"In our sun-down perambulations, of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of...

"In our sun-down perambulations, of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing 'base', a certain game of ball…Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs…The game of ball is glorious…

"It's our game: that's the chief fact in connection with it: America's game: has the snap, go fling, of the American atmosphere — belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly, as our constitutions, laws: is just as important in the sum total of our historic life." —Walt Whitman #OpeningDay