National Perspective: Wendell Smith did more than change the color of baseball

National Perspective: Wendell Smith did more than change the color of baseball

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The ball clubs have departed their springtime nests, pennant hopes are flowering like daffodils, the ancient game is springing to life again. For even the lowliest teams — maybe including your favorite — the future seems improbably bright at this juncture of the season. But for all the future hopes, it’s the richness of baseball’s past that sets it apart in American cultural life. Edmund Burke (1729-1797), the 18th-century ph…