As a child, I was addicted to Dan Gutman’s book series, Baseball Card Adventures. The series followed an average boy, Joe Stoshack, with one supernatural power: upon touching an old baseball card, he could travel back in time to the year on the card. Every book title followed the same format of “Babe & Me” or “Jackie & Me”, focusing on a different player, like Babe Ruth or Jackie Robinson, and Joe Stoshack’s interactions with them. While I enjoyed learning a little more about baseball history from each of these books, what really drew me in was the concept of going back in time.
Many of the books followed a tragic arc, offering a pessimistic take on time travel. For example, “Roberto & Me” follows the story of legendary baseball player Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash while on his way to help with relief efforts after an earthquake in Nicaragua. Joe does his best to convince Roberto not to go on the flight, but Roberto insists, putting the needs of the victims of the earthquake before his own good. A similar tragic tale is told in “Ray & Me”, where Joe is transported to 1920 and finds star shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, Ray Chapman. Joe and Ray hit it off, but for Joe, the entire trip back in time is clouded by the knowledge that during the 1920 season, Chapman would be struck in the head by a fastball and die 12 hours later. Equipped with this knowledge, Joe tries to convince Chapman to wear a plastic helmet from the future, but Chapman and his teammates laugh him off, cracking the helmet with a bat and asking just how much it could really protect him. Joe is forced to watch in horror as Ray receives a ball to the temple and crumples on the diamond.
Dark, I know.
The books weren’t all this morbid, but the recurring theme of Joe trying to change history to prevent tragic events from occurring, and ultimately failing, piqued my interest. I’m sure others can relate when I say I occasionally wonder what would happen if I could go back in time and interfere with history. If time travel were possible, I would have nowhere near the self-discipline required to stand by as a patient observer. Lecture me all you want about the butterfly effect, if I went back in time I would do all sorts of things to try to change the future.
Maybe I’d tell Abe Lincoln to skip that play tonight, or tell JFK to put the top of his convertible up before rolling around the streets of Dallas. Perhaps I’d go back further in time and tell Caesar not to trust that Brutus guy so much, or give the ancient Egyptians forklifts and cranes to see if they would build even bigger pyramids, or perhaps more complex three dimensional shapes. I would jump at any opportunity to change history. Not necessarily out of a dislike for the way human history has played out, but more out of genuine curiosity.
This laissez faire attitude toward changing history may stem from a perspective that is too detached, dismissive of how these actions could significantly alter my life. When looking at how I would change my own life if I could, I wouldn’t be nearly as bold and rash in my decision making. I like the way my life has turned out so far, and I wouldn’t want to mess things up too much.
That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t take a few chances, though.
I don’t have any overwhelming regrets in life, but there have definitely been moments that I look back on and wish I could do over again. There are certain tips I would like to give my past self, revolving mostly around putting myself out there more and having the confidence to expose myself to new opportunities. I won’t get into the super personal regrets I have (maybe we can save those stories for a different blog), but in school and in other aspects of life I’d share overarching words of wisdom that would go something like this:
Through opening yourself up to failure and becoming vulnerable, you will learn to recognize your limitations and become empowered to break past them. The absolute worst thing you can do is tell yourself you’re not good enough before even giving it a shot. Life will tell you how much you suck plenty of times, it doesn’t need the voice in the back of your head chiming in too.
Hey Adi! First of all, I thought the topic for this blog was incredibly interesting and unique. Time travel has always been such an intriguing topic for me, and I’ve often wondered myself on multiple occasions how much effect the change of one historical event would have on the rest of the course of history. I found your blog to be very easy to follow along and engaging to read, and I could clearly hear your voice in it throughout the blog. I loved the example you gave in the beginning about book series. It gave the piece a very nostalgic feel while also smoothly transitioning into the topic that you wanted to write about. I also found your examples of how you would change the course of history to be very funny and creative, and I think it added a nice spin to the overall topic. I also think you bring up a very important point about regrets in life at the end of your blog, and the importance of being open to new opportunities to learn and grow! I also love how you emphasize the importance of vulnerability and being kind to yourself.
Hi Adi, I’m not even in your class, but through the magic of technology, here we are. I, too, have many moments that I wish I could do over again. Not least of which is losing that match to those two kids at 3am when it was our Supreme promotion game. I tilted and bought scout. RIP.
But on a more serious note, I second everything that you said. However, I would add that regret hurts far more than rejection. This applies across domains, to relationships, to opportunities, to how I believe that we should all approach our lives.
Adi,
I found your perspective and how you l linked a repressed memory of mine (I think I read some of these books at some point but I have no direct memory of anything past the title) to the concept of time travel to be incredibly interesting. And I do agree with you a lot with your blog post. A lot of media makes out time travel to be some simple thing that while has its own consequences, can still be easily used as a plot device. Think movies like Star Trek, or even Dr Who. Even if they all do mention “paradoxes” and other “wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff,” they still lack much in the case of explanation as to what would actually happen. The perspective on time travel offered by the “blank and me” series you mentioned seems to be a much simpler, yet more cynical view on time travel: Everything has its purpose and going to the past will not change the macroscopic outcomes of what happens. Finally, the way you linked this knowledge regrets and made a life lesson out of all of this discussion was really cool to me. To me, your ability to link three seemingly unrelated topics—baseball, time travel, and life advice—is a true hallmark of a good writer, so great job!
Derek
I love this post, Adi! Reflecting on our past reads is so insightful. Really well written!