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[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, all the rest of the month is available for your curiosity, about either baseball or Tarot. Leave a comment with a prompt if you want in. All other comments are still welcome, of course.]
The game of baseball, like other sports, has various accolades to give to those players that have made significant contributions to their teams. While election to the Hall of Fame only happens after a career is finished, after games, seasons, playoff series, or other shorter intervals, a team, sportswriters, fans, or others may decide, collectively or individually, to raise one player to the status of "most valuable". Sometimes the decision is made based on statistical categories, sometimes specific actions during a game or time period, sometimes because their work raises the level of the other players in not always obvious ways.
The Baseball Tarot has four MVPs, one for each suit in the deck. They take the place of the Kings of a Rider-Waite type deck, following the Coaches of each suit. The MVPs represent the accomplishments of their respective suits, the practical applications and successes that follow time spent with the Coaches and in practice. Often times, the accomplishments come out the most strongly after having attempted, willingly or not, too teach and coach someone else in those same skills. The order of these cards is correct in their progression.
The suit of Bases represents practical things, as befits the generally unyielding nature of the bags themselves. Bases do not move (ish - at the learning levels, breakaway bases are often used as safety measures, so that the force of a slide is not reflected back into an immature body that may not be able to handle it, or that slides which are not in good form do not cause injury to the player preforming them), and are the anchor points by which several key parts of the game are defined. Fair and foul territory are lines using bases, runs are scored at home base, and runners and batters are only safe when they are in contact with a base (mostly - the procedure of "running through" first base is another safety measure intended to avoid injury between fielders and batter-runners, a procedure that has ultimate expression in the learning leagues of setting a pair of bases to use at first base, one for the fielder (in white), one for the batter-runner (in red)). Bases are the element of Earth, as befits their anchor natures, and they are Hufflepuff House's most natural suit. They are not flashy, not customized, not unique, and they go for a very long time before needing any sort of replacement. They are practical, almost boring.
In the batting order for the offense, each position has a role to carry out. The three lead batters, at spots one, two, and three, are often specialists in hitting for average - they tend to be faster players, with a high stolen base success rate, one or more of them may be bunt specialists as well, and they are patient and draw their share of walks. The three lead batters are supposed to get on base, however they manage it, and put early pressure on the defense to deal with them appropriately.
Position four is usually reserved for a power hitter, with a high home run and runs batted in count. If the first three batters have done their job, position four is the "cleanup" hitter, tasked with clearing off the bases with a home run or a strong hit that will score many of the runners. Spot four is a pressure position, where great hitters will do well and slumping hitters will be moved swiftly out of. First base, catcher, and the designated player (in leagues that allow them) are the usual occupants of spot four.
Spots five through eight are the second wave of the attack, often with players that aren't quite as good as the first four, but that are respectable hitters in their own right. They might be more defensive specialists and players with the ability to fill spots on defense and in a batting lineup.
And then there's spot nine, the place that destroys the pretty symmetry of fours and gives baseball a certain amount of charm, because nine players forces the batting order into unnatural configurations the second and third time around as soon as someone collects a hit or a walk, or right at the beginning if the first three batters go down in order.
Nine is not always a good number in baseball. Position nine in the field is right field, often seen as the place for the weakest player on the team in the learning leagues, since statistically, they are the least likely position to have any sort of action during the baseball game (unless the teams have a large amount of left-handed or switch hitters). To lessen the sting of being placed where very little happens, right fielders may be told they are there because the coach believes they have the necessary concentration to stay in the game even when nothing is coming their way. It seemed to work for me, anyway, for the many years I spent there.
Ninth spot in the batting order is often the domain of the pitcher (in the leagues that require the pitcher to bat), who is going to have the worst batting average of the lot, as well as low counts for home runs or runs batted in. The muscle movements that produce good hitting and those that produce good pitching are not transferable, it turns out. There was a bit of understated snickering at the beginning of the interleague experiment about American League pitchers having to bat. The snickering was silenced when said pitchers proved fairly conclusively that a pitcher imparts enough velocity on their own for any given hit to be a home run without being a while lot of extra kinetic energy added to it by a batter. Because their talents are devoted to other specializations, pitchers are not usually a major run-scoring or power hitting threat. Because of this, however, they are often the finest sacrifice bunters in the game, able to advance runners almost as a matter of formality in any situation where a sacrifice bunt is called for. Despite its perception as the weakest spot in the lineup, position nine still has plenty to contribute to the overall offense.
The MVP of Bases comes through most clearly in hitting in the nine spot - an unglamorous position, unloved by many, but still able to do the work needed. Whether as a pitcher bunting over runners with regularity or as a player who can be counted on to provide solid defense and the occasional offensive jolt, the practical accomplishments on display are those that build a career to be proud of and that earns the salary in the contract, even if it means your particular baseball card isn't going to sell for a lot in the collector's market. It is finding joy in the game and not basing your self worth on the opinions of others around you. The MVP of Bases represents playing solid, fundamental baseball because that's what's enjoyable about it, and because that's what the team asks of you.
If the card shows up in a reading, it can be a congratulations on your practicality or advice that grounding yourself and following the practical path is what's needed for you right now. Dreams are great to have, but they don't come to fruition without putting in the work needed. Position yourself in such a way that you can see and accomplish the concrete aspects of everything. Try not to have your expectations inflate too much, or you might be disappointed and stop before the point of success, or you will undervalue the contributions that you have made in seeing up a solid foundation to build further on. Do the work because the work needs to be done and because you want to do it. Other people's opinions may be useful as guidance when warranted, but in this case, the satisfaction goes to the person actually doing the job.
The game of baseball, like other sports, has various accolades to give to those players that have made significant contributions to their teams. While election to the Hall of Fame only happens after a career is finished, after games, seasons, playoff series, or other shorter intervals, a team, sportswriters, fans, or others may decide, collectively or individually, to raise one player to the status of "most valuable". Sometimes the decision is made based on statistical categories, sometimes specific actions during a game or time period, sometimes because their work raises the level of the other players in not always obvious ways.
The Baseball Tarot has four MVPs, one for each suit in the deck. They take the place of the Kings of a Rider-Waite type deck, following the Coaches of each suit. The MVPs represent the accomplishments of their respective suits, the practical applications and successes that follow time spent with the Coaches and in practice. Often times, the accomplishments come out the most strongly after having attempted, willingly or not, too teach and coach someone else in those same skills. The order of these cards is correct in their progression.
The suit of Bases represents practical things, as befits the generally unyielding nature of the bags themselves. Bases do not move (ish - at the learning levels, breakaway bases are often used as safety measures, so that the force of a slide is not reflected back into an immature body that may not be able to handle it, or that slides which are not in good form do not cause injury to the player preforming them), and are the anchor points by which several key parts of the game are defined. Fair and foul territory are lines using bases, runs are scored at home base, and runners and batters are only safe when they are in contact with a base (mostly - the procedure of "running through" first base is another safety measure intended to avoid injury between fielders and batter-runners, a procedure that has ultimate expression in the learning leagues of setting a pair of bases to use at first base, one for the fielder (in white), one for the batter-runner (in red)). Bases are the element of Earth, as befits their anchor natures, and they are Hufflepuff House's most natural suit. They are not flashy, not customized, not unique, and they go for a very long time before needing any sort of replacement. They are practical, almost boring.
In the batting order for the offense, each position has a role to carry out. The three lead batters, at spots one, two, and three, are often specialists in hitting for average - they tend to be faster players, with a high stolen base success rate, one or more of them may be bunt specialists as well, and they are patient and draw their share of walks. The three lead batters are supposed to get on base, however they manage it, and put early pressure on the defense to deal with them appropriately.
Position four is usually reserved for a power hitter, with a high home run and runs batted in count. If the first three batters have done their job, position four is the "cleanup" hitter, tasked with clearing off the bases with a home run or a strong hit that will score many of the runners. Spot four is a pressure position, where great hitters will do well and slumping hitters will be moved swiftly out of. First base, catcher, and the designated player (in leagues that allow them) are the usual occupants of spot four.
Spots five through eight are the second wave of the attack, often with players that aren't quite as good as the first four, but that are respectable hitters in their own right. They might be more defensive specialists and players with the ability to fill spots on defense and in a batting lineup.
And then there's spot nine, the place that destroys the pretty symmetry of fours and gives baseball a certain amount of charm, because nine players forces the batting order into unnatural configurations the second and third time around as soon as someone collects a hit or a walk, or right at the beginning if the first three batters go down in order.
Nine is not always a good number in baseball. Position nine in the field is right field, often seen as the place for the weakest player on the team in the learning leagues, since statistically, they are the least likely position to have any sort of action during the baseball game (unless the teams have a large amount of left-handed or switch hitters). To lessen the sting of being placed where very little happens, right fielders may be told they are there because the coach believes they have the necessary concentration to stay in the game even when nothing is coming their way. It seemed to work for me, anyway, for the many years I spent there.
Ninth spot in the batting order is often the domain of the pitcher (in the leagues that require the pitcher to bat), who is going to have the worst batting average of the lot, as well as low counts for home runs or runs batted in. The muscle movements that produce good hitting and those that produce good pitching are not transferable, it turns out. There was a bit of understated snickering at the beginning of the interleague experiment about American League pitchers having to bat. The snickering was silenced when said pitchers proved fairly conclusively that a pitcher imparts enough velocity on their own for any given hit to be a home run without being a while lot of extra kinetic energy added to it by a batter. Because their talents are devoted to other specializations, pitchers are not usually a major run-scoring or power hitting threat. Because of this, however, they are often the finest sacrifice bunters in the game, able to advance runners almost as a matter of formality in any situation where a sacrifice bunt is called for. Despite its perception as the weakest spot in the lineup, position nine still has plenty to contribute to the overall offense.
The MVP of Bases comes through most clearly in hitting in the nine spot - an unglamorous position, unloved by many, but still able to do the work needed. Whether as a pitcher bunting over runners with regularity or as a player who can be counted on to provide solid defense and the occasional offensive jolt, the practical accomplishments on display are those that build a career to be proud of and that earns the salary in the contract, even if it means your particular baseball card isn't going to sell for a lot in the collector's market. It is finding joy in the game and not basing your self worth on the opinions of others around you. The MVP of Bases represents playing solid, fundamental baseball because that's what's enjoyable about it, and because that's what the team asks of you.
If the card shows up in a reading, it can be a congratulations on your practicality or advice that grounding yourself and following the practical path is what's needed for you right now. Dreams are great to have, but they don't come to fruition without putting in the work needed. Position yourself in such a way that you can see and accomplish the concrete aspects of everything. Try not to have your expectations inflate too much, or you might be disappointed and stop before the point of success, or you will undervalue the contributions that you have made in seeing up a solid foundation to build further on. Do the work because the work needs to be done and because you want to do it. Other people's opinions may be useful as guidance when warranted, but in this case, the satisfaction goes to the person actually doing the job.
