I am currently reading a series on a fellow blogger entitled "Why I Love Baseball." This blogger is diving into the roots of the sport and connecting it to live in generally but more specifically his live. As I read this blogger's reason for why he likes this truly all homegrown, 100% pure American sport, I can't help but ask myself that same question. So for the next few sentences, I hope to briefly scratch the surface as to why I like baseball.
As with most avid followers of the sport, you would think it was because I was reliving my childhood days of playing little league, school softball, or back-yard ball games -- but alas afraid not. I'm not terribly old but old enough that when I was a kid, little league really wasn't for girls. I remember wishing I could play for good ole Read Township, but it really wasn't looked upon as a girl's thing. By the time I hit high school, I was just not that into being on competitive sports teams. I tried my hand at Jr. High basketball and realized I just wasn't that sold on the win or die trying attitude. I just wanted to have fun. So what could possibly cause me to invest in season tickets, going to spring training, getting a job at PNC Park, and overall just being a Pirate's/ baseball junkie?
The answer is more meaningful than reliving childhood adventures or regrets of what could have been. It's about a man. A man named Denver Beers - my grandfather. He's the reason I follow this game w/ such passion and intensity. Growing up I spent a lot of time w/ my pap. He was a huge baseball fan. Even before cable, my pap would watch the Wide World of Sports game of the week while having a radio w/ the Pirates game sounding off beside him. And when Ted Turner started WTBS, that was heaven for my pap. For the six months of the season, my pap would watch every Brave game, Cubs game on the Chicago station and as many Pirate games as he would either listen to or watch. With each visit and night spent, my grandfather shared his love for the sport w/ me.
Each season, I would cheer on the buccos and listen to my pap jab me for picking losers! He had silly names for my favorite players such as Baby Bonds. We would even enter into friendly wagers on games - nothing serious by I do remember getting a few bike out of the deal not to mention a ball glove. But my most fond bet with my pap was the $2 bet we made for a Pirates/Braves game. That time the Pirates won - he gave me the $2 in a picture frame. The next match up the Braves took. I couldn't just give the frame back, so I taped $2 in all pennies front and back to a piece of construction paper and gave it to him. Antics like that made for fun memories but more importantly fueled my passion for baseball. I had to actually sit down and watch the game and understand what was going on in order to debate and pick w/ my pap. Those were definitely cherished days that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world!
Even though my grandfather is no longer w/ me, he isn't too far a way from my memory each time I enter a ball park. On many occasion at a Pirates game, I've had to stop, close my eyes and just think to myself how much pap would love to be there w/ me and how much I would love to share these baseball moments w/ him now. I know my grandfather would be proud of the women I've become but I think He would be just as proud of the baseball fan I've turned into. It's not about the glamour, lights, over-payed talent, or even the cute butts. But baseball is more simply put, about catching a ball, throwing a ball, and hitting a ball. It's about 9 guys doing more together than one single player can do on his own. This sport is by definition both a team and individual sport. Individuals make play, make at bats, make catches but the team puts all those individual skills to use for a win or a loss.
Sitting in Sunday's throw back game where the Pirates and the Tigers wore 1909 replica uniforms, I found the whole day more relaxing and less busy of an event. No music, no video boards, no between inning antics - just the noise of the crowds that's all we needed. I remember snapping this picture and thinking how this is must have been what my grandfather experienced when I watch his first baseball game. I felt a connection to not just my past w/ my grandfather but to his as well. I hope you too have a reason for why you like baseball. I know I do.
So the next time you go to a baseball game, whether it be a little league game or a major league game, close your eyes and reconnect w/ baseball past and present. It's a great American heritage that has been past down to generations and will be past down to generations to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment