The game of baseball represents Troy’s lost dream, and the rules of baseball frame the way Troy understands his own life. When Troy discovers that Cory is not working at the A&P, he issues his son his first strike and warns him not to strike out. Cory earns his second strike when he pulls Troy off of his mother after Troy grabs Rose’s arm. When Cory receives his third strike, he finally confronts his father. Troy fights back, and Cory loses the fight. Each time, Cory has attempted to challenge his father and lost. Troy sees manhood as the one-on-one battle between a pitcher and the person swinging the bat. If Cory loses, Troy is still in the game. He can still win, and his life isn’t over. Similarly, Troy likes to insist that he could still hit home runs against some of the new young pitchers and becomes annoyed when Cory argues that he can’t.

According to Troy’s philosophy of life, the rules also allow for taking risks and stealing bases. When explaining his affair with Alberta, Troy tells Rose that everyone is born with two strikes against them. Death or failure could come at any moment with one mistake or badly calculated choice.