Thursday, September 17, 2009

The start....

I wasn't born into a baseball family, my dad played it when he was little, but never really grew up into it. I'm from Texas, where high school and college football reigns supreme and baseball just kind of sits in second place. Don't get me wrong, baseball is important, UT Longhorn baseball is a force to be reckoned with and Rangers and Astros baseball have their respective fan bases, but it's nothing like it is in other areas of the US.

I guess you could say it started with my grandpa. He was a huge baseball fan, a Dodgers fan to be precise but that didn't stop him from watching any baseball game that was on, live or in person. I figure that's where this passion and obsession started. For as long as I can remember I've never found something that can make me feel as good as 9 men on a field, playing 9 innnings of hard fought battle, for one simple prize; the chance to act like a little boy again.

There's just something about the smell of fresh cut grass, the feel of gravel beneath your cleats, the sound of the crack of a bat, the sound of the ball hitting the glove that just calms me down and puts me at ease. I live for the start of Spring Training and Opening Day, and a little piece of me dies every fall at the end of the Fall Classic. The winter months are the hardest for me, I find myself watching old replays of games that happened in years past. My books are about baseball, video games are about baseball, anything and everything baseball interests me to no end.

But there's hard moments too. Like watching your favorite player get traded to another team. The heartbreak you feel when the 9th inning rally just isn't enough. Or the heart wrenching feeling that comes over you when you watch your favorite player go through his slump. Baseball's taught me that life isn't always fair, that the good guys don't always win and that so much can change in the span of a pitch. It's taught me not to give up, to keep my faith in someone.

I started this blog because I want to tell my stories about baseball and the way it has affected me thus far, and hopefully to inspire others to do the same. Baseball is something that in my experience can bring all kinds of people together and I hope that by doing this, baseball fans everywhere can unite. Feel free to send in your baseball stories, I will be happy to read them and reply. More to come tomorrow!

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