Baseball is America’s game, historically hailed as America’s national pastime.

Baseball is a legendary game, invented by Abner Doubleday in 1839. From simply playing catch to playing in the major leagues, to just watching the game being played, baseball is built on the joyous freedom of play.

There is one rare and exciting play that encapsulates the joy of the game for both player and spectator.

That play occurs when a batter steps up to home plate and does what experts say is the hardest thing to do in all of sports — the inside-the-ballpark home run.

The batter swings a round bat at a round ball moving “faster than a rooster can crow at the first sunbeam!” He hits the ball squarely, which is as difficult as “eating soup with a fork!”

The hit is a screaming line drive to the deepest part of the ballpark, where the ball caroms off the wall, sending the outfielders into a frantic chase to track it down.

They must relay it to infielders to tag the speedy runner out, but no amount of error-free, defensive skill will prevent this magical home run. It will end with a perfect slide into home plate, just beating a perfect throw to the catcher’s tag, by the “width of an umpire’s whisker!”

The excitement of the inside-the-park home run culminates with the realized joy of baseball: SAFE AT HOME!

The hitter is breathlessly overjoyed by this near impossible achievement while he is swamped by his congratulating teammates. The crowd goes wild!

This exciting home run (described with typical baseball hyperbole that is based on quotes by Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller and Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Willie Stargell, both Hall of Famers, and many others) happens in baseball, but not very often.

When it occurs, a bit of baseball history happens, adding to a legacy that dates to the first baseball game played with set rules.

That occurred in 1846, in Hoboken, N.J., at the pastoral Elysian Field. The bucolic setting was appropriate: The truth about baseball is that it is a slow game. Its pace is deliberate. The playing field is level. Each team gets an equal number of innings to play both defense and offense. The rules are consistent and exclusive to baseball.

Fair play is the expected norm, and rules are applied by umpires whose integrity to the game is unquestioned.

While disputes sometimes occur, disagreements are sometimes voiced, tempers sometimes flare, benches sometimes clear, and brawls sometimes threaten, incivility and violence are unacceptable. Sportsmanship is the expected standard for both player and spectator.

Baseball’s many appealing attributes did not elude the citizens of Butler and, in fact, led a youth to become one of the most accomplished and revered Major League umpires.

In 1938, Eddie Vargo, then 10, discovered the joy of playing baseball on the back alleys, vacant lots, sandlots and playgrounds of neighborhoods called the West End, the Island and Lyndora.

There also happened to be a field of dreams in Butler: Pullman Park, which also happened to be the home ballpark of a New York Yankees farm team. Vargo was chosen bat boy and equipment manager’s helper and the real New York Yankees were coming to town for an exhibition game. Joe DiMaggio would be there!

He met DiMaggio, and got the Yankee Clipper’s autograph and the baseball memory of a lifetime.

Vargo, born in Butler on April 25, 1930, polished his baseball skills as he grew up well enough to become a catcher in the St. Louis Cardinals system, before being drafted into the Army. During his five years in the service, Vargo became an umpire. After the Army, he turned pro and umpired in the minor leagues from 1953 through 1959.

In 1960, Vargo was promoted to the Major Leagues where he umpired in the National League for 23 years, officiating in 3,555 games.

His Major League record is stellar.

He umpired in four All-Star games, four National League Championship Series, and four World Series. He called eight no-hitters, three from behind the plate, including a perfect game by Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax.

Vargo was also behind the plate when Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs.

He finished his career by serving as supervisor of National League umpires from 1984 until 1997. He died on Feb. 2, 2008.

He represented the best attributes of baseball throughout his career and considered himself honored to have had the career he had.

“I’ve been fortunate to be a part of Major League Baseball history,” Vargo once told a group of Butler athletes and coaches. “I’ve seen dedicated players and teams achieve greatness. From the very first time I put on the umpire’s uniform and stepped on the field, I knew the game of baseball expected me to be perfect — and then show constant improvement.

“My life’s work was to ensure fair play.”

Today, Eddie Vargo’s legacy lives on.

While it’s true other sports like football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, hockey and golf are popular, baseball was the first American game and still is the heart and soul of American play.

According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, in four of the last six years that were pandemic-free, boys and girls baseball and softball combined to be the most participated team sport in the United States.

Boys and girls are still finding joy in playing baseball, both hardball and softball, in myriad associations that include T-Ball, Bantam, Little League, Colt, Pony and Prep leagues; church leagues, and city and county and state leagues.

Some play on college and university teams. Others play on traveling teams, touring the country. Children everywhere still play stickball in the streets and alleys and sandlots, and just playing catch has never gone out of style.

Neither have the qualities its sportsmanship espouses.

In the classic baseball movie, “Field of Dreams,” James Earl Jones’ character, Terrance Mann, put it this way: “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. The one constant through all the years has been baseball. It’s part of our past. It reminds us of all that was once good, and could be again.”

Walt Whitman, America’s enduring historical poet laureate, upon observing baseball in its 1839 infancy, wrote these prophetic words: “I see great things for baseball. It’s our game … the American Game. It can repair all our losses and be a blessing to us all.”

And baseball great Jackie Robinson, perhaps the most important American baseball player of all time, translated his joy of baseball into the joy of freedom for all Americans when he said: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives,”

Vargo, who understood the freedom and joy of the game he embraced all of his life, reflected on his career as he announced his retirement, saying, simply, humbly and wisely:

“All my years in Major League Baseball can be summed up in those two magical words I’ve said a million times: PLAY BALL!”

This article was written by Dave McKinnis and Dess Schnur. Both have baseball history in Butler, with Dess Schnur’s involvement lasting more than 50 years, including playing, coaching and managing, organizing and promoting, and even building and maintaining baseball fields. Both knew Eddie Vargo, but Schnur and Vargo had much closer ties. All three are in the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame, where Vargo was the very first inductee and the exclusive reason the now county-wide organization was formed in 1966.