Why I love baseball

[LBHalos17]

I just watched it, so I'll quote one of my favorite baseball-movie-characters from "A League of their Own."

 

"Baseball gets inside you; it's what lights you up."-Jimmy Dugan Manager Rockford Peaches

"It just got too hard."-Dottie Henson Catcher

 

"It's supposed to be hard.  If it wasn't hard, everybody would do it.  It's the hard, that makes it great."-Jimmy

 

There are many other great quotes from movies and books (especially "Field of Dreams"), But watching "League" got me thinking...  All of us baseball fanatics are romantics at heart.  I also love to remember the past (I was a history major) as baseball does.  But, for me, it's much simpler...

 

I love playing the game.  The smell of the grass, the colors of the grass and infield dirt, the sounds of the game off the bat or in the glove and out of the mouths of players.  I love it when I get to play 1st base and shoot the shit with opposing players who reach base.  I love base-coaching and trying to think-ahead of the game, but I also like to manage the scorebook.  I love the feel of a liner smacking into my glove on a horizontal-diving catch.  I love the feeling of my spikes digging into the dirt on the way to 3rd from 1st.   I love the feeling of smashing the ball off the sweet-spot of the bat and knowing you got it all.  I even love all the different pains I wake-up with the day after a good game.

 

I love watching the game.  The smells of a ballpark; barbeque smoke cooking hot dogs, etc.  The sounds of a Major League park.  The constant hum of voices rising to cheers if the Halos happen to do something good.  The crack of a Major League bomb off the bat of Josh or Albert or Mike and even opposing players.  I could sit through a triple-header in the sun as long as I had a couple dogs and beers, and my nasty chew (an empty row in front never hurt to put my aching legs up either).

 

I love watching Little Leaguers play the game!  The emotions runs so high and low; it reminds me to always respect the game, its history, and my teammates by always playing the right way.

[Glen]

"Avoid the clap" - Jimmy Dugan.

[Angel Dog and Beer]

You lost me at "The crack of a Major League bomb off the bat of Josh..."

 

Kidding aside, nice write up. Agree with everything there. I can just turn on a game, any game, and get immersed into it.

[LBHalos17]

hilarious Glen!  

"That's good advice!..." also Jimmy

 

I got to thinking a little more about it.  My buddy who pitched for the Astros can't be dragged-out to play for our Sunday team (even after I bought him a team jersey), so I'm thinking maybe it was a blessing to have taken so much time off from baseball after little league.  I don't think he's totally burned-out, but I just might have been.  And I wouldn't be such a baseball-freak like I am now... 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I've always loved the nuances of the game. No ties, regardless of how long we have to play to decide it. A game that ends whenever the scoreboard says that all the requisite innings and outs have been played, not a time clock. Rain delays. Defensive positioning. Pitch strategy. Hit and run. Things you might see that you have never seen before, regardless of how the game is going. Seeing a player's best performance ever, his first in the major leagues and, in some cases, his last or only major league appearance. I even sometimes miss when baseball was less available on television, and the anticipation that led up to the Major League Baseball Game of the Week. Sometimes your team was on, but most often not. Baseball news came from the newspaper, not a 24-hour sports channel with replays and analysis of everything. Life was simpler and the pace was slower.

[shellback]

nowhere else does time stand still but in baseball.

[katie]

How can you not get romantic about baseball?

-Moneyball

[katie]

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.