[This is part of a series exploring the Baseball Tarot. If you would like to prompt for a part of the game or a card from the deck, there's still plenty of space. Leave a comment with a prompt. All other comments are still welcome, of course.]
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onyxlynx, whom I suspect is actually much more qualified to do these than I am.
Unlike goddesses of wisdom, neither humans nor baseball players spring forth fully formed from the dirt of the infield and the grass of the outfield. Baseball knowledge is both gained by experience and imparted by those who have gone before. Many successful players go on from their playing days to jobs in the organisation's front office, as commentators for the team, or they stay with the team and become teachers of the next generation of baseball players. Some of them ascend to the managers of the team, whether the one they played professionally for or a local Little League team in the place they have retired from. Some help run workshops for fans to get an approximation of the training that professional players engage in on a daily basis.
Essentially, every player can be a coach, and only a few get to do so officially. (And there are people who aren't baseball players who get coaching and training jobs with teams, too.) Most teams have several coaches, each with their own specialty of practice for training and ensuring sound mechanics (hitting, pitching, fielding, etc.) and two coaches who are allowed on the field during games to direct runners and relay signals and signs to them regarding the execution of the offense (for example, to indicate when a runner should steal on the upcoming pitch, the presence of a hit-and-run on the next pitch, or a directive to the batter to square and bunt the pitch), positioned in foul territory to the right of first base and the left of third base.
And then there is the manager of the team, who is the coach above all, studying, analyzing, and using their vast expanse of baseball knowledge to try and win the game with the players they have. (I am perpetually in favor of the manager that prefers to manufacture runs through singles, walks, bunts, and timely hitting and stealing than one that relies on big power hits to drive in runs, because they can make just about any team competitive.) For most amateur players, and many of the Little League players, all those jobs above are rolled into one person, who not only does the maintenance work, but also teaches the game of baseball and all of its norms and practices to the players - Coach. Many baseball players remember Coach, whomever it was, for their wisdom and advice, and for believing that they can play baseball when they were a lot younger than they are now. Coach is often a parent taking on the responsibility of teaching and managing the team, which is a role that they should always be thanked for - it's not easy at all.
The Baseball Tarot deck actually has five coaches in it - one for each of the suits, where they take the place of the Queen of the suit. One could grouse about the symbolism of putting the coach into the only female characters in the regular deck, and the stereotype of women taking on the caring and nurturing role, but Little League does not exclude gender now, so it is entirely possible to have all these roles gender-swapped, at least at that level. Anyway, each coach's card is about "learning new ways of [primary focus of the suit]", which is what the specialist coaches are there for in baseball - to stop bad habits and engender good ones, and to teach players new ways of dealing with the novel scenarios that different pitchers and hitters will present to them. Being a Tarot deck, it's about action, the heart and spirit, thinking, and new ways of the world, rather than the practical matters that much of baseball is about - fielding, hitting, pitching, running, throwing. Coaches are there for the mental issues, too, though, and sometimes those are the more difficult things to get through, because mechanics can't necessarily beat the yips. More often than not, when the coaches appear in a reading, it's either a sign that you need to go see the coach most associated with that aspect (for hopefully, you all have people who serve as coaches for those aspects), or that you're going to be the coach of that aspect for someone in your life. (Which could be you - occasionally the coach you need to see is you so you can kick yourself in the backside and get going on freaking with the issues of that category)
There's also the major card, II, the Coach, who is not just a coach of one aspect of the game, or who has only one domain or function - this is the one who teaches all that come, who gets some people started on their career, and who introduces others to the game, with its layers and complexities abstracted to be understandable. This coach paints in broad strokes, teaching the way things go instead of refining the things already known to greater expertise. (This particular card is all girls and women, drawing plays in the sand, so there's your gender equality?) Coach can be consulted about anything, because they are knowledgeable and wise. Even though many of the players Coach sees will not go on to any sort of serious competition, and fewer still will join the collegiate ranks and the professional ones, Coach does what they do because they want to keep the game alive and because they said yes to the request for a coach. If this coach appears in your reading, it's not about changing or adjusting, it's about learning and teaching entirely new things. It may be time for you to find a coach to learn a new set of skills that will help you on your journey, to find a mentor, or if might be the calling to teach what you have learned and pass your knowledge on to someone else who needs it. The game continues not because the rules exist, not because the game itself is intrinsically interesting or because it serves as a convenient sport to teach and learn broader concepts (even though it is both of those things), but because someone takes time out of their life to teach the next generation of players, who will eventually play, coach, or officiate themselves later on in life (and not necessarily in baseball). Without those who are willing to be Coach, knowledge is lost.
You know how sports and after school activities and other structured programs are supposed to help teenagers not make bad decisions? I suspect the program itself has very little to do with whether or not kids and teenagers stay out of trouble while they participate, unless it's something they're passionate about and want to stay out of trouble to stay eligible for. The real trick, it seems, is that kids need a stable base from which to explore and create their own identity, and that base needs caring adults in it to be successful. It's not the program, necessarily - it's the coach. And if you listen to the stories of the kids who are doing well and staying away from making trouble, it's almost always about the coach. The Coach has the power to change lives. How wonderful are those people who accept this responsibility and live up to its demands.
For
onyxlynx, whom I suspect is actually much more qualified to do these than I am.Unlike goddesses of wisdom, neither humans nor baseball players spring forth fully formed from the dirt of the infield and the grass of the outfield. Baseball knowledge is both gained by experience and imparted by those who have gone before. Many successful players go on from their playing days to jobs in the organisation's front office, as commentators for the team, or they stay with the team and become teachers of the next generation of baseball players. Some of them ascend to the managers of the team, whether the one they played professionally for or a local Little League team in the place they have retired from. Some help run workshops for fans to get an approximation of the training that professional players engage in on a daily basis.
Essentially, every player can be a coach, and only a few get to do so officially. (And there are people who aren't baseball players who get coaching and training jobs with teams, too.) Most teams have several coaches, each with their own specialty of practice for training and ensuring sound mechanics (hitting, pitching, fielding, etc.) and two coaches who are allowed on the field during games to direct runners and relay signals and signs to them regarding the execution of the offense (for example, to indicate when a runner should steal on the upcoming pitch, the presence of a hit-and-run on the next pitch, or a directive to the batter to square and bunt the pitch), positioned in foul territory to the right of first base and the left of third base.
And then there is the manager of the team, who is the coach above all, studying, analyzing, and using their vast expanse of baseball knowledge to try and win the game with the players they have. (I am perpetually in favor of the manager that prefers to manufacture runs through singles, walks, bunts, and timely hitting and stealing than one that relies on big power hits to drive in runs, because they can make just about any team competitive.) For most amateur players, and many of the Little League players, all those jobs above are rolled into one person, who not only does the maintenance work, but also teaches the game of baseball and all of its norms and practices to the players - Coach. Many baseball players remember Coach, whomever it was, for their wisdom and advice, and for believing that they can play baseball when they were a lot younger than they are now. Coach is often a parent taking on the responsibility of teaching and managing the team, which is a role that they should always be thanked for - it's not easy at all.
The Baseball Tarot deck actually has five coaches in it - one for each of the suits, where they take the place of the Queen of the suit. One could grouse about the symbolism of putting the coach into the only female characters in the regular deck, and the stereotype of women taking on the caring and nurturing role, but Little League does not exclude gender now, so it is entirely possible to have all these roles gender-swapped, at least at that level. Anyway, each coach's card is about "learning new ways of [primary focus of the suit]", which is what the specialist coaches are there for in baseball - to stop bad habits and engender good ones, and to teach players new ways of dealing with the novel scenarios that different pitchers and hitters will present to them. Being a Tarot deck, it's about action, the heart and spirit, thinking, and new ways of the world, rather than the practical matters that much of baseball is about - fielding, hitting, pitching, running, throwing. Coaches are there for the mental issues, too, though, and sometimes those are the more difficult things to get through, because mechanics can't necessarily beat the yips. More often than not, when the coaches appear in a reading, it's either a sign that you need to go see the coach most associated with that aspect (for hopefully, you all have people who serve as coaches for those aspects), or that you're going to be the coach of that aspect for someone in your life. (Which could be you - occasionally the coach you need to see is you so you can kick yourself in the backside and get going on freaking with the issues of that category)
There's also the major card, II, the Coach, who is not just a coach of one aspect of the game, or who has only one domain or function - this is the one who teaches all that come, who gets some people started on their career, and who introduces others to the game, with its layers and complexities abstracted to be understandable. This coach paints in broad strokes, teaching the way things go instead of refining the things already known to greater expertise. (This particular card is all girls and women, drawing plays in the sand, so there's your gender equality?) Coach can be consulted about anything, because they are knowledgeable and wise. Even though many of the players Coach sees will not go on to any sort of serious competition, and fewer still will join the collegiate ranks and the professional ones, Coach does what they do because they want to keep the game alive and because they said yes to the request for a coach. If this coach appears in your reading, it's not about changing or adjusting, it's about learning and teaching entirely new things. It may be time for you to find a coach to learn a new set of skills that will help you on your journey, to find a mentor, or if might be the calling to teach what you have learned and pass your knowledge on to someone else who needs it. The game continues not because the rules exist, not because the game itself is intrinsically interesting or because it serves as a convenient sport to teach and learn broader concepts (even though it is both of those things), but because someone takes time out of their life to teach the next generation of players, who will eventually play, coach, or officiate themselves later on in life (and not necessarily in baseball). Without those who are willing to be Coach, knowledge is lost.
You know how sports and after school activities and other structured programs are supposed to help teenagers not make bad decisions? I suspect the program itself has very little to do with whether or not kids and teenagers stay out of trouble while they participate, unless it's something they're passionate about and want to stay out of trouble to stay eligible for. The real trick, it seems, is that kids need a stable base from which to explore and create their own identity, and that base needs caring adults in it to be successful. It's not the program, necessarily - it's the coach. And if you listen to the stories of the kids who are doing well and staying away from making trouble, it's almost always about the coach. The Coach has the power to change lives. How wonderful are those people who accept this responsibility and live up to its demands.
