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 Mike
Hampton, hurler for the New York Mets, threw the first pitch of the
baseball season at 7:06 pm on March 29, 2000, in Tokyo, Japan. The
home plate umpire reported, “Strike one!” The crowd cheered—in Japanese.
Every year baseball begins with an enthusiastic opening game in...Tokyo?
What on Earth happened to the great American national pastime? Isn’t
the traditional season opener in Cincinnati? The entire mythology
of our country’s sports legacy shifts, with a new century of competition
commencing in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Last
week, home run slugger Mark McGwire complained about baseball doing
anything to make the almighty buck. Sports writers chastised the well-paid
McGwire, calling him naive. Meanwhile, the players from the Chicago
Cubs and New York Mets start the season fighting the mother of all
jet lags—hardly conducive to a good game. Was McGwire right? Is it
just about money?
A
Money-Oriented Cluster of Taurus Planets
Consider
that three planets (pushy, first-in-line Mars, opportunistic Jupiter
and the serious, materially-driven Saturn) in the money-based sign
of Taurus occupy the relationship-based Seventh House for the 2000
baseball season. The insurance firm AIU, and the convenience chain
AM-PM Markets, worked with major league baseball in a cooperative
economic bond. These two companies sponsored the two-game series.
So, the players wore uniform patches representing both companies,
which showed up nicely on the television, thank you very much.
Realizing
that the conjunction of these planets squares (makes a stressful 90-degree
angle) the revolutionary Uranus, we should only expect innovations
(innovation is linked astrologically to Uranus). Baseball stadiums
have lost their cool names like Fenway, Wrigley and Yankee Stadium.
These legendary titles yield to the commercialism of 3Com Park, Qualcomm
Field, ad nauseum. What’s a high-tech company got to do with baseball,
other than offering up big bucks to say their name? Call me a Mark
McGwire purist and a Luddite of sorts for the sanctity of baseball,
but where’s the game gone? Down the Taurus tubes of materialism.
Pluto
and Chiron: It’s a Small World
There’s
another element contributing to the vast runaway train of professional
sports. Pluto and Chiron are currently in the sign of Sagittarius.
Sagittarius is linked to advertising concepts and the theme of the
sale. Sag also represents the long-range visions of travel. Japan’s
a long trip. Ask the bleary-eyed ball players. Ah, yes, baseball is
now the international sport. We’ve opened the concept door (or Pandora’s
Box) for international baseball. So, that means the World Series might
actually have something to do with the world. Perhaps. Regardless,
baseball sold its soul to expand its marketing and money.
Pluto,
aligned with the great archetypal healer, Chiron, is retrograde, or
appearing to move backward as seen from the Earth. Shamefully, the
agenda will surface. The baseball establishment bet that the avid
Japanese fans would boost the national pastime into stellar economic
strata. But they alienated the fans of the country of baseball, the
good old U.S. of A. Sure, have games in Japan. But the season opener
belongs to the U.S., regardless of Uranus. Since Uranus and the three
planets in Taurus stand on the base pads of fixed
signs, the good, strong baseline of tradition ought to stay
put.
Global
Uranus, Businesslike Capricorn Moon
Then
again, maybe it’s right to do this in a new way. Uranus, the rude
awakener (if only he dealt with jet lag), does jolt all of the stubborn
Taurus planets into exploring and exploiting new markets. Maybe this
settles the migration issue (and immigration nightmares of some) regarding
foreign ballplayers. Only in the last few years have Asian players
made it into the major leagues. Maybe this is good for the humanity
(also an attribute of Uranus) of the planet. Imagine what would have
happened years ago if only Fidel Castro had fulfilled his dream of
being a major league pitcher.
But
on the other side of the Yen is a Capricorn Moon for this ball game.
Capricorn, the ultimate businessman, seeks opportunity at the height
of previously unreachable mountains, like Mt. Fuji, maybe.
Was
it greed? For my money it was. Disguised loosely as an effort for
baseball to extend its arms across the Pacific, you can be sure a
staggering sum of money piled into the coffers. While the players
stumbled on the infield dirt, the fans swallowed their sushi and tickets
and choked on high prices.
There’s
a reason ceremonies and spiritual rituals (yes, like baseball) continue
to use the same methods. And this is not one of them. Hopefully, baseball
will reorient itself.
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