>> FOR THE PASSIONED FAN, THE GAME OF BASEBALL IS A GAME OF BITTERSWEET DESIRE BECAUSE LIKE LOVE, IT MUST NEVER BE COMPROMISED YET OFTEN IS.

>> PEOPLE DON'T KNOW BASEBALL IN THIS TOWN.

>> WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

>> THEY DON'T KNOW THE INSIDE STUFF.

THEY DON'T CALL A BALK WHEN THERE'S NO BALK ON THAT PLAY, YOU KNOW.

BASEBALL'S NEW IN CANADA.

PLUS THEY'VE GOT A TERRIBLE FIELD.

>> YOU KNOW, YOU CAN LOOK AT BASEBALL AS A MIRROR OF THE CULTURE.

WHAT WE HAVE NOW IS ALL OF THE BALLPARKS LOOK THE SAME.

ALL OF THE THE PLAYERS TEND TO PLAY THE SAME.

THEY USE THE SAME STYLE, THE COACHING HAS TAUGHT THEM TO BE MORE REGULAR.

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF STYLE IN BASEBALL IS GOING OUT THE WINDOW.

YOU KNOW, THAT'S CERTAINLY TRUE IN OUR CULTURE.

WE'VE BECOME A PEOPLE WHO ARE ACTED UPON RATHER THAN ACTING.

WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO CHEER.

WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY BALL UNLESS SOMEONE ORGANIZES US AND DIRECTS US AND TEACHES US.

PEOPLE DON'T LEARN ON THEIR OWN.

PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE THAT THEY CAN EFFECT THEIR OWN DESTINY ANYMORE.

THEY'RE MISSING OUT ON THE AMERICAN DREAM.

PHILLIP ROTH CALLED HIS BASEBALL NOVEL "THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL."

THERE'S NOBODY TO WRITE THAT ANYMORE, I DON'T THINK.

♪ FOR OUR LOVE IS SUCH PAIN AND SUCH PLEASURE ♪ ♪ AND I'LL TREASURE TILL I DIE ♪ [ ♪♪ ] >> THE YEAR 1983 BROUGHT A DRAMATIC BASEBALL COINCIDENCE TO BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, THE KIND OF COINCIDENCE HARD-CORE BASEBALL LOVERS TRULY RELISH AND ONE WHICH UNTIL NOW HAS NEVER BEEN PUBLICLY DISCLOSED.

THE STORY TOOK PLACE HERE IN MEMORIAL STADIUM, HOME OF THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES.

IN THE PREVIOUS YEAR, THE ORIOLES HAD COME WITHIN ONE CLIFF-HANGING GAME OF MAKING THEIR DIVISION.

THE LOSS WAS SAD, BUT MAGESTIC.

MEANWHILE, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN, AN EQUALLY MAGESTIC BALLOTS WAS BEING WAGED BETWEEN THIS MAN -- -- BATTLE -- A RELEAPTLESSLY REBELLIOUS POET AND WRITER, ANDRE, FROM ROMANIA, AND HIS ADVERSARY -- ♪ HEY, MAMA, SAID THE WAY YOU MOVE, GONNA MAKE YOU SWEAT ♪ >> -- THE U.S.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION BUREAU.

BUT IN 1983, SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT HAPPENED, AND SUCCESS CAME TO BOTH PARTIES.

THE RESULT WAS TRUE BASEBALL ROMANCE.

>> THIS SUPERB EXAMPLE OF NIXON MITCHELL ARCHITECTURE BEHIND THESE WAS A STRUGGLE TO GET MY CITIZENSHIP FOR TEN YEARS.

IT WAS AN EPIC STRUGGLE AND I COULD NEVER FIGURE OUT WHY THEY WERE INVESTIGATING ME.

I'M NOT TERRIBLY DANGEROUS.

I DIDN'T THINK I'D DONE ANYTHING HORRENDOUS.

THERE THEY WERE, RELENTLESSLY INVESTIGATING ME.

MAYBE THEY WERE INVESTIGATING ME BECAUSE I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND BASEBALL.

AND, SO, ONE TIME I CAME TO THE GAME, I CAME ALL BY MYSELF.

AND ALL OF A SUDDEN IT CLICKED AND I UNDERSTOOD THE GAME.

SURE ENOUGH, I GOT A LETTER, AND THEY SAID, OKAY, YOU CAN BE A CITIZEN NOW.

[ ♪♪ ] >> THAT YEAR, ANDRE GOT HIS CITIZENSHIP AND THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES WON THE PENNANT AND THE WORLD SERIES.

PERHAPS YOU HAVE TO BE A BIT OF A MYSTIC TO APPRECIATE THE COINCIDENCE, BUT IT DID LEAVE THE ORIOLES WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY FAN AND WHERE DID IT LEAVE IMMIGRATION?

♪ HEY, MAY, MAMA, SAID THE WAY YOU MOVE ♪ ♪ GONNA MAKE YOU SWEAT GONNA MAKE YOU GROOVE ♪ >> THERE ARE GUYS WITH FUNNY ACCENTS ALL OVER THE FIELD NOW.

I MEAN, ANY DAY NOW, YOU'LL HEAR SOME GREAT ROMANIAN BASEBALL PLAYER, WHO KNOWS.

[ ♪♪ ] ♪ IT MAKES ME WONDER ♪ ♪ OOOH, IT MAKES ME WONDER ♪ >> I THINK PEOPLE IMMIGRATE HERE TAKE A LIKE TO GO BASEBALL.

IT'S CURIOUS, HERE ARE PEOPLE FROM SUCH DIFFERENT PLACES, SUCH DIFFERENT CULTURES, AND THEY FIND A COMMON PASSION IN THIS GAME.

WHILE, AT THE SAME TIME, PROBABLY NOT UNDERSTANDING MUCH ELSE IN AMERICA.

BASEBALL BECOMES A GREAT LANDMARK IN BELONGING, IN BECOMING.

♪ THE FEELING THAT I GET WHEN I LOOK TO THE WEST ♪ >> FOR IMMIGRATED AND EXILES, IT'S THE LONG ROAD FROM THE PHASE OF IMMIGRATION TO THE ROCK 'N ROLL OF AMERICAN CULTURE BUT FOR GENERATIONS AROUND THIS ROUTE, ONE GRAND AND COMMON CONCERN HAS BEEN THE GAME OF BASEBALL.

NOT FOR NOTHING, THEN, DOES IT IMPRESS ANDRE WITH THE SENSE OF WHAT'S POSSIBLE IN AMERICA IN CONTRAST TO EUROPE.

>> EUROPE IS CROWDED.

EASTERN EUROPE IS VERY CROWDED.

AND THAT SENSE OF THE CROWDED IS IN THE SOCCER GAME.

BUT THERE'S NOTHING MORE TERRIFYING THAN WALKING THE WRONG WAY UP A NARROW EASTERN EUROPEAN PROVINCIAL TOWN STREET POST-SOCCER CROWD IS COMING TOWARD YOU AFTER THE HOME TEAM LOST.

THE DISTINCTION ALWAYS WAS BETWEEN THE GUYS WITH GLASSES AND THE GUYS WITH MUSCLES.

SO, NOTHING EVEN WORSE AS TO BE -- TO BE THIS GUY WITH GLASSES, JEWISH, INTELLECTUAL WALKING UP THE STREET AND THE -- IN THE SAME UNIFORM, WHICH IS ANOTHER FORM OF ELITISM, AS THE CROWD IS COMING TOWARDS YOU.

I MEAN, THE HISTORY OF ALL KINDS OF PERSECUTION SEEMS TO BEAR DOWN ON YOU THAT MOMENT AND IT'S A REAL HORROR.

SO, I'VE HEARD HORROR OF -- I'VE HAD HORROR OF CROWDS BECAUSE OF IT.

I THINK BASEBALL CURED ME OF IT.

I CAME HERE AND I SIT DOWN, SIT IN THE STADIUM, AND THERE IS GUYS WITH GLASSES, AND THERE IS JEWS AND THERE IS A WOMAN IN SHORTS, AND PEOPLE KNIT AND EAT HOT DOGS AND IT IS TRULY POPULAR IN A SENSE THAT I DIDN'T KNOW COULD BE.

THERE ARE MOMENTS WHEN THE PASSION OF THE CROWD CONGEALS AND EVERYBODY STARTS SCREAMING AT THE SAME TIME AND THERE IS GREAT TENSION AND AT THAT TIME I STILL FEEL THAT OLD TERROR AND I THINK, THANK GOD THEY ARE CALLING FOR THE BALL, NOT FOR THE BLOOD OF JEWS.

THERE IS ROOM, THERE IS ROOM IN BASEBALL.

AND THE KIND OF TIMELESSNESS HAPPENS, SOMETHING OF THE VASTNESS OF SPACE IN THIS COUNTRY.

THE ONLY TIMES WHEN THE CROWD COMES TOGETHER, IT'S MOMENTS JUST BEFORE THE PITCH AND THE TIME -- THE QUALITY OF TIME CHANGES AND YOU CAN FEEL THE GREAT TENSION IN THE CROWD AND IT'S ALMOST A MYSTICAL MOMENT.

EVERYTHING IS IN SUSPENSION THAN ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS.

>> AS THE POET SAYS, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE AT THE MOMENT OF THE PITCH.

FAIR PLAY IS POSSIBLE.

INTELLIGENT PASSION IS POSSIBLE.

A CULTURE IS POSSIBLE.

WHEN PEOPLE CARE DEEPLY ABOUT A THING OF ELEGANCE WHICH AMAZES, YET MYSTIFIES AT THE SAME TIME.

SUCH A THING IS BASEBALL.

BRINGING THE WARMTH OF ROMANCE TO THE VASTNESS OF THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE.

[ ♪♪ ] >> ONE STRIKE AWAY.

SANDY INTO HIS WINDUP.

HERE'S THE PITCH.

SWUNG ON AND MISSED!

THE PERFECT GAME!

>> LEADING OFF FOR BROOKLYN IN THE LAST HALF OF THE FOURTH.

A HOMER INTO THE LEFT FIELD SEATS.

HIS SECOND IN AS MANY DAYS.

>> OUT AT FIRST.

HERE'S A PITCH TO WILLIE.

SWUNG, HARD HIT.

DEEP TO LEFT.

THAT ONE IS WAY BACK.

WAY BACK!

WAY BACK!

AND IT'S GOOD FOR A NUMBER 600 FOR WILLIE MAYS AND THE BYE-BYE BETTY BONANZA AND THE GIANTS COME TO HOME PLATE TO GREET HIM.

NUMBER 600 FOR MAYS, HE HIT IT OVER THE 370-FOOT MARK.

A STANDING OVATION HERE IN SAN DIEGO FOR WILLIE.

[APPLAUSE] >> STANDING UP.

TO HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT WHAT MAY BE THE LAST PLAY OF THE 1942 WORLD SERIES.

THE PITCH IS SWUNG ON.

IT'S A GROUND BALL.

HIT DOWN TOWARD SECOND.

GROUNDS UP.

THROWS.

THE WORLD SERIES IS OVER!

>> THE GIANTS WON THE PENNANT!

THE GIANTS WON THE PENNANT?

THE GIANTS WON THE PENNANT?

HITS INTO THE LOWER DECK.

THE GIANTS WON THE PENNANT!

AND THEY'RE GOING CRAZY.

THEY'RE GOING CRAZY.