Yesterday, and the 364 days that preceded it, I was Babe Ruth. Today, I am Roger Maris. Students of the game will of course know what I mean.
I’m not sure that I will adopt that famous crewcut that Roger wore but I will endeavor to make this a record-setting year, and hopefully one that will not be accompanied by an asterisk (*).
Actually, there is something in the offing that may well be
record-setting during the coming year, but stay tuned for that news at
a later date.
As I look to see the Great Bambino in the rearview mirror, I’m reminded of one of my favorite Babe Ruth quotations: “Love the game of baseball and baseball will love you.” Substitute the word “fastball” for “baseball” and it works just the same.
“Love the game of fastball and fastball will love you.”
For me, it is usually first week of March, on the eve of a new season that the adrenalin kicks in, and I start thinking about the upcoming year. It has been that way for me since the age of nine when I started playing the game.
I imagine for many of you the case is the same, the act of digging into the closet or the garage for your ball gear – your glove, your bat, those cleats with a bit of dirt still stuck on the spikes. The inevitable decision, do they all have another season left in them? Well, for me, the glove is of more recent vintage, they don’t let me pick up a bat, but those cleats….not much metal to put the metal to the pedal. So I think it’s time.
For the past few seasons, I haven’t played a regular schedule, being
content to make an occasional cameo pitching appearance for Those
Guys in a local tournament or city league. I do keep my hand in
the game by writing about it here at Fastpitchwest.com, and joining my
friends Lance Winn, Kyle Smith, Joe Todd and Blair Setford in the
broadcast booth for Ballpark Broadcasting. But this year, the call of the game beckons in another way. My friend and former teammate Paul Castillo has decided to take his young team (Those Guys) up a level, and compete in the SCIFL
travel league, here in Southern California. Too inviting not to. There is no substitute for young legs roaming the outfield to chase down those long fly balls. I thought my current set of cleats would be the last pair I would own, but I just found an excuse to order those new ones.
Alas, we can’t order up a new shoulder or knee joints. These will have to make due. A little pre-season work and they’ll be as good as new. OK, maybe that sentence warrants an asterisk. But for the rest of 2016, hold the asterisk, please.
Editor’s note: Yes, that Roger Maris card is the genuine article, one of the oldest in my collection. From a series put out by Post cereal back in the day. My grandmother used to save the empty boxes for me and I’d sit at her kitchen table in downtown Detroit, and cut them off of the back of the cereal box. The tape on the edges? Well, I don’t think they made the non-yellowing stuff (or acid-free cardholders) back then. I really did keep them in a shoebox.
Blair Setford says
Don’t call it a comeback …!
fpw says
Never !
-FPW