Trevor Wilt Emily Grant ENGL 1101 11/8/2013 Discourse in Baseball Baseball is a sport to some people but to others,

it can be a way of life. From a young five-year-old boy to a thirty-five year old man, there is one thing that is on the mind of all baseball players, winning. No matter how this task has to be accomplished, baseball players will go to any measure to have the satisfactory of winning. There are countless usages of discourse in the game of baseball on and off the field which makes it such a complex game. No matter the age of the player, baseball is played the same way. As a ball player grows older, the competition may be tougher and the umpires may be stricter on calls, but baseball is still baseball. For example, when watching a twelve-year-old baseball game, most of the discourse that is heard and seen is still the same in some ways to men who play in the Majors. The infielders are communicating to the other infielders and also to the outfielders on almost every play. The coach gives signs to the catcher so he can then relay those signs to let the pitcher know what pitch to throw to get the batter out. Some spectators may think that there is nothing going on between each pitch but there is discourse going on at all times, even at such a young age. By watching the players out there on the field, one can probably come to conclusions on who are the best ball players and who are the ones that were forced to play by their parents. Although that may be the case, there is still that little feeling in their bodys that wants to win that game. PONY BASEBALL

According to Swales characteristic of a discourse community, baseball follows each and every one of those rules. Swales writes 1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals (Swale, 471). It can be said that each baseball player is striving towards the same goal and that is winning. Although each player might have individual goals, the overall goal for each player is to hold up that polished trophy at the end of the season and say they are the best. A big part of winning a game is being able to communicate with each other each and every play. Communication has to happen fast between each pitch to let everyone in on what to do in the field or at bat. The mechanisms for communication are done by either body signals or word of mouth by the coaches and the players. For example, the coach will give hand signals from the dugout to the catcher who will then put down a certain number of fingers to show to the pitcher, and then the pitcher will either nod his head yes or no depending if he likes the pitch. If the team is batting, the coach will also give signs with his hands so the batter and the person on base will know what to do when the pitch is thrown. No matter if the defense is out there on the field or the team is up at bat, there are hand signals communicating to the players on what to do each and every play. Baseball incorporates words during games that are not used in someones everyday life. On deck, Coming down, and All the way are just some of the lexis that can be used in every play by the coach, players, fans, or announcers. A term that is used a lot in baseball is cut. This simple little word is screamed by the man who is receiving the ball or the guy who will eventually receive the ball. A typical play which would incorporate the word cut will be a ball that is hit to the outfield with a runner on base that is attempting to score. Once the ball is hit to the outfield, the catcher will line up the cut

off that is typically the first or third baseman to make a straight shot for the outfielder to throw the ball to home. The catcher will then yell to cut the ball if he wants the third or first basemen to catch the ball and throw it home to tag the runner or he might not say anything and then the cut off will know to not touch the ball. There are plays going on like this almost every play with this type of discourse that is often hard to pick up on for a fan. The old-timers with expertise are those men who are called veterans or those in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The men who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame have rightfully earned their spot in that prestiges group due to their ability to play the game at such a high level. The veterans in baseball are those who have been in the league for a long time and have experience that many other players cannot say that they have. The newcomers in the MLB are called the Rookies. These guys may have come straight from high school, college, or came from the organizations farm team which is the stage before a player can be classified as a Rookie. The transition from lower level ball clubs to the major leagues does not change too drastically when talking about the language, genres, or the general knowledge of the group. Once a ball player is at a certain point in his career, such as college, the language is the same. There will be different plays that a player will have to come to understand but the genre of communication and the lexis will be the same. Baseball, like every other sport, comes with conflict. These conflicts can be related to

Works Cited

Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.

Wynn, Austin. Personal Interview. 11/02/2013

ALPHABETICAL ORDER!!! HANGING INDENT OF .5!