Lecture Notes
Mandelbaum helps us answer this question by providing reasons for both arguments. He highlights several aspects of baseball that I would like to draw your attention to here. Baseball has many pre-modern/traditional aspects that can be seen in the left-hand column and these can be broken into 3 categories: its spatial configuration, its temporal configuration, and its location. In terms of spatial configuration, baseball is circular, not linear; it plays with ideas of infinity and myth; and its basic contours are non-standard. Mandelbaum mentions a couple of examples of non-standardization, including the distance from home plate to the stands. These non-standard features, along with the mythic and circular nature of play, establish baseball as a traditional game. Likewise, baseball is not regulated by a clock and its play is seasonal and affected by natural rhythms, including inclement weather. Baseball is affected by rain, for example, while football is not. At the same time, baseball does have many aspects of a modern sport; these aspects can be seen in the right hand column. Its players each have specialized positions; there is a bureaucracy in place (the national and American Leagues govern play); rationalization determines strategies for games; standardization is included (think of the distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate or the distance between the bases); and, finally, quantification and record keeping generate plenty of stats that are often used by commentators and for things like fantasy baseball leagues.
