with one of the authors about a discrepancy between a photograph in the paperback and Poussin's painting, 'The Shepherds of Arcadia', both of which were 'pivotal' to a point being made by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln. A Google of Baseball and Masonry provides many sites that address the 'theory' you proffer. Thanks for what will to me be a thought-provoking thread. That said DDT, I see no reason to be rude with you (or anyone else for that matter). People remain civil with me and I'll do the same with them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: gnu Date: 19 Jan 13 - 07:42 PM Same with me, 9. Masons and Knights (one a top dog here in town and one a Hibernian Knight - he's a bit scarey to me). Just said I'd think about it. Although the mason guy and my X SiL (dating him at the time) used to go to nude beaches in the US so I would HAVE to consider jumping the Cat'lic fence based on that. >;-) I hope Father Sloan isn't a Mudcatter. >;-) Forgive father for I am a horny MF and I have had impure... oh hell, I'd fuck a snake if I could get enough gravel in my hands. That's a cue for you... who know's who you are. >;-) X 10! Then again, if you don't pick up the cue, I'll say it. I will. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: GUEST,DDT Date: 19 Jan 13 - 08:01 PM One thing I notice is that if you take a tai-chi (a yin-yang symbol) and extend it as a three-dimensional sphere, you get something that looks like a baseball with the stitches. Take a baseball and position it in your hands until you make a tai-chi with the stitches forming the division between yin and yang. Imagine it as a flat 2-D tai-chi that extends around the back and then imagine that flat image extended in three dimensions. It would look like a baseball with its stitches. The two pieces of skin that are stitched together oppose each other and yet support each other and so symbolize the primal duality--light v. dark. They are Jachin and Boaz--the Twin Pillars of Masonry. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: GUEST,999 Date: 19 Jan 13 - 08:09 PM Are (were) you a practitioner of Tai Chi if I may ask? (If so, I'd think Ch'uan.) Symbols are so potent. May I ask what got your mind "in this gear" DDT? Obviously you are well-read and from a remark earlier in the thread, y'ain't a kid anymore, no offence. Sorry, I am not nosy, but I am curious. If you prefer not to answer those questions, that's ok with me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: GUEST,DDT Date: 20 Jan 13 - 09:39 AM "Connections can be 'discovered' in all sorts of unrelated things" Perhaps then we discover they are not really unrelated. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: Nigel Parsons Date: 21 Jan 13 - 05:03 AM Now compare that to baseball: 3 outs per side making 6 outs per inning, 9 innings, 3 strikes per batter, 9 batters, nine fielders (6 on the infield and 3 in the outfield), 27 outs in a game per side (2+7=9), 54 outs total (5+4=9), 162 games per season (1+6+2=9) with 81 (8+1=9) each played on the road and at home. Oh, you're talking 'American baseball'. The original game (still played in the UK) did not have '3 outs per side'. That puts part of the theory into question. STRIKE ONE! Cheers Nigel |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: Rapparee Date: 21 Jan 13 - 07:54 AM Ii thought this was about bricks and such. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Baseball and Masonry From: Penny S. Date: 21 Jan 13 - 08:42 AM Somehow my first attempt at this has been wiped - aargh, conspiracy theory. I think the differences between baseball and rounders do not put the hypothesis into question. The official rules One source describes the pitch as a diamond, as in baseball, but it obviously is a house shaped pentagon lying on one edge of the roof. One obvious difference is the flexibility of team numbers, but nine is the maximum allowed in play at any one time. If rounders is seen as a precursor of baseball (I know this is denied, as a connection between stoolball and cricket is denied, but hey, if it looks like a duck...) then the imposition of shapes and rules which seem to echo Freemasonry, and the limiting of play to males, might indicate that there was some input from Lodges. The history of the man who set the game up might indicate that. It seems to fit the way his mind worked. I'm not convinced by what the refs wear. Aprons would be required for me to be convinced by that. As for that ritual site, the author's mind seems not to be entirely connected with a meaningful understanding of English as a means of communication. And as for the effect of placing the White House diamond - Oh my! Penny |
