BASEBALL IS NOT THE BEAUTIFUL GAME. I have never heard anybody refer to baseball as “the beautiful game”. Indeed, back in the 1980’s the White Sox won a division title, and, during the year, a rival manager said that the White Sox “…weren’t playing well. They’re winning ugly.” This wikipedia article says: “This phrase became a rallying cry for the team, and they are often referred to as the ‘Winning Ugly’ team (and their uniforms as the ‘Winning Ugly’ uniforms).”
I certainly never minded the phrase “winning ugly”, and I don’t think there were very many White Sox fans who did mind.