"People will come, Ray. 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 part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that was once good and it could be again. Oh people will come, Ray...people will most definitely come." - Field of Dreams
I can't find a better quote that describes what baseball means to me. One of my first memories is at a baseball game. My dad raised me as a San Francisco Giants fan and that has stuck with me for the past 20 years and it will stick with me for the rest of my life. At times I wish I wasn't a Giants fan because times get tough with them, but then when I think about it I am so happy that was the team I was raised to support because they capture what it is that I love so much about baseball. Baseball is different than most sports because it isn't all about scoring, it's also about outsmarting the other team...strategy. Everything in baseball has some sort of strategic move to it; the other team is constantly having to change their way of playing to confuse the opposing team. The pitcher is trying to outsmart the batter with changing his pitches. The batter is trying to figure out whether or not they should go for the hit, go for the homer, or try a sacrifice bunt. The manager is trying to shift the defense to benefit what he's read on the hitters scouting report. There is more thought put into baseball than any other sport. Not only do I love the strategy, but there is so much history included in baseball because it has been around so long. There are bigger legends in baseball than any other sport as well. If you went around the world and asked people about Babe Ruth, arguablyone the greatest baseball player of all time or Jerry Rice, the greatest wide receiver of all time, you would get a lot more information about Babe Ruth. Every sport has its amazing moments, but with baseball they almost become myths. Did Babe Ruth really call his shot? How did Willie Mays make "the catch?" Is there really a "Curse of the Billy Goat?"
To me there is nothing better than going to a baseball park and having a hot dog and a Coke(in 7 months a beer) and taking in 9 innings of a game. You can meet some awesome people and yell at baseball players that you have watched for so long you feel like you actually know them. It doesn't get any better than that. Baseball was once America's favorite pastime for a reason. All the other sports seasons are too short for a person to really become that involved in a season and I would know because I used to follow every sport religiously. The NBA is for 82 games and the NFL is only for 16 games. A baseball season is 162 games. The regular season starts in April and goes until September. Then postseason goes until October and then spring training begins in February. That is four months that baseball fans don't have ways of watching recent baseball(Thank God for ESPN Classics). 8 months out of the year baseball fans are able to get to know their team and the players and learn to either love or hate them. It can be exhausting and painful, but if that team shows one sign of hope to regain ground, you can bet that person is there to see it through. I would know because being a Giants fan, I have experienced painful times, like this season or the 2002 season or when I saw them lose to the A's 16-0, in person, a couple weeks ago.
I will elaborate on why the Giants capture the essence of baseball. Baseball is all about legends and the greats and throughout the Giants franchise they have acquired many of those legends. Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Will "The Thrill" Clark, Barry Bonds, the Alou Brothers, and even though he may never will be a legend to most people, he will be in my heart, JT Snow. The Giants are one win away from 10,000 wins in the franchise history. No other team is even close to that!
JT Snow is my all-time favorite player. He is a great guy and an amazing first baseman. He incapsulates everything that I love about baseball. My friend, Chris, is a Dodgers fan and so he HATES the Giants, but he always says that he respects JT Snow because 1) he just looks like a baseball player and 2) he's a great guy. Bill James is a baseball GOD!! and he includes JT in his book as one of the top players fighting for a spot for his list of 100 greatest first basemen. He has 6 Gold Gloves, two in the AL and 4 in the NL and what's sad about all this, he most likely won't be voted into the Hall of Fame.
I don't know if I'm a masochist or what, but every season I find myself crawling back to the Giants. 2002 almost killed me. It, literally, almost killed me. I don't think I could talk for two days after we lost Game 7 of the World Series. I still can't speak about it in great detail without my eyes welling up with tears. Everytime I think of the names Shawn Duston, David Bell, Kenny Lofton, Rich Aurillia, Reggie Sanders, Jeff Kent, and Benito Santiago a lump rises up in my throat. Thinking about it all right now is making my stomach turn and I feel kind of empty inside. There are also times like this season where the season is a great failure for another reason. Even though this season has been a disaster and I want to mow down Alex Sanchez, everytime we win there is something in the back of my head that thinks, "Maybe this is the game that sparks a 20 game win streak and we can come back and Barry will be back and we can finally win a World Series." My life will be a little bit more complete when I see the Giants win a World Series.
Everytime I go to a Giants game, I try to take in as much as I possibly can because it might be my last time I ever get to see them. Baseball is a part of me and it's not just a game. "The one constant through all the years...has been baseball," and that's a fact.
I can't find a better quote that describes what baseball means to me. One of my first memories is at a baseball game. My dad raised me as a San Francisco Giants fan and that has stuck with me for the past 20 years and it will stick with me for the rest of my life. At times I wish I wasn't a Giants fan because times get tough with them, but then when I think about it I am so happy that was the team I was raised to support because they capture what it is that I love so much about baseball. Baseball is different than most sports because it isn't all about scoring, it's also about outsmarting the other team...strategy. Everything in baseball has some sort of strategic move to it; the other team is constantly having to change their way of playing to confuse the opposing team. The pitcher is trying to outsmart the batter with changing his pitches. The batter is trying to figure out whether or not they should go for the hit, go for the homer, or try a sacrifice bunt. The manager is trying to shift the defense to benefit what he's read on the hitters scouting report. There is more thought put into baseball than any other sport. Not only do I love the strategy, but there is so much history included in baseball because it has been around so long. There are bigger legends in baseball than any other sport as well. If you went around the world and asked people about Babe Ruth, arguablyone the greatest baseball player of all time or Jerry Rice, the greatest wide receiver of all time, you would get a lot more information about Babe Ruth. Every sport has its amazing moments, but with baseball they almost become myths. Did Babe Ruth really call his shot? How did Willie Mays make "the catch?" Is there really a "Curse of the Billy Goat?"
To me there is nothing better than going to a baseball park and having a hot dog and a Coke(in 7 months a beer) and taking in 9 innings of a game. You can meet some awesome people and yell at baseball players that you have watched for so long you feel like you actually know them. It doesn't get any better than that. Baseball was once America's favorite pastime for a reason. All the other sports seasons are too short for a person to really become that involved in a season and I would know because I used to follow every sport religiously. The NBA is for 82 games and the NFL is only for 16 games. A baseball season is 162 games. The regular season starts in April and goes until September. Then postseason goes until October and then spring training begins in February. That is four months that baseball fans don't have ways of watching recent baseball(Thank God for ESPN Classics). 8 months out of the year baseball fans are able to get to know their team and the players and learn to either love or hate them. It can be exhausting and painful, but if that team shows one sign of hope to regain ground, you can bet that person is there to see it through. I would know because being a Giants fan, I have experienced painful times, like this season or the 2002 season or when I saw them lose to the A's 16-0, in person, a couple weeks ago.
I will elaborate on why the Giants capture the essence of baseball. Baseball is all about legends and the greats and throughout the Giants franchise they have acquired many of those legends. Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Will "The Thrill" Clark, Barry Bonds, the Alou Brothers, and even though he may never will be a legend to most people, he will be in my heart, JT Snow. The Giants are one win away from 10,000 wins in the franchise history. No other team is even close to that!
JT Snow is my all-time favorite player. He is a great guy and an amazing first baseman. He incapsulates everything that I love about baseball. My friend, Chris, is a Dodgers fan and so he HATES the Giants, but he always says that he respects JT Snow because 1) he just looks like a baseball player and 2) he's a great guy. Bill James is a baseball GOD!! and he includes JT in his book as one of the top players fighting for a spot for his list of 100 greatest first basemen. He has 6 Gold Gloves, two in the AL and 4 in the NL and what's sad about all this, he most likely won't be voted into the Hall of Fame.
I don't know if I'm a masochist or what, but every season I find myself crawling back to the Giants. 2002 almost killed me. It, literally, almost killed me. I don't think I could talk for two days after we lost Game 7 of the World Series. I still can't speak about it in great detail without my eyes welling up with tears. Everytime I think of the names Shawn Duston, David Bell, Kenny Lofton, Rich Aurillia, Reggie Sanders, Jeff Kent, and Benito Santiago a lump rises up in my throat. Thinking about it all right now is making my stomach turn and I feel kind of empty inside. There are also times like this season where the season is a great failure for another reason. Even though this season has been a disaster and I want to mow down Alex Sanchez, everytime we win there is something in the back of my head that thinks, "Maybe this is the game that sparks a 20 game win streak and we can come back and Barry will be back and we can finally win a World Series." My life will be a little bit more complete when I see the Giants win a World Series.
Everytime I go to a Giants game, I try to take in as much as I possibly can because it might be my last time I ever get to see them. Baseball is a part of me and it's not just a game. "The one constant through all the years...has been baseball," and that's a fact.
posted by Penny at 12:08 PM
2 Comments:
I still get choked up at the "Dad? You want to have a catch?" line.
*Sigh*
I love that movie.
Oh, my little baseball-loving siblings! Remember how many times we watched Field of Dreams, over and over? You were still pretty young Penny -- perhaps that's how the love of baseball got imprinted in your mind. Or perhaps it's just meant to be, who knows. Yay for the game tomorrow! We'll wear the b/o with pride!
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