Matheson reflects on lessons of Major League Baseball opening day

SALT LAKE CITY — Major League Baseball opened its 2023 season Thursday. 

Boyd Matheson host of Inside Sources shared some thoughts on the lessons to be learned from baseball.

“Amazingly, all the games I’ve looked at were all in really sunny places,” he said jokingly. “And here we are with snow falling in Salt Lake City.”

Lessons to be learned from baseball

Matheson says baseball has played an important role in the history of our country.

“And there are so many lessons to be learned from baseball,” he said. 

He says the sport marks the passage of time.

“And it has done that throughout our history,” Matheson said. “It’s marked eras, beginnings and ends.”

President George Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium in the World Series, following 9/11, marked a significant time, Matheson said.

 Matheson mentions one of the things a security member told President Bush before throwing out the first pitch.

“Don’t bounce it,” Matheson said. “Because they will boo you at Yankee Stadium, and the president, of course, delivered a perfect strike.

Matheson says that the first pitch served as a pivot point for the country in moving forward after the tragic events of 9/11.

Rule changes

Recently, Matheson had columnist and writer George Will on Inside Sources. Matheson asked him about the rule changes in Major League Baseball.

“Baseball had a big problem,” Will said. “And that is the games were getting longer and longer with less and less action. That’s really a bad recipe for the entertainment business.”

Will says the pitch clock will make pitchers throw quicker. He says with the shift being taken away, batters won’t have to try so hard to hit the ball out of the park because they can’t hit it through the shift.

“So, you’re going to see a lot more balls in play,” Will said. “A lot more base running. And it’s going to look like baseball as it used to be.”

Build a Wall of Fame 

In conclusion, Matheson talks about his Wall of Fame which includes not just the signatures of famous baseball players, but also those individuals who have had an impact on his life.

He mentions his third-grade teacher who gave him a book as a gift. As he was unpacking a box, he found this book. A short time later, he sent a baseball and sharpie in the mail to this teacher. 

“She gave me a book and it changed my world,” he said.

He says a few weeks later, he received the baseball back with her signature.

“That’s the wall that’s really worth building,” he said. “One where you can think about those people who have made a difference in your life.”

In honor of opening day, Matheson encourages everyone to pick up a baseball and have someone who has had an impact on their life sign it.

 

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson can be heard on weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

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