‘Until the ball glows in the twilight’: Fatherhood, baseball, and the game of playing catch

It has been said, ‘Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball’ (Barzun 1954). It may also be said that whoever wants to know the heart and mind of American fatherhood – the pattern of meanings associated with fatherhood – had best be familiar with the symbolism connected to a father teaching a child how to catch and throw a ball. In certain segments of the population, the game of playing catch not only is indispensable to learning the fundamentals of baseball, but also is instrumental to being defined as a caring dad (Rosenblatt 1998; McCormack 1999-2000).