Monday, April 03, 2006

Baseball 101

Opening Day

Milwaukee

Many, many years ago.

Our tickets were in the upper deck down the third base line. Thirty-seven degrees with the wind blowing in off the lake. We were all stuff in down and flannel and wedged into seats made for people in shorts and tank tops.

Charlie Hough got chased in the second by the Brewers and BJ Surhoff hit one off a bus in the parking lot. The grass was impossibly green and County Stadium glittered like fool's gold. For one day everything in the world was right and good and true.

Opening Day is the triumph of optimism. Every team is undefeated. Every fan is a fanatic. Opening Day makes time regress. I can close my eyes and see myself sitting high behind home plate with Hank Aaron at the plate.

My life is good.

A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the
ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you
lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while. - Ebby Calvin LaLoosh

1 comment:

slammer said...

your 37 degree opener sounds like the 93 season opener. i was dating a girl at the time who complained it was too cold we had to leave in the second inning. I dumped her ass a few days later.

i guess baseball is one game a lib and a righty can enjoy.