Why I love Baseball

Normally I wouldn't post in between a pregame and postgame post, but I was going through some old entries on my personal journal, and I found this one, from the very beginning of August.

I hope maybe it'll ring true for some of you...

There doesn't seem to be much attraction in a game that takes over three hours to play (usually), where there's no hard-hitting action, where half the time the batters take ten minutes just to set between each swing...

Thing is, though, there's nothing else like it.

There's nothing like opening day, when kids cut class to go see exactly how good the Yankees are this year or starting out with so much hope at Wrigley....

There's nothing like sitting in a ballpark that's almost 100 years old, or a park where the ghosts of past still haunt (games 4 and 5 of 2001 World Series, anyone?).

There's nothing like "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth", or "I don't believe what I just saw!" or "Touch 'em all Joe" or "THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!" or "Stay fair ball, stay fair!"

There's nothing like hosting Boston, wearing t-shirts that say "Babe, Bucky, Boone, any questions?" or watching the visiting team lose the ball in the ivy at Wrigley or the rally monkey at Anaheim, home runs into the Cove at San Francisco (the ones Barry doesn't hit...anyway...), the home run apple at Shea, the water slide at Miller Field, the fountain at Kauffman Stadium, the way the home runs used to leave the field at Coors, the way Tampa is a home away from home for the Red Sox and the Yankees, the way you can book a hotel room and look straight onto the field in Toronto...

There's nothing like bottom of the ninth, game seven, World Series.

There's nothing like the summer of '98 which saw two 60+ home run hitters, 114 season wins for the Yankees, a perfect game, a 20 strike out game, and G-d knows what else.

There's nothing like the way last week was--756 for B*nds, 500 for Arod, 300 wins for Glavine.

There's nothing like peanuts and cracker jacks, and the seventh inning stretch, whose origins, to this day, are a mystery--despite it being one of the most hallowed of all baseball traditions.

There's nothing like watching Endy Chavez or Willie Harris or Melky Cabrera echo Willie Mays, nothing like watching the center fielder dive for the ball, catch it and then throw out the runner at the plate.

There's nothing like seeing the end of a perfect game, live, on TV, and even if the guy pitching it is away, or plays for your most hated rival, you've gotta feel good for him.

There's nothing like watching a rookie hit his first big league home run or his first big league strikeout.

There's nothing like trying to beat out 500 other fans for the foul ball coming your way, and if you're a split second too late, well, it's not yours any more.

There's nothing like this year's feel-good stories, John Lester and Rick Ankiel.

There's nothing like October---where every year there is always something to remember.

There's nothing like cheering Jeffery Maier or booing Steve Bartman (or if you're an Orioles fan or a Marlins fan, the reverse)

It's just a bat and a ball, and some guys standing around a field.


There is nothing like it.