Are you a baseball fan?



My dad, 2nd from left

 The photograph of the baseball team in the banner at the top of this Blog is the Hastings-on-Hudson High School (NY) baseball team, back in (circa) 1929. That’s my dad, second from the left, in the first row. He was a little (5’7”) lefty pitcher for the Hastings Yellow Jackets. His love of baseball was passed along to me. My son Matt and I share many things that we love, but baseball is not one of them. Matt knows that baseball is a father and son thing, and on a number of levels I know he’s sorry he’s not a big fan. On some of those “levels”, I guess I failed.

Past that, there is a load of evidence that suggests baseball fans are a dying breed.

We’ve been tabbed as an aging group of folks that are tenaciously hanging onto outmoded traditions.

With the advent of Bill James, Sabermetrics, and Moneyball, we’ve been called geeks.

We have been hearing for years that baseball is boring…it takes too long to play a game, and in the 24/7 world of 2011, most of us will have too many better (?) options to take up and to occupy our time.

I put Earl Weaver’s quote up top today because what he said is still true today, just as it will be true tomorrow, and it will remain true long after all the games have been played.

I have an unabashed love of history -- mostly American history, and certainly baseball history. For well over 100 years baseball has been a part of this country, as it has been no where else in the world. I think part of it’s because baseball is uniquely democratic, and as Earl said, you can’t just run it into the line and kill the clock.

Earl Weaver

In a couple of days it will be 2011. 43 days after that is the Spring Training voluntary report date for MLB pitchers and catchers.

On New Years Day, I will be posting a very funny baseball story that still makes me smile every time I think about it, even though it happened back in 1967.

I love baseball…are you a baseball fan?