My baseball playing experience is limited to a part of one season. First or second grade, I think. My most vivid memory is forgetting my glove and, being the only Lefty, spending half the practice wondering around until my mom drove by and tossed it to a coach.
My athletic years were spent swimming and playing water polo. By the time I was finished with College and a young adult, I could describe, in detail, the nuances of each offense in College Football’s top 25.
Oh, and then we had a kid. It was in kindergarten that he first played the Spring sport. As I signed him up, I thought nothing more of it than it’d be a “rounding out” experience.
At the leagues Dodger night, I drank a beer, ate peanuts and talked mortgage rates and career trajectories with the other Dads. Late in the game, my son told me that J.D. Drew, considering the pitching match-up, wasn’t having a good night at the plate. And I experienced that most special moment of a parenting process, the instant you realize a light has lit in your child.
My son is still very early his baseball (life) experience - he will play his 12U Little League season this Spring - and there’s always the possibility that his interest will fade away and Baseball will become just part of his memories of his preteen childhood. But since he played his first Fall Ball game yesterday morning and was still badgering me to keep playing catch with him even after the sun was set and the lack of light was making it dangerous for my middle-age eyes, it sure doesn’t feel like.
So now I listen to Vin Scully as often as possible and scour sites like HSBB to learn and keep up with information on my son’s passion. I even have a fantasy team and understand what a Hold is.
Don’t fret for baseball. It is a better game. It will ebb and it will flow. But it will always pull in the hearts of new fans.