Home Run?

i don't think there is anything quite as exciting as a homerun. especially a "walk off" homerun.
bottom of the ninth...two out...the opposing team's closer on the mound.

tension! suspense! pressure!
i could never call it like they do on tv or radio...it's an art, really.

i don't love baseball just because of the homerun, there are other reasons, too. in fact, most sports fans of my generation and older love baseball...it's our favorite sport by far.

why?

our fathers loved baseball.

they would watch it on the t.v. or listen to it on the radio as we drove in the car. they would read about it and talk about it and dream about it (every body had a dad or an uncle or "almost made" the pros). if we couldn't talk to our dads about "important" stuff, if we felt we (or they) couldn't relate, if we thought they didn't care, there was always baseball to bridge the gap. common ground...non threatening common ground.

there was a game on tv just about every week...saturday afternoons the tv was on in the background filling our homes with the sounds of baseball. and then, of course, we had T.W.I.B. giving us highlights saturday mornings! local tv stations broadcast games several nights a week and they were on at normal times...days or early evenings.

you could get a pick up game going in no time. i think we played just about every day in the field around the block. or we would play our version of stickball (tennis ball with a thin, yellow wiffle ball bat)...we played little league ball, too. winning got important and some guys rode the bench alot...but everyone got in for at least an inning or two. i think we had fun.

the players were heroes. we didn't know about their drinking or corousing...we didn't know they cheated...we didn't hear them cursing...they were like our dads, only better at hitting a little ball. we wanted to be like them...not just hit or pitch like them, we wanted to be like them.

we didn't mind the game took a couple of hours to play...we had a couple of hours. we didn't care about the cat & mouse of each at bat. the step out of the batter's box or off the mound. the throws over to first to check the runner didn't matter--it was a part of the greater excitement. we expected the manager to come out of the dugout to calm down his starter or to give the reliever time to warm up. life was meant for living and there wasn't much more to life than a bb game on a saturday afternoon. you did other things, you worked in the yard or had a cookout, but when something exciting was happening, you dropped it and went to the tv.

but we've lost our love for baseball. some thing has changed...maybe it's us...maybe it's bb...maybe it's both...and i don't think we can ever re capture the magic of bb...it's a slow paced game in a fast paced world. the stature of players is lowered with each drunken episode or with each steriod scandal. we can't change those things. it is the way it is. bb has been replaced by faster paced things like football and basketball and (arg!!!) NASCAR...

bb will be forgotten in a generation or two. there are two outs and the mighty casey has two strikes and a bum knee...

it was fun while it lasted.