We had another sure sign of spring this week.
Yes, I’m in Texas right now visiting my daughter, son-in-law and grandson. I’ve been here about a week-and-a-half and my wife joined me last night. We’re going to celebrate Easter with the Texas clan and then make our way back north.
Yes, the weather here is very nice. I heard about that rainy day you had in Southeastern Massachusetts with the cold, chilly weather. That’s exactly why I run away every March.
The sign of spring wasn’t just down here it was everywhere… It was the return of baseball.
This winter in New England has been tough on all of us. Bitter cold and unbelievable amounts of snow. I told someone the other day that I’ve now lived through two once-in-a-lifetime blizzards.
However, when Opening Day comes around I always seem to have a feeling of…”We made it! We survived!”
If you’re not into baseball I hope you have something that gives you that same feeling. Maybe it’s when the daffodils bloom or the grass turns green. Maybe it’s when the hummingbirds return or when you put the boat in.
For me it’s baseball.
I have so many memories associated with this game.
I remember the first game I ever saw at Fenway Park. It was against the Washington…Senators! Maybe 1969? I think Ted Williams was their manager.
I walked up the ramp from the concourse and I will never forget seeing that green, green grass! It was my first trip to a Major League Baseball field and I was completely awestruck.
That was also the game where I kept asking “How many out? What’s the score?” My brother said, “Just look at the scoreboard.” I said, “What scoreboard?” Yup. It’s only about 37-feet high on the Green Monster in left. In my own defense, I was 8-years old and I had never been to Fenway but, trust me, my older brother never let me forget it.
Then there was the Opening Day game we went to with my Uncle Joe. It was so cold on that April day I wore my Snorkel coat.
I think it snowed before it ended.
I’ve watched Yaz (my boyhood hero), Rico, Fisk, Rice and Evans. Then there was Big Papi and Pedro. Years later I would even talk to Yaz at a luncheon for radio station affiliates. Suddenly I was that 8-year old boy again. I just hoped I didn’t sound stupid. We talked about his love for fishing. I don’t know anything about fishing but I knew he loved it and I think he appreciated the fact that I didn’t ask the usual baseball questions he’s heard a million times.
I’ve seen Hank Aaron, Brooks Robinson, George Brett and many others visit Fenway. So many that I can’t remember them all.
Priscilla and I were there with the kids for the Mother’s Day Miracle game. The Red Sox came back and won it. Many people had left the park but we didn’t. I told the kids, “THAT’S why you NEVER leave until it’s over!”
I celebrated a World Series victory over St. Louis when my daughter brought ME after she won tickets at her company.
My wife and I are now on an adventure to see the Red Sox play at as many different parks as we can. We hope to see them all even if we can’t make it a Red Sox game. Obviously when we make the trip to Southern California we probably won’t be able to see the Sox in Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego all in the same week. We’re going to the Red Sox game in Houston Wednesday.
Yeah there’s just something about the baseball season getting underway. It’s just the feeling of spring: there’s hope. It’s a new beginning, new players, a new chance for old veterans and that wonder of what the year will bring.
I saw a TikTok that I shared with my children this week. It was Joe Castiglione’s voice reciting, “The Green Fields of the Mind” written by former baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.
The excerpt was:
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring when everything else begins again. It blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive. Then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”
Yes my friend, we made it through winter. Baseball is back. Spring has sprung. Let’s see what blooms in this game and this game of life.
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