My Baseball Love Affair

I have been sitting here trying to write about how if my life were to be defined by a sport, it would be baseball. To me, sports represent so much to people & for a variety of reasons. If someone were to create a chart or graph of my life categorized by the amount of time spent enjoying each sport that I follow, baseball would win by a long shot. 

There is a picture of me on my 5th birthday posing in a birthday crown at my brother's baseball game. I went to the ballpark shortly after the end of my birthday party that took place earlier that day. Most of my earliest memories take place at our local baseball complex on a weeknight or weekend, coloring in my princess coloring book while sitting on the bleachers, doing my homework, or my mom telling me to stop playing along the fence because my hands may get hit by the ball. My sister & I for several years grew up on the ballpark diet of chicken tenders & french fries washed down by a blue slushie for dinner. Our heads barely peaked over the counter to order but the women of the concessions knew us as their most loyal customers & would sneak us extra candy. 

Baseball sits in a category of its own for me. It is one that represents deep nostalgia that I don’t find I have for the other sports in my life. Sometimes I look back at my life &, truly, to no one in my life should it have been a shock that I chose to get a Masters in Sports Business given how I grew up. Thinking about my younger years, so many of the things that come to mind revolve around sitting and watching my older brothers compete. The ballpark felt like a second home. To me, I was a Queen ruling over a kingdom. All the families and players were my subjects. There is no me now without baseball. I don’t think I understood that until very recently. 

My love affair with baseball is one that was thrust upon me at a young age but as I got older it is one that I rediscovered on my own. Over the years there has been no sporting event that I am more willing to spend money to watch live than a baseball game. It is something that I find fairly common with a lot of people who are on the more casual end of the baseball fandom spectrum. There is a wistful quality people have for the sport, either from playing with friends in the summer months or from watching with family yet, they somehow find their way back.

Granted, I never played anything in the realm of baseball but my family has a generational love for baseball. There are very few sports that my mother enjoys. As a whole, she dislikes many of the ones that I frequently write about. But baseball is her one exception. My oldest brother had a Cleveland baseball team themed room for the first years of his life. She hand painted the logo on the walls of my grandparents house where it was left for decades. Growing up she collected baseball cards & one of her first jobs was at Jacobs Field. My Papa’s sport of choice is baseball (to my knowledge I am sure he will fact check me if he ever reads this), he’s the only person I know who plays fantasy baseball. Even today, as we were in a flurry of activity volunteering, he was still finding time to yell out score updates to the Guardians game. My family's relationship with baseball that can only be defined as expansive.

It is a sport that benefits from representing the widely considered best seasons of the year. Opening day is one of the two days I feel should be a national holiday every year. There is a certain electricity in the air no matter what city you live in. The excitement & anticipation of what's to come. For many, much like myself, Opening day marks the true first day of Spring. It brings with it the promise of better weather, longer days, & time well spent with the people we love. It is a sport that defines seasons. The Boys of Summer. Even though the NFL & College Football dominate the Fall, Baseball owns October. There is a distinctive quality to October baseball that is so singular that I don’t think it is something anyone in any other sport could replicate.

Opening day also has a special meaning for me because it normally falls on the week of my birthday. The sport & I start new years together. How romantic. Every year since high school I have asked for opening day tickets. I am still waiting. I’ll continue to wait until it happens. Maybe for 26. Family & friends I hope you’re taking notes.

In my new season of life, there has been an overwhelming presence and time spent at Progressive Field. Being there has allowed me to spend time making up for being away from my closest friends for so long. This period of time will be defined by these adventures together at the ball park. 

I have recently found the old adage to be true; that it’s hard not to be romantic about baseball. It’s true. It is so difficult to look at the sport any other way than through the lens of sentimentality and community. If this were a Pixar movie, all of the core memories for so many people would be a joyful yellow. The sights, sounds, & smells of baseball are ones that burrow deep within a person & bring a sense of comfort upon reflection. 

My life hums along, fueled by the intrinsic sense of love & community rooted in sport, any sport really, that I discovered at a ballpark in Florida. There is nothing that I can more singularly pinpoint as a catalyst for my life today than those formative years spent surrounded by my brothers teammates, their families, & those in supporting roles within the space. It is deeply unique and advantageous that I grew up how I did. Without it, I probably would not be here. Doing this. 

Thanks to Giovanni & Caiden for your commitment to the sport. To Mom & Dad for making them play & letting me run around the WGLL complex every night. To Justina for being my partner in crime at the concession stand. To my boys of summer (this current Cleveland Guardians line up) because without you, I would have never fallen back in love with the sport.

Thank you to baseball. For without you, who knows where I would be.

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That was a long one. Something that I felt needed to be shared with the world for some reason. Hopefully you enjoyed.

Have a remarkable week.

Talk soon.