The Home Run Derby, Superman and Failure
Why James Gunn’s newest film, my lack of a job and Oneil Cruz’s appearance in today’s Home Run Derby bring me conflicting feelings of haplessness and hope.
I’m trying to start writing this because I feel like a failure. I don’t have a job and I’m just in limbo, waiting to get some automated rejection letter about how I don’t align with what they’re looking for. Maybe I’ll write poorly enough in this document every day until I get bored with it and move on to whatever stupid venture I pick next. Maybe I'll become a conservative sellout and promote bullshit protein powders while I espouse nonsense about the radical left.
I’m going to try not to think about it today because I want to think of another kind of failure. The Home Run Derby is tonight and my favorite team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, has a hitter in the event. It’s strange because Oneil Cruz, who has 16 homers this season, doesn’t even crack MLB’s top 20 home run leaders. It’s clear that he got the invite because others declined to participate. Still, it should be exciting that a Pirate is in the Home Run Derby, right?
Well, as detailed by this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story from 2019 (right before former first baseman Josh Bell stunk up the joint in a first-round loss to Ronald Acuña Jr.), the Pirates have had a pretty shitty history in the contest.
Here’s a list of all the Pirates to compete in the Derby:
Yeesh. And to top it all off, Cruz has been in an extreme cold streak since the start of the summer. Here’s another table to show his decline by month:
As you can tell, his OBP, SLG and OPS took a real nosedive at the start of June and it has been down in the dumps since. Cruz is undeniably an electric player when he’s playing well. The problem is that he’s so hot-and-cold constantly that we could easily have an embarrassing first-round defeat from him tonight.
Still, I can’t identify why I feel so negative about this. Is it my lack of employment? Is it the fact that the Pirates will now have Paul Skenes start another All Star Game, making me only think about how the team will lowball him beyond belief when he eventually leaves? It’s probably one of those two options. As I will continue to write on this blog, I’ll write about how the Pirates leave their fans in perpetual sadness and anger. I mean, just look how this year’s home opener was.
It can be very easy for me to wax poetic about the woeful state this franchise has always been in. You can read hundreds of blogs or stories about how Pirates owner Bob Nutting has betrayed the fans or wasted a golden opportunity with Skenes and our young players, who probably won’t reach their potential in the city.
But these are all truisms that have stood for decades now. I don’t need to add to it because frankly, it gets quite boring after a while. Pessimism and cynicism have been the order of the day for the fanbase. So why wallow? Why continue to repeat the same crap over and over again? It doesn’t make me feel good and it won’t get me anywhere as a fan or as somebody who wants a job.
I’ve had James Gunn’s new Superman film on the mind recently, and specifically about caring and trusting other people might be the “new punk rock.” The film feels like a strong rebuttal to our daily dose of cynicism and to the previous edgier depiction of Superman — Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. There have been great reviews on whether we should be cynical about how a major studio superhero blockbuster tells us cynicism is the enemy.
And there’s obviously validity in keeping a cynical and skeptical eye. When there’s new information to be had about Nutting being cheap (and there will be plenty of that in the future) or Gunn making stupid or immoral decisions, there should be criticism. But wallowing in cynicism forever will not be a viable path forward.
Yes, I probably won’t see postseason with Paul Skenes and there’s a chance I may not have a job for a little while (in line with plenty in my generation). But in order to go about life, you will have to hope against hope a little bit. I’m aware of the privileges and the advantages I have, so I don’t want to make it seem like I’m living on the margins (plus, the Pirates are just a baseball team after all). But when I’m down about my career prospects or my horrible baseball team run by a cheap billionaire owner, hope is the only way to fight back against these feelings. I need to feel hopeful in myself and my fellow humans, but be able to draw a line when a person isn’t acting for the benefit of a collective, and instead just for themselves.
I want to make a difference through my work and through my fandom. Maybe that’s not possible. Maybe it’s silly to even try. But I’ll embrace the irrational and try to be a punk rocker like Superman. So maybe Oneil Cruz can do well tonight. Maybe the Pirates will turn it around soon (OK, maybe I can’t go that far). Maybe James Gunn will actually lead a positive, inspiring and creative superhero cinematic universe. And maybe I’ll find the job of my dreams.
That’ll be all from this blog today! Thank you so much for reading and I hope to provide you with more random thoughts soon!
