"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." When the Continental Congress adopted those words on July 4, 1776, they weren't thinking about baseball. After all, there wasn't a baseball game to be found. But it's hard to imagine that nearly 250 years later, another American tradition would come to embody so many of the ideals those words represent—fairness, opportunity, perseverance, hope, and the simple joy of coming together. James Earl Jones