SUICIDE SQUEEZE

Albert Camus: "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest...comes afterwards."

In a suicide squeeze, the life of the team is valued above the life of an individual player. As the pitcher begins his windup, the runner on third base sprints with reckless abandon for home, depending on his comrade to lay down a bunt, and his life, for the runner’s success. Success here is a run for the team and an out for the batter at first. If the batter fails, either by missing the ball or popping up the ball, it is possible that both the batter and the runner could be out in the process. In this sense, the suicide squeeze, although a catchy name, is closer to what we’d consider rebellion than suicide. Here we use another quote by Camus to make this distinction: “Rebellion…undermines the very conception of the individual. If an individual actually consents to die, and, when the occasion arises, accepts death as a consequence of his rebellion, he demonstrates that he is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of a common good which he considers more important than his own destiny.” Camus made a point to transition our individualistic thought from the romantic work of Descartes, who stated most famously, “I think therefore I am,” to the idea that our existence is meaningless without our collective drive to something better together, stating, “I rebel, therefore we are.”

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