Review by Lalia Wilson
The deck and book were created by Mark Lerner and Laura Philips. It is a 78 card deck, with the standard 22 trumps, most given new names reflecting America’s baseball tradition, with Power (Strength) as number VIII and The Umpire (Justice) as number XI. These larger than usual cards are 3 ½” by 5 ½”. The cards themselves are unbordered. The artistic style is realistic. The images are predominately white and male, not reflecting today’s baseball world. However this deck was created in 1999, and was likely more true to the sport then.
According to Wikipedia: “Sports in the United States are an important part of American culture. American football is the most popular sport to watch in the United States, followed by baseball, basketball, and ice hockey… Based on revenue, the four major professional sports leagues in the United States are Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL).”
Public school students play baseball or softball in school classes. Many young boys and some girls start learning baseball by playing “T-ball” (Tee-ball, also teeball, tee ball or t-ball) at age 4. T-ball is a simplified version of baseball to allow youngsters to begin to develop the skills necessary for baseball later. Following T-ball a student can participate in Little League, then school teams, then college teams. Almost all Americans are familiar with baseball, if not fans. For this reason, baseball images lend themselves to a modern interpretation of tarot, an interpretation that will be more accessible to many as opposed to the medieval images of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and its many clones.
The full color images, and large card size, make these cards even more approachable. The accompanying book is 5” by 7”, 324 pages, with all cards illustrated in black and white. The four suits are: Bats (Wands/Fire), Mitts (Cups/Water), Balls (Swords/Air), and Bases (Pentacles/Earth).
The Court cards are unusual, but illuminating. The Pages are Elevens, and indicate a deepening of the meaning of the suit. The Knights are Twelves and show one pursuing the meaning of the suit. The Queens are Coaches who are teaching young players the meanings of their suit. The Kings are MVPs, Most Valuable Players, who have demonstrated and represent the highest achievements of their suit.
You will find six cards shown on the Tarot Scopes page. Here we look closer at three more cards. First up is the Ten of Bases called “winning streak.” Compare this card to the usual Ten of Pentacles that shows a multi-generational family by their mansion. A winning streak is indeed the sought after goal for the team.
Next up is Ten of Balls, called Sacrifice. Compare this to the Ten of Swords, a figure lying on the ground who is pierced with ten swords, and frequently called “Ruin.” In the Ten of Balls the batter is deliberately hitting a certain way that will make him out, but will allow other players to move forward.
Finally we look at the XX card, The Rule Book, usually called Judgment in the tarot. The final decision as to the result of any play is found by following the rules in the Rule Book. It covers all situations and is undisputed, except by “sore losers.”
The Baseball Tarot is a valuable piece of Americana. It is useful for anyone wanting a modern way to look at the tarot cards. It uses baseball terminology which makes it accessible to many who would otherwise be adverse to the tarot. Finally, it is a useful way to check our own understanding of the cards as we compare these to our usual tarot decks to sift out diverse meanings of each card.
Since this deck is over two decades old, it’s available on the secondary market and very reasonably priced.