I doubt that the purpose of this workshop is to go grow young Marlins fans, but it can't hurt .
Broward County teachers returned to class Tuesday to learn how to teach American history using baseball.
Studying the evolution of the baseball uniform, for example, will teach students about significant social and technological changes during the 20th century. Changes in textiles and styles correspond with advances in transportation, technology, and communication, as well as historical events such as world wars, the Great Depression and the Space Age.
Former Florida Marlins manager Tony Perez, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000, was on hand to help drive home the curriculum for teachers during the workshop.
Ah, the Space Age. The time of astroturf fields, cookie cutter multi-sports ballparks and possibly some of the ugliest uniforms to ever grace the diamond.
Maybe the young ones can learn from the mistakes of the past and somewhere along the way they will become fans.
But baseball is an excellent choice to see how America has changed threw the ages.
As James Earl Jones, playing the character Terence Mann in the movie Field of Dreams , so eloquently stated .
...The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.
Of course, baseball wasn't all good in the past, but there is no reason to bring up all of the problems at this moment. Especially since it is good news that the youth of today will be learning about the ages by using baseball. And that is a good thing.